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An educational Record SNSM for Morgan Lagravière
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On Tuesday, June 23, Morgan Lagravière and Nicolas Lunven took second place in the Record SNSM, a 325-mile loop from Saint-Nazaire. Beyond the event result, Morgan Lagravière’s first race onboard Safran was excellent training for the Transat Jacques Vabre.
“We had various conditions, made a lot of manoeuvres and were permanently active,” Morgan Lagravière, the skipper of Safran, explained. Lagravière and Nicolas Lunven found what they were looking for in the Record SNSM: a full-scale test in preparation for the Transat Jacques Vabre in which they will sail together this autumn. When they crossed the finish line in Saint-Nazaire on Tuesday morning after 39 hours of sailing, the duo took second place behind SMA, skippered by Paul Meilhat and Michel Desjoyeaux The race had three phases: they had to head upwind to Groix, back downwind to the BXA safe water mark (at the mouth of the Gironde) and then back to Saint Nazaire, again upwind. “We had a good race," Lagravière said. “I remember especially our decision in Belle-Ile paying off, when we passed between the coast and the island in order to catch a sea breeze, while our three competitors headed offshore. The conditions were not ideal for Safran as the foils (lifting appendages) are effective downwind but are not a substitute for the daggerboards upwind and in light weather. So, we weren’t fighting on equal terms at this pace. However, we limited the losses.”
Lagravière / Lunven, a complementary duo
The first race onboard the new Safran, has reaffirmed to Lagravière his choice of team-mate for the Transat Jacques Vabre. “I get on with Nico really well,” he said. “We are complementary. Our reflexes are there now and we took advantage of the Record SNSM to start working on pace on board. We continued to make this boat our own and went up a level in seeing which technical areas we can improve.”
Starting this week, Safran will go into the boatyard for a month before the next event for the duo: the Fastnet Race, which takes place mid-August.
Photo : Olivier Blanchet / DPPI
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