Considered one of the toughest races of the year, the Pornichet Select 6.50 is a 300 mile solo race starting from Pornichet, rounding Belle Ille before heading down to Les Sables d'Olonne, then going back up to Ille de Groix before the final stretch home to Pornichet. Considering the large amount of coastline encountered (hopefully not literally!) during the race, there is little time for sleeping, and a lot of VHF check-ins and time noting around marks to be made.
I was really excited having made it to the start line; this was going to be my first solo race and longest solo navigation to date. I had been apprehensive about it a few weeks before, having read horror stories of boats hitting rocks, people getting lost and gusty wind conditions- but the double handed race the weekend before had calmed my neves- at least I had been around the Islands before!
I was pretty busy in the week leading up to the race, catching up on admin - mostly tackling the mountain of invoices I had gathered- and also planning some fundraising events for the season with my Title sponsor. Hudson Wight. It was good also to touch base with Sta-Lok, English Braids, Solo Sails and Dimension Polyant, who I can't thank enough for their support this season.
I made it back down to Pornichet on Thursday morning, managing to pass the security checks very easily, and soon enough I had the race documents- in English and French! I took some time to have a French working lunch (free wine included), catching up with Hudson Wight via Skype, for our weekly call.
It took some time to read and digest the race instructions, and there were a lot more official waypoints than usual forming the course. I spent the next remaining hours before the race laminating all the important information, finalising the navigation and cleaning up the big list of waypoints in my GPS. There were numerous briefings and two dinners to go to, hosted at the Petite Mousse (The little cabin boy) - thanks to Caroline from Classe Mini for the translations, which made getting organised for the race a bit easier!
Start day came and we were greeted with a light breeze, off the dock at 10am with the start at 1300. Mum, Dad, my Sister and boyfriend had all come over to see me off, which was really lovely- they would spend a few days together on a family break which is difficult to fit in during these busy times.
We had a downwind start, with a short course to race around the Bay of Pouligen before heading out to open sea. I was in the first group of four to cross the line, reaching the first mark in 6th place- losing my nerve, I dropped my kite to soon and lost a few places, but how exciting to be in the top
group!
It was then a reach to the next mark before a beat out of the bay,