Resume 2009
The second edition of the “Bouvet Rames Guyane” trans-Atlantic rowing race
On 8th March 2009, 22 rowers, including one woman and 5 repeat competitors, set off from the West African coast with the aim to row solo across the Atlantic. There would be no assistance and no stopping. The rowers were taking part in the second edition of the “Bouvet Rames Guyane” trans-Atlantic rowing race. The object was simple and clear: an incredibly long distance of 2600 nautical miles or 4700 km would have to be covered between Saint-Louis in Senegal and Cayenne in Guyana. Swept along by their dreams they signed up for the race without fully realising what a difficult and testing adventure they would be taking part in. In the end only 13 competitors passed the finish line.
Caught off guard by the weather
The competitors arrived in Saint-Louis, Senegal 12 days before the start of the race. Some were novices, some were already hardened to the perils of the sea but all of them were amateurs. They made the most of a small African diversion of twelve all too short days, to unwind a little before setting off on the high seas because for all 22 of them the adventure had already started many months before with minutely-timed preparations, often without a back-up team. Budgeting, sfinding sponsors, boat-building and training when possible were all part of the preparations. Some of them had a lot of help, others had a little and some had none. But all of them would have moved mountains to be ready on time. To such an extent that on that 8th March 2009 the sound of the starting horn was like a release for the competitors.
At 10am the conditions were ideal. Good weather, a calm sea and a light north-easterly breeze of between 10 and 12 knots. At the sound of the horn the competitors set off, rowing their boats to the accompaniment of loud applause form the crowds and straightaway Jean-Jacques Gauthier took the lead followed by Mathieu Bonnier, then Jean-Pierre Vennat and Eric Lainé. Aeolus the god of wind was on their side but not for long. In just a few hours they had to start battling against the north-easterly winds which were pushing the boats dangerously close to land. One of the great difficulties of this race, before hitting the open seas, is to skirt around Cape Almadies, the westerly prolongation of Cape Vert, as fast as possible.
Unfortunately the conditions were so bad that several competitors weren’t even able to pass this infamous Cape and in total, 11 of them had to be towed westwards by an accompanying boat. Henri-Georges Hidair, Didier Lemoine, Patricia Lemoine, Pierre Katz, Henri Deboulogne, Karl Barranco, Christophe Lemur, Jean-Pierre Habold, Patrick Deixonne, Rémy Alnet and Jean-Pierre Vennat all found out that they would be penalised for this on arrival in Guyana.
Once on open seas the rowers were caught off guard by the weather conditions but the race continued and the pace was quickly set. Of those who hadn’t been towed westwards, Jean-Jacques Gautier, in the lead since the start, still led the dance. But on the 4th day Patrick Favre, who came a brilliant second in the first edition of the race, took the lead followed by Eric Lainé who would be one of the revelations of this 2009 “Bouvet Rames Guyane” race. Throughout the race, Eric, who had never before experienced long periods of isolation at sea, rowed a perfect race and was never out of the leading group of rowers.
Getting up to cruising speed!
On the 5th day of the race the rowers started to get accustomed to life at sea even if for some of them life on board was more difficult than had been foreseen, mainly because certain of them had still not left the cargo shipping lanes which are a major danger for these solo travellers. Then the first small injuries started to appear. The main problem was their skin, which was constantly under attack from the salt water and also sea-sickness, a big problem with these boats, overtook the less hardened of them. Life wasn’t easy! But on the whole and in spite of everything, each of the rowers began to settle into a rhythm during the first week and to gradually start the process of becoming acclimatised to isolation.
The rowers began to spread out on the open waters and on the map they no longer looked like a compact group heading with uncertain steps towards the middle of the ocean. Rowers tend to be solitary mariners who often create their own routes. In this race, some preferred the northern route struggling against the wind and waves from the side while others preferred the southern route, rowing into the swell, their noses pointed towards Brazil.
Then on March 17th, the 9th day of the journey, there was very bad news: Jean-Jacques Gauthier, the French Concept 2 Marathon Rowing champion was giving up. In 7th place at the time, he had capsized and decided to throw in the towel. He was quickly taken back to land by the accompanying catamaran “Guyavoile” and its outstanding crew, who followed the rowers for more than 40 days during the race. The crew of “Guyavoile” worked throughout the voyage, in an extremely professional manner, so that video footage of the race could be transmitted.
The next day there was another blow: Henri Deboulogne was also giving up. From the start he had been badly hit by seasickness. He had given up eating, was dehydrated and he was sinking, little by little, into total exhaustion. The Search and Rescue doctor was adamant that he would have to be rescued and this time it was the single-hulled yacht “Nelson”, the race support vessel, which collected the unfortunate competitor.
The fact that two people had already abandoned the race dampened the spirits of the rowers but the race continued even though the weather conditions were becoming more and more difficult. For the northern-most rowers it was a real battle against the seas. In fact all the rowers were suffering. A cross sea with winds reaching close to 25 knots and 3 metre troughs in the waves meant that the rowing conditions were perilous and life aboard these frail vessels was becoming frightening if not dangerous. So in order to minimize the risks the rowers took on ballast and put on their safety harnesses before venturing outside.
Heading south
Even if the sole intention of the rowers now was to work as hard as they could to get the race over quickly and leave the treacherous seas, the spirit of competition started to creep in. Patrick Favre, in the lead since the 4th day, increased the pace even more. Patrick Hoyau and Mathieu Bonnier were less than 30 miles from his tail while Eric Lainé set off to the east with the firm intention of causing the leader trouble.
A little further behind them, the race was continuing in the spirit of the competition. Many of the competitors tried to create an even balance between high performance and keeping to a steady pace and without wanting to break away from the group of other rowers they attempted to take a middle path between these two. Throughout the journey they struggled with difficulty to keep this delicate balance. Charles Bergère who arrived in 3rd position was a striking example of this duality between race competitor and simple traveller. Right until the end of the race, he struggled constantly between being taken over by the race and becoming detached from it altogether.
But on the 19th day of the race there was a huge upheaval in the first three positions in the race: Hoyau moved into the lead. Bonnier took second place and Favre in third position was taking a gamble on a southerly route. Just behind them, Eric Lainé and Charles Bergère were lying in ambush followed closely by the self-proclaimed four musketeers: a small group which travelled very close together composed of Jean-Luc Torre, Gilles Ponthieux, Patrick Deixonne and Rémy Alnet. Next was Pascal Vaudé who came last in this group of leaders.
On the 24th day, many of the leading rowers started to head tentatively south. Not in a rush, just little by little, in the style of “Shall I or shan’t I?”. In fact all of them knew that the equatorial currents were not far ahead and only after the these currents had been found could the rowers start to climb up towards Guyana. Strategy started to play an important part in the race. Favre started the movement and was the first to head full south but he went a little too soon and a little too far south, a decision which would cost him a position on the final podium. Many of the others tried the same thing but not all. Charles Bergère, the leader of the rowers who were taking a northern route, did not deviate from his course until the last few miles before the finish line.
Not far behind, the rest of the rowers were keeping to a steady pace. Amongst them were the slightly reserved Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the humanist Pierre Katz and the poet Jean-Pierre Habold. Then further back still were the witty Karl Barranco, the always smiling Patricia Lemoine, her father Didier Lemoine who was always in his own world and Henri-Georges Hidair, the ethnologist who tamed whales. And finally there were those who were really suffering like Bertrand de Gaullier, with an injured arm or Jean-Pierre Vennat and his terrible skin problems. Both of them showed extreme physical and mental courage. As for Christophe Lemur he was out of the race and was heading westwards with the help of a giant kite.
The end of the race approaches
As the rowers approached Guyana after a long month at sea, only14 miles separated Mathieu Bonnier and the leader Patrick Hoyau. To the north, the Guyanese Charles Bergère was attacking the group of leaders by the orthodromic route but on the 41st day of the race the first in a series of dramatic accidents, rearranged priorities. In the position of 4° N 44° W, Remy Alnet set off his two emergency distress beacons. After an interminable wait of more than 29 hours, clinging onto his overturned boat, Remy was picked up safe and well by the “Astro Chloé”, a super-tanker which had changed course to search for him. During his terrible trial the skipper of the “Areva” had shown cold-blooded determination and a great knowledge of the sea… qualities which certainly allowed him to stay alive until he was rescued.
Two days later there were great celebrations in Guyana. On April 20th after 42 days at sea, Patrick Hoyau from Kourou in Guyana, succeeded in winning the second edition of the magnificent “Bouvet Rames Guyane” trans-Atlantic solo rowing race. In a very weak state, he threw all his last efforts into an unequalled struggle with his oars. He had to fight to exhaustion point and was obliged to battle against a counter current of nearly 4 knots which tried until the very end to stop him from crossing the finish line. One of the passengers from the Judges boat explained with admiration….“it was astonishing, he was completely exhausted….but the encouragement from the welcoming boats, the shouts of support and the fact that members of his family were there, gave him the strength to finish. But in what a state!! He was in tears and suffering agonies”.
Mathieu Bonnier, from Isère in France, was following close behind and arrived in second position after a journey of 43 days. Eight hours later the Guyanese, Charles Bergère took third position. Born in Sinnamary, in Guyana 29 years ago he would be the second person from Guyana on the podium; a huge achievement for the whole country.
On April 22nd Patrick Favre and Eric Lainé crossed the finish line and then the following day it was the turn of Jean-Luc Torre and Patrick Deixonne to finish with only four short minutes between them. After 47 days of competition the picture of them arriving almost together was very impressive.
After them Gilles Ponthieux arrived, thinner than ever, then Pascal Vaudé in great form and then Jean-Pierre Lacroix who finished his race in heavy seas. Between April 20th and 25th competitors crossed the line in steady succession. It was party time in Guyana to celebrate the arrival of the competitors, but also because 1st and 3rd positions had been well-earned by the two Guyanese rowers, Hoyau and Bergère.
However at the Race Headquarters, the jubilations of that week were marred by anxiety once again when Bertrand de Gaullier, a French Navy captain, set off his two emergency distress beacons. The infernal wait began again, longer and perhaps worse than for Remy Alnet, because the 2 distress beacons were located in different positions which led the rescuers to believe that Bertrand de Gaullier was not on his boat any more and made the search and rescue even more difficult. After 36 hours of anxiety during which he showed incredible courage, Bertrand was miraculously spotted by a Brazilian Navy plane before being picked up by the brave crew of the “Nelson” which had been monitoring the situation at sea from Senegal. Shortly afterwards he was transferred onto the “Audacieuse” a P400 Navy patrol ship based in Guyana.
On the following day Pierre Katz arrived in Cayenne, Guyana from the south and Jean-Pierre Habold from the north-west. Finally on May 5th, Karl Barranco finished steadily in 13th position and closed the official finishing line with panache, thereby ending the “Bouvet Rames Guyane 2009” ocean rowing race.
Retired from the race
Jean-Jacques Gauthier, Rémy Alnet and Bertrand de Gaullier capsized.
Henri Deboulogne and Jean-Pierre Vennat gave up on doctor’s orders due to health problems.
Christophe Lemur’s rudder sheared off and he continued on to Guyana towed by a giant kite.
Patricia Lemoine went too far south and completed the crossing first with the aid of a kite and was then towed for the last 1000 miles by the “Nelson”.
Henri-Georges Hidair and Didier Lemoine also went too far south and were towed to Cayenne in Guyana by the yacht “Rois Mara”.
