For a few of us, the Trophee MA Perron began in Pornichet as we waited for the wind to ease so we could get our boats up to Douarnenez in time for the start. We waited half a day after I had arrived for the winds and seas to subside – the previous night, Woody (Andrew Wood-GBR 500) had recorded a max wind speed of 79 knots. We finally made it up to Douarnenez with a day to spare before the start of the race.

The race got underway with a westerly breeze. We had a reasonable start with compared to my first race coming in at the committee boat end but soon tacked off on to the NE. At the point the fog moved in until it was quite thick. From that point, much of what happened is a complete mystery.

I have no photos of the Tropée Marie-Agnès Perron-the reason being that only about 5 minutes after the start the fog moved in and stayed with us for the whole 40 hours or so of the race. This meant sailing almost the entire race with no clue how I was placed. It felt like we were struggling upwind but the few downwind legs felt quite good.

As with the Pornichet Select I should probably have grabbed a bit more sleep as by the last night I was starting to tire. I managed half an hours sleep before rounding the second last mark knowing that I’d need the kite up and couldn’t really trust the autopilot. As we rounded the final mark the fog started to lift a little, enough for me to see a boat behind me. From there it was a sprint to the line against the tide and in a dying breeze but we just managed to scrape over the line managing about 1 knot.

With only 30-40 mins sleep over 40 hours I was completely out of it after the race. Forunately after a bit of faffing around Raeffer (AUS198-Mini Minx) rescued me and packed me off for some sleep. I awoke just in time for the prize giving and arrived down at the Maison du Nautism just in time to walk on stage to collect my prize for a top 10 (9th) proto finish.