Boat in the marina, team at their stations and skipper on top form! 

 

The Route du Rhum opened its gates last Wednesday at 2pm. The 123 boats are moored in the docks and the teams are dealing with the final preparations.  For Luke Berry it’s also the opportunity to meet the public and have meetings with the press and partners.  A little look at what took place in Saint Malo last week.

 

Safely tied up on pontoon C in the Vauban dock with 52 other Class 40s, Lamotte Module-Création has since last Wednesday welcomed on board 40 guests per day.  These visits have been well conducted by the great team of volunteers behind Luke in preparation for this Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe.  The boat, the skipper, the project, life on board, the race……Yannis, Gilles, Arnaud, John and Ambroise take their role seriously and answer the visitors questions with pleasure.  Class 40 technical preparateur, Ludovic for his part checks the settings, the equipment and provisioning (victualling).  “This week we focused on fine tuning to optimise everything, as well as preparation for the security checks and we also replaced a few consumables like the lashings.  Overall the boat is ready.  Next week we’ll be making sure we can pass the security checks then move on to the cleaning of the boat and the last minute checks ready for the start” confirms Ludo. 

With just under a week before the big day our skipper is calm and well looked after.  The press visits, now coming to a close have been regular to check on how the latest preparations,  both mental and physical, are proceeding only a few days before the start of the race.  France 3, TV Rennes, Ouest France - a lot of media interest in the project and in Luke Berry.  

 

When he has had some autograph sessions on Lamotte and Helly Hansen, his partners’ stands, Luke willingly poses for selfies and actively encourages the children to share his passion for the sea by having a go at sailing.  We won’t keep it a secret that Luke also took great pleasure recently in taking a turn on a foil in the Vauban dock in the Route du Rhum Village. He was able to do this (including a few manoeuvres) thanks to Surf School of which he has long been a part of.   Check it out in the video below: 

 

As you know the party is in full swing in Saint Malo, but the Class 40 Lamotte Module Création skipper nevertheless remains reasonable, keeping an eye on the weather with the forecasts at the moment predicting very strong winds  and particularly “sporty and dangerous “ when leaving the Bay of Biscay.  To be followed closely….