The monohull IMOCA Safran Sailing Team, skippered by Morgan Lagravière and Nicolas Lunven, “flying” thanks to the lifting foils on the VPLP-Verdier design. Safran will participate at the Transat Jacques Vabre, the doublehanded race starting on October 25 from Le Havre to Itajaí (Brazil).
For Morgan Lagravière and the Safran Sailing Team, it is now time to focus on the last elements of the IMOCA 60, and then the first test sails between Lorient and La Trinité-sur-Mer, the home port. Then Safran will set sail for the Canaries for an intense training session of about a month. “The idea is to work with a small team and focus on sailing in the best possible sea conditions and weather,” Lagravière says.
Safran Sailing Team will face its competitors for the first time on the Rolex Fastnet Race (crewed), on August 16. Safran will then line up at start of the Transat Jacques Vabre (double-handed race) on October 25 and then the Transat B to B (solo) in December. Meanwhile, Lagravière, ever the insatiable competitor, will resume competition in the Figaro Bénéteau from April 20 to 26 on the Solo Maître CoQ. That will provide the opportunity to train, but also to measure himself solo against some of his future opponents in the 2016 Vendée Globe, such as Yann Eliès (Groupe Queguiner) and Jérémie Beyou (Maître CoQ) and of course to meet up again on the water with Gwénolé Gahinet on the Figaro Safran-Guy Cotten.