Catana Catamarans

Monday November 1st, Minou, Patou, Guy and Sébastien leave the harbour of " Le Lavandou " (on the Riviera) aboard " Nahéma " to take part to the fifth edition of the " Transat des Passionnés ". "Nahéma" is the CATANA 471 , number two. Launched August 10 th 1997, after two years of intensive sailing, two ocean crossings, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, many boat shows and shipyard sea trials, she is in a great shape. "Nahéma" take part to the "Transat des passionnés" in order to reach the Caribbean for the winter and to test some equipments in co-operation with the CATANA shipyard.

First part of the journey : Le Lavandou (French Riviera) - Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Tenerife island)
This part of the journey will enable the crews, who have left from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, to rally at the Marina Del Atlantico in Tenerife before the great crossing.
Having left from the Lavandou on November the first, Nahéma quietly rallied Tenerife via Gibraltar after 9 days of sailing.

Log book :
Sunday November 7th , 09.45 AM UTC : 35° 10' N, 7° 47' W
Great weather, in T Shirt and Short, woke up under Mainsail, Genoa and Gennaker, the wind changes, and we set the large spinnaker. Minou switches the line on the fishing gear. Not a single bite so far.

4.30 PM UTC : 34° 52' N, 8° 27' W
Great, the new bait does its job perfectly and we catch a tuna. This evening for aperitif "Tahiti style" tuna carpaccio and Ti Punch. Tenerife is only 500 miles away. By midday, we met a red turtle. Later on Minou and Patou will see two whales...

Tenerife
Wednesday November 10th. "Nahéma" is moored in Tenerife for a very busy week : many aperitifs aboard, visit of the other competitors yachts, restaurants, dancing at the Camel Café at night and "Nahéma" during the day.
On Thursday 18 th "Nahéma" is ready for the crossing. Thoroughly checked out, bilges bleached, mechanical parts oiled, spinnaker equipped with snap-hooks, inventory and food provisioning done, daggerboards marked, spinnaker boom prepared, …."Nahéma" and her crew just want to take off.
The Crossing
A tough beginning.
Log book :
Thursday, November 18th. Departure from Tenerife at 1.30 PM. The wind is blowing and the sea is rough outside. We have to face the wind to reach the starting line right in front of the Tenerife Yacht Club. "Nahéma" goes full speed under Gennaker and Mainsail. Minou at the helm, the rest of us at the lines. A few minutes later we are rushing ahead, followed by two Outremer. One hour later, no mono hulls in sight. A bad cloud brings 35 knots squalls. Minou warns the rest of the fleet. Some will loose their boom, others their gennaker… We had already reduced our sail with one reef in the Mail and the Genoa instead of the Gennaker. 8.00 PM and "Nahéma" surfs at 27 knots, at 0.00 another surf at 29 knots rushes me out of my cabin. Everybody's on the deck, I couldn't sleep anyway. Minou won't sleep at all, he wants to keep as much sail as possible. We are racing, not cruising. We trust "Nahéma". We have diner on our knees, in the cockpit, ready to jump. Tough beginning for a crossing.

No one is sea sick, just nausea feeling . We have wind, we need to take advantage of the situation, later on we will hate days without wind. Dolphins come to cheer us during the night. Those were the only two days with real wind. During the crossing, the Trade winds were just not with us. The hurricane Lenny strongly modified the weather situation at this time of year too bad for us and "Nahéma ».
Log book:
Tuesday November 30th , 3.30 PM : 15° 49' N, 49° 34' W
Third day without any wind. "Nahéma" slides at 3-4 Knots, under Mainsail, Genoa and Spinnaker. The windless area is 300 miles wide, we are on the South edge. We have done so many efforts and here we are stuck 700 miles away from the arrival. We keep on heading south, increasing our route in order to benefit from the 10 knots of wind forecasted by Meteo France.
Wednesday December 1st : 14° 30' N, 52° 08' W
16 knots of true wind, "Nahéma" goes 15 knots, she vibrates. It feels good she finally is able to take off. We have received many warms cheers from the owner of Nahéma and the CATANA shipyard's team.

NAHEMA'S VICTORY - Saturday December 4th
Log Book :
"Log Book suddenly stopped on Friday December the 4th. Tired, stressed, I don't feel like writing any more. Aboard, the lack of wind has become an obsession. Until the end we will multiply manoeuvres on the deck in order to take advantage of the slightest wind blow. Nahéma will cross the line ahead with the sundown of Martinique. Incredible memories, Nahéma shines a thousand lights, proud as ever… The beauty of those last moments, gifts of Nahéma and the sea to a crew, the heart filled with joy and happiness all our efforts are rewarded. We have given all that we could, and we've won."