Vie d'écume · video

What this video covers

Departing Guadeloupe at 7 a.m. on a solo passage to Antigua aboard the Beneteau Oceanis 440 Corail, the skipper planned roughly 10 hours of sailing and expected to arrive around 18:00.0:06 Winds of 15–18 knots on a beam reach pushed Corail to sustained speeds of 6.5–7.7 knots, with peaks at 8 knots, cutting the estimated arrival to around 14:00.13:10 The skipper carries one reef in both the mainsail and genoa early on, then adjusts sail trim repeatedly to prevent the hull from slamming in the chop.6:05 The most technically detailed section covers the approach to Antigua through shallow reef-strewn water: depth drops from 150 metres to as little as 2.8 metres, with a 1.8-metre draft leaving only 1.2 metres under the keel over seagrass and sand.22:25 The skipper uses a chartplotter configured to display turquoise for depths under 4 metres and orange for under 3 metres, and rolls away the genoa and eases the mainsail to slow below 5 knots through the passage.27:14 The route passes close to Montserrat as a waypoint for Saint-Martin.12:20 Configuring chartplotter depth-color alerts and reducing sail area — rather than motoring — proved effective for controlling speed through a shallow reef approach.

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