"At 8h14 this Saturday, team Rubson, comprising Manu Bertin, Sebastien Cattelan, Marc Gondard and Christopher Tasti, set off for an attempted kitesurf crossing of the English Channel from Lizard Point in England to the island of Ouessant in France. Wind conditions ideal - 20 knots north / north-west - allowed the riders to maintain average speeds of 20 knots without difficulty, despite the sizeable swell created by the strong opposing current.
After three successful relays, at about 11.00am the wind suddenly fell to around 15 knots, forcing the team to change kite. The manoeuvre didn’t go as planned and we lost perhaps 30 minutes. Progressively the wind dropped off until it was insufficient for kitesurf (less than 10 knots). At 12.30am, team Rubson re-boarded the boat Ocean Alchemist in the hope of sitting out until the wind returned, in vain.
Pierre Lasnier had forecast the wind dropping off to 15 knots by about 3.00pm but the wind had decided otherwise. All possible weather information was then gathered and it all agreed. No wind anywhere. With a heavy heart, Manu Bertin, after consulting with his team mates and Yves Pouillaude, skipper of Ocean Alchemist, decided to call off the attempt. Team Rubson’s initial objective wasn’t achieved but lots of plus points came out of this first such challenge.
1- The idea of 20 knots average speed is realistic: the first three hours achieved exactly that, that’s to say at the same speed as the wind.
2- The relays themselves went smoothly enough, a manoeuvre which, even on the day itself, still held various questions as regards big swell out at sea.
3- That team Rubson had made 2/3 of the distance, roughly 70 miles (125km) without problem, making it the longest ‘crossing’ ever made by kitesurf in the open sea.
The disappointment could be heard in Manu Bertin’s voice – “There’s nothing we could have done, that’s the way it goes, we knew it was a possibility and we just have to accept it. Nature decides and always will. That in itself is beautiful, it’s saying you can’t master the elements, just learn to work with them. The objective was a crossing from point A to point B, we didn’t make it, but we’ve got lots of technical feedback out of it, likewise athletic and human feedback, important before our Atlantic challenge next year. The crew of Ocean Alchemist, quite a few of who are from the crew of the huge Geronimo trimaran helped a lot. It was pretty stressful out there and they know how to handle them. Being stopped just a couple of hours short is frustrating but you’ve got to stay humble when you play with the elements.”
At 1.30pm the motorised trimaran set course for harbour in Brest. A reception committee was nonetheless waiting on the quayside at Moulin Blanc."
TransManche 2003