Belgian skipper Christophe Bullens and his boat Five Oceans of Smiles is the first participant to complete the qualifier of at least 2500 nm for the VELUX5 OCEANS.

Sailing yacht Five Oceans of Smiles - Christophe Bullens is the first participant to complete the qualifier for de VELUX5 OCEANS. Photo Credit Morris Adant

Offshore racer Christophe Bullens arrived in Brest this Tuesday September 14th after a solo trip of about 3100 nm on his Eco 60 ‘Five Oceans of Smiles’. To take the departure of the VELUX5 OCEANS 2010 -11 each participant has to sail a qualifier of minimum 2500 nm. This trip should leave from an English or French harbor, round the Fastnet Rock (6 nm south of Ireland) and the Azores to end in a French or English harbor.

Christophe left the harbor of Plymouth (South UK) on August 27th to round the Fastnet Rock one day later and head for Flores (Island most West of the Azores). During this trip, Christophe has to deal with all kinds of weather; from no wind to be beaten down twice by two tornados crossing his path. This means mainsail and genoa thorn and a lot if tidying up to do. Lucky the weather is kind to him in the next few days and he can make the necessary repairs and get some rest. On September 6th he rounds the isle of Flores and heads straight to Brest where he arrives on September 14th.

A crew is waiting for him to sail ‘Five Oceans of Smiles’ to her hometown Oostende in Belgium where the last preparations will be made next week followed by a quick lift out of the water in Breskens (Nederland) to clean and put a new layer of antifouling. Then, off to La Rochelle where all boats and skippers are expected for the last run to the start of the VELUX5 OCEANS on October 17th.

Tim Kelly,