Testimony about Squid of Thibault Vauchel-Camus
1. Since when do you work with the software?
T.V.C. : We discovered Squid at the time of the Transatlantic race Jacques Vabre in 2013, but more concretely at the time of the Route du Rhum in 2014 during the preparation.
That was at the right moment for me in the discovery of ocean and solo races.
Weather forecasts, use of routing file, etc… should be the most synthetic to not be lost with. That really allowed me to understand the question of the files weather as peacefully as possible!
Squid meets a need for simplification because this is a very complex universe. In solo, everything needs to be quickly effective, in a quick reflexion that allows to grab all the informations at minima. For me Squid arrived just in time!
2. Your use in preparation or within the race?
T.V.C. : I’d like to know it it earlier, especially to use it better on my previous races, in particular in the exploitation of the satellite and Bracknell images.
I went to most concrete instead of knowing how to use it. But thanks to the formations which I could follow, in particular thanks to Bernard who came to Lorient Grand Large to exempt courses to us, I became much more familiar with Squid that enable me to look further into the weather preparation in the future.
The skipper’s profession is really a work with multiple facets.
One goes from the physical training and preparation, to the financial aspect, and the preparation of the boat itself…
Once certain aspects are in good wheels, I can release some time to optimize my knowledge in data weather, and to look further into my use of Squid which is essential.
3. For you does the asset of Squid supplement the total preparation of the skipper on the preparation of the boat?
T.V.C. : Completely, as from the moment when one has a tool like Squid which joined that many problems while returning a good result, one saves a lot of time and serenity.
Furthermore when one is in preparation of navigation with a router, one starts with a better understanding of the terms and one analyzes with the same tools as him. One starts to speak the same language. That allows us a true coherence.
In the multihull the problems are different because information arrives always once in high sea. In Class 40 or Imoca, one is really alone in the middle of the sea, and you have to know how Squid is working.
4. Which is the bigger?
It has enabled me to be serene on my choices of navigation, in term of trajectory, and to be able to spend time on the bridge while being more effective. It is known that the file will arrive at such hour; one knows as a result that one will be able partly to control a certain working time at the map’s table which will not come to encroach on the other missions that one has on board!
It is the butterfly effect which goes in the right direction as a result.
The advantage when we are serene on the data which we handle, it is that for example we can decide on a change of sail quickly, or to agree not to change it during one hour more because we understood that the best moment would be later. By mixing Squid and Adrena we have really two complementary tools: we win in time and in serenity.
What is brilliant at Squid it is also this interaction between the programmer and the browser to develop the functions. There is a true consideration for the suggestions of the runners, which allows that the Squid product progresses, as well as the sharing of the experiment of the others. That allows to avoid a lot of error and to save time.