Route du Rhum 2002 www.routedurhum.org zur Übersicht Bob Fisher in Auckland Saturday November 9, 2002 The Guardian Ellen MacArthur's war cry is "a donf", Breton boatyard slang for "go for it", which will come in handy this weekend in the ancient fortified town of St Malo where she is about to start a race. The best woman sailor in the world still seems bewildered by the fame her prowess has attracted, but success has not changed her attitude towards sailing. "I never go into a race saying I'm only here to win," she said. That would be totally against her philosophy. She is about to attack the 3,450-mile Route du Rhum, an event held every four years. It is a single-handed race across the Atlantic, from St Malo to Pointe à Pitre in Guadeloupe, a French island in the Caribbean. EllenmcArthur gewinnt den Start Four years ago in this same race MacArthur was an unknown on trial for the Kingfisher sponsorship that has funded her subsequent campaigns. Her yacht then was a 50-footer, referred to by its previous skipper Pete Goss as a "50-foot surfboard". There was little in the way of comfort aboard when Goss sailed it, and MacArthur's weight-saving attack on the interior has reduced that even further. That was the start of her strident cry "a donf" - fitting because her competitors, almost all French, have a far greater respect for her than any British sailor because she spent time among them, learned their language and roughed it to arrive at the start line for their races. She refers to her 60-foot monohull Kingfisher as "the fish". This is the last time she will sail it, but she cannot bear the thought of it in dry dock. "I think it would be pretty sad to see her sitting in a museum," she said. "Maybe in 30 years' time, but at the moment I think she's happier out there on the water." MacArthur too, when her race begins at 1.45pm local time tomorrow. There are 17 similar boats to Kingfisher in her class, several of them with old rivals and none more so than Roland Jourdain, known as "Bilou". He and MacArthur raced bow-to-bow around the planet in the Vendée Globe, with Kingfisher snatching second place. There is also the indomitable Mike Golding in Ecover and, for probably the last time in this race, Canada's Mike Birch, aged 71, who won the first Route du Rhum in 1978. Ellen MacArthur is everyone's favourite to win and the last word is hers: "I will do my best; if this leads me to the podium, I will be very happy." Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE