Route du Rhum 2002 www.routedurhum.org zur Übersicht Absender: Empfänger: Datum: 19. Nov 2002 17:56 The Coconut Aromas of Victory. In the 0700 GMT rankings Mike Golding on Ecover had got up to within a hair’s breadth of pole position in the IMOCA class, just 2 solitary nautical miles behind Ellen on Kingfisher yet, on paper at least, the 1500 GMT rankings show that Mike has currently dropped right back. Throughout the classes they have suffered their fair share of ‘injuries’ in the past few days but nothing can surpass their eagerness for a victory drop from the cup of Rhum. The 1500 GMT rankings then were rather mysterious. Amongst the IMOCA 60’ monohulls Ellen was still leading but the rubber band that has been holding them together of late was at near breaking point. In just eight hours Ellen had got 24 extra miles on Mike. The reasons it would seem are that after gybing away for most of the night to make the most of the wind shifts, Golding has started to sail a diurnal wind shift. This is a natural daytime phenomenon that is caused by air heating up and cooling down. On paper it doesn’t look to be the most sensible option but Mike is experienced enough to be able to look at the big picture – one that he hopes will see him wrapped in the finish line ribbon. His current strategy sees him closing the east west gap between himself and MacArthur. Die Open-60'-Rivalen Ellen und Mike vor Rennbeginn in St.Malo Erster bei den 50'-Tris Frank Escoffier Crepes Whaou Needless to say, Ellen has her own set of tactics too. In the next 24 hours and really the next 3 days, she will be basically broad reaching in the downwind conditions in the trade winds on a direct route to Guadeloupe. She was straight-lining her Kingfisher on port gybe this morning and both Ellen and Mike have been revelling in the conditions, both at sea and in the race. Not surprisingly they are both heading towards the same victory highway as the one on which overall leader, Stève Ravussin, is currently cruising, foot down and windows down as far as they go. To their stern Arcelor-Dunkerque has opened up a slightly bigger lead on Sill, whilst 6th placed Patrick De Radiguès aboard Garnier Belgium has not been very gallant amongst the other 60’ monohulls. He has blazed past both Miranda Merron and Mike Birch, sending them tumbling down the rankings, 8th and 9th respectively. Garnier Belgium clearly knows a shortcut to the trade wind highway and is keeping it to himself. Amongst the Class 1 monohulls Bruno Reibel has been in a class of his own since the start (literally) and Nick Moloney, leader amongst the Class 2 monohulls is gradually seeing his advance eaten away by the greedy Hervé Vachée now less than 50 miles away in second place aboard Mille Visages. In the Class 3 monohulls Regis Guillemot on Storagetek seems to have forgotten that he blew one of his spinnakers earlier in the day and is not only still leader of his class but is consolidating. Crêpes Whaou! meantime, is continuing to fly high the flag of Saint Malo in the Class 2 multihulls, garnishing his advance on Anne Caseneuve with five extra nautical miles – both are having a stunning race. Amid the ORMA 60’ multihulls the four reindexing competitors have already won their own private battle just to still be in the running. Not content with that however Stève Ravussin, on his gliding bird Technomarine, is etching out even more of a lead on Lalou Roucayrol aboard Banque Populaire now 644 nautical miles to his stern. Now at just 991.7 nautical miles from Guadeloupe, Ravussin will soon be able to smell the coconut aromas of victory. But it isn’t over yet… DAILY ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION OF THE WEATHER FOR THE FRONTRUNNERS The trade wind regime is still well established for the competitors leading the brave soldiers across the high seas. Winds to become slightly lighter easterly 10-15 knots and shift slightly South - downwind conditions. Quotes: Ellen MacArthur “I think speed-wise Mike and I are pretty evenly matched - it's going to be a really tough race to the finish. I think the positions will change every single position report and it’s going to take a lot out of us... Right now, we're sailing along with 18-19 knots of pretty much Trade Wind breeze - now south side of the high pressure - as I'm now connected to the computer I can find out from grib files [Ellen has had no data transmission or collection possible for 5 days]. We're sailing along pretty quickly although the pilot is struggling to steer so we're kind of swerving round the ocean a bit - so although I'm talking to you but I'm keeping one eye and one ear on the wind angle for the boat to make sure we're not about to gybe. Last night was absolutely beautiful sailing along under clear night sky, few fluffy clouds. There was a full moon, absolutely stunning sailing conditions - if you're going to lose miles to someone its about the best way you can lose them in conditions like that! Going up the rig not easy procedure at all... Basically, you have to free-climb with your own hands all the way to the top which is obviously quite tiring. Particularly, when mast is waving about in the sky. In order to climb the mast I had to take down spinnaker which was hanging on by the rest of its halyard - I was pretty tired when I set off up the rig in first case. You clip on at your waist and clip on to halyard and start to climb. Have a few bruises, few marks on my neck from the strap I had around my neck to hold the jumar. The worst thing is your hands - they are like death... I can see the blood vessels through my skin and they are very, very sore. I ache all over from that climb but it's done now, spinnaker back up - wonderful feeling. Golding talked a little about when his spinnaker blew. “It’s blown up and I’d nicknamed it ‘stomper’ too! The other spinnaker is doing fine though, so that’s good. I’ve had a really busy night, but still managed to get plenty of sleep. It’s a lovely day here and I’m really enjoying surfing down wind.” RANKINGS ORMA 60 FOOT MULTIHULL (End figures – distance to finish) 1 - TechnoMarine - Steve Ravussin - 925 2 - Banque Populaire - Lalou Roucayrol - 1569 3 - Géant - Michel Desjoyeaux - 1642 4 - Biscuits La Trinitaine - Ethypharm - Marc Guillemot - 1882 IMOCA 60 FOOT MONOHULLS (End figures – distance to finish in miles) 1 - Kingfisher - Ellen McArthur - 1126 2 - Ecover - Mike Golding - 1150 3 - Arcelor - Dunkerque - Joé Seeten - 1565 4 - Sill - Roland Jourdain - 1695 5 - 60ème Sud - Didier Munduteguy - 1854 6 - Garnier Belgium - Patrick De Radiguès - 1968 7 - Millimages - Gédéon - Patrick Favre - 2079 8 - Un Univers de Services - Miranda Merron - 2101 9 - Tir Groupé - Montres Yéma - Mike Birch - 2175 10 - Dinan Pays d'Entreprises - Frédéric Lescot - 2253 11 - Ciments St Laurent - Ocean - Georges Leblanc - 2345 12 - Leasecom - Elie Canivenc - 3168 Not located in this polling - L'Heautontimoroumenos - Antoine Koch - CLASS 1 MONOHULLS 1 - Ville de Dinard - Bruno Reibel - 2391 CLASS 2 MONOHULLS 1 - Ashfield Healthcare - Nick Moloney - 1957 2 - Florys - Luc Coquelin - 2014 3 - Mille Visages - Hervé Vachée - 2016 4 - Branec III - Roger Langevin - 2029 5 - Laiterie St Malo - Clément Surtel - 2185 6 - Adecco Etoile Horizon - Bob Escoffier - 2614 CLASS 3 MONOHULLS 1 - Storagetek - Regis Guillemot - 2017 2 - Passion Entreprendre - Jérôme Thiriez - 2303 3 - Grain de Soleil - Etienne Svilarich - 2346 4 - Fantasy - Forest - Alain Grinda - 3445 CLASS 2 MULTIHULLS 1 - Crepes Whaou! - F. Y. Escofier - 1433 2 - Yachting - casino.com - Anne Cazeneuve - 1714 3 - Archipel Guadeloupe - Claude Thelier - 2066 4 - Vaincre la mucoviscidose - Hervé Cleris - 2069 5 - Lehning - Lapeyre - Blanchet - Gourbeyre - P.Y. Guennec - 2341 Press Service for the Route du Rhum 2002 press@routedurhum.org Absender: Datum: 19. Nov 2002 08:46 Morning Update Tuesday 19 November 2002 at 07.30 GMT 2 MILES BETWEEN KINGFISHER AND ECOVER ! Ellen MacArthur had to climb to the top of the 27 metre mast yesterday when the lashing on the gennaker halyard block broke. A very risky operation for a solo sailor, which forced her to drop the spinnaker and complete the repair job up the mast for almost two hours! “I'm safe, I'm back - I've done it... What a mission but got kite back up and racing again. Getting up the mast was not too bad although coming down was a nightmare - boat rolling a round and nothing to hold on to. Honestly, I'm fine though - I just talked to myself the whole way up and back down,” the brave young sailor told her shore team once she was down. Mike Golding has caught up and is once again neck and neck with his rival. At 0700 GMT he was only 2 miles behind! The fight for first is closer than ever and the pressure is on between the two British sailors. Vicious gusts up to 30 knots in the 15-20 knot breeze does not make the fast sailing easier. There is no time for rest, and Stève Ravussin on the leading trimaran TechnoMarine confirmed that this morning: “I have one reef in the indexsail and the gennaker up and there is no way I could have a rest!” Lalou Roucayrol (Banque Populaire) is still progressing slowly, stuck in the anticyclone in the north, Géant is closing the gap with his fast route in the south. Jean Le Cam finally conceded defeat yesterday evening as the repairs on Bonduelle are too numerous and the time too short. The cracks caused by the violence of the waves touch some structural parts which cannot be plugged satisfactorily in a short space of time. WEATHER SITUATION: •The trade wind regime is still well established. Even those who made a stopover in Madeira are being gathered up in it. •The tail runners reindex in an anticyclonic area meantime. The high pressure system which has curbed the progress of Lalou Roucayrol on Banque Populaire in the past 48 hours has now moved slightly towards the south, making things even more tough. •Today’s ETA predict a finish between Thursday evening and Friday morning (Pointe à Pitre time) for the first multihull, and Saturday morning for the first monohulls. Leading boats 07.00 GMT: ORMA 60’ multihulls: Stève Ravussin TechnoMarine IMOCA 60’ monohulls: Ellen MacArthur Kingfisher Class 2 50’ monohulls: Nick Moloney Ashfield Healthcare Class 3 40’ monohulls: Régis Guillemot Storagetek Class 2 50’ multihulls: Frank Yves Escoffier Crepes Whaou! 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