Oceanracing 2002 - Route du Rhum 2002

Route du Rhum 2002
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PRESS RELEASE Route du Rhum 20 Nov 1615 GMT
Empfänger: redaktion@segel.de
Datum: 20. Nov 2002 17:23
The Route du Rhum 2002 : Press Release N° 27

The Incredible Scenarios of the Route du Rhum

The seventh edition of the Route du Rhum does not stop surprising. In Guadeloupe everyone was preparing for the sweet victory of Swiss Stève Ravussin on TechnoMarine but a viscous squall last night decided differently. Géant has now taken over the lead of the 60-foot trimaran fleet. The three reindexing ORMA trimarans will try and sail as cautious as possible after the shocking news of last night’s capsize, and the 1998 record of 12 days 8 hours and 41 minutes is not likely to be broken. The battle has been hard fought between the leading monohulls Kingfisher and Ecover. Mike Golding on Ecover had his worst night so far, having to climb the mast twice to try and save his spinnaker. Less than 800 miles to go and Ellen MacArthur’s 60-foot monohull Kingfisher is now the closest boat to the finish. This might mean that for the first time in the Route du Rhum’s history a monohull will be first over the finish line! Keep in mind that the 60-foot trimarans started 24 hours later than the rest of the fleet, and that the Route du Rhum consists of five classes and therefore five winners. ETA Kingfisher: early Saturday morning GMT. ETA Géant: Sunday midday GMT.

The last hard strike on the trimaran fleet was not pleasant news for the three reindexing ORMA 60’ trimarans in the race. Lalou Roucayrol on Banque Populaire (second 60’ trimaran) has discussed over the satellite phone with Marc Guillemot on Biscuits La Trinitaine (third 60’ trimaran) not to take any risks. "It is hallucinating to think that we are only three left out of the 18 trimaran strong fleet. The objective now is that the three of us get to Guadeloupe. In what posi tion we get there is not the most important. These boats are fabulous to sail and all that has happened to the fleet is really tragic," said Roucayrol who is now spending at least 15 hours at the helm a day, not relying too much on the autopilot.

The winner of the Vendée Globe 2000, Michel Desjoyeaux on Géant is of course happy to be in the leading position, but the feeling is bittersweet. “I have been parachuted into the lead, thanks to the misfortune of the others. That is maybe not ideal,” said Desjoyeaux.
The conditions demand hundred percent attention aboard, and after 12 days racing, solo at full speed, the fatigue and stress could have serious effects. The skippers are putting on an amazing achievement.

Photo: Martin-Raget/Promovoile

After the extremely close racing between the two British skippers Ellen MacArthur and Mike Golding, MacArthur is taking off, 65 miles in front of Golding at 1500 GMT. Mike Golding’s misfortune losing both his spinnakers will make the hunt for first place even more difficult. Golding’s second and last spinnaker (first one ripped) was wrapped into the forestay and rig last night when he was re-hoisting it after having taken it down during a big squall. “The conditions were very squally during the night and I was just rehoisting the spinnaker. I was at front pulling it up, when it took a bad roll, and got caught in the rig. I had to spend hours trying to sort it out, and climbed the top of the mast twice. It was really quite scary. It’s a mess, the spinnaker is still badly wrapped up in the inner forestay, and it will be v ery difficult to sort that out. I have cleared the forestay so I am using the solent“, said Golding at midday.
Kingfisher and Ecover are both on a similar track as the capsized TechnoMarine, and both have enquired rescue service. TechnoMarine’s skipper Stève Ravussin has not required emergency rescue, his shore crew is currently organising a rescue operation from Guadeloupe f or him and his boat. Kingfisher and Ecover can continue racing.
Further back in the monohull fleet, race veteran Mike Birch from Canada was enjoying the beautiful day. “It is a perfect, idyllic day for sailing. The wind is from north-northwest and it’s great sailing, but I would like to go a little bit faster and be closer to the others,” said Birch, winner of the first Route du Rhum in 1978. Birch’s Tir Groupé – Montres Yema is currently the 10th IMOCA monohull with Dinan Pays d’Entrepr ises and Ciments St Laurent- Ocean behind. The second Canadian in the fleet, Patrick de Radiguès on Garnier Belgium is two positions ahead of his fellow country man. De Radiguès’ southerly option paid off and the French Canadian climbed the rankings these last days. Those in the mid-fleet who were more to the west have still not completely escaped the light anticyclone conditions.
Nick Moloney on Ashfield Healthcare is still in a stable lead of the class 2 monohulls, as are Regis Guillemot on Storagetek of the class 3 monohulls, and Franck Yves Escoffier on Crêpes Whaou of the class 2 multihulls.
Since last Sunday Yvan Bourgnon has together with his shore team tried to return the capsized boat Rexona Men to facilitate the towing. However, in the rough seas, with three to four metre waves, the Swiss skipper had to abandon his overturned boat last night. The boat will be localised with the Argos beacon and the strong winds from the west will push the boat towards the Portuguese coast.

Positions 20/11/02 15:00:00 GMT
Multihull 60’ ORMA
1;Géant;Michel Desjoyeaux; 1282.9 miles to finish
2;Banque Populaire;Lalou Roucayrol; 1463.4
3;Biscuits La Trinitaine - Ethypharm;Marc Guillemot; 1507.1
ABD;Fujifilm;Loick Peyron
ABD;Banque Covefi;Bertrand deBroc
ABD;Sergio Tacchini;Karine Fauconnier
ABD;Sopra Group;Philippe Monnet
ABD;Bayer CropSciences;Frederic Le Peutrec
ABD;Belgacom;Jean-Luc Nélias
ABD;Foncia;Alain Gautier
ABD;Groupama;Franck Cammas
ABD;Rexona Men;Yvan Bourgnon
ABD;Sodebo;Thomas Coville
ABD;TIM;Giovanni Soldini
ABD;TechnoMarine;Steve Ravussin
ABD;Gitana X;Lionel Lemonchois
ABD;Eure&Loir-Lorénove;Francis Joyon
ABD;Bonduelle;Jean Le Cam

Monohull 60 IMOCA
1;Kingfisher;Ellen McArthur; 795.2
2;Ecover;Mike Golding; 860.3
3;Arcelor-Dunkerque;Joé Seeten; 1302.5
4;Sill;Roland Jourdain; 1406.3
5;L'Heautontimoroumenos;Antoine Koch; 1643.2
6;Garnier Belgium;Patrick De Radiguès; 1699.3
7;60ème Sud;Didier Munduteguy; 1713.4
8;Millimages-Gédéon;Patrick Favre; 1927.4
9;Un Univers de Services;Miranda Merron; 1934.4
10;Tir Groupé-Montres Yéma;Mike Birch; 1971.3
11;Dinan Pays d'Entreprises;Frédéric Lescot; 2079.5
12;Ciments St Laurent-Ocean;Georges Leblanc; 2168.4
ABD;Virbac;Jean Pierre Dick
ABD;VMI;Sébastien Josse
ABD;La Rage de Vivre;Loïck Pochet
NL;Leasecom;Elie Canivenc
ABD;Temenos;Dominique Wavre

Monohull Class 1
1;Ville de Dinard;Bruno Reibel; 2273.0
NP;Un Autre Regard Ensemble pour l'UNHCR;Nicolas Peitrequin

Monohull Class 2
1;Ashfield Healthcare;Nick Moloney; 1748.0
2;Florys;Luc Coquelin; 1837.3
3;Branec III;Roger Langevin; 1862.6
4;Mille Visages;Hervé Vachée; 1916.9
5;Laiterie St Malo;Clément Surtel; 2008.3
6;Adecco Etoile Horizon;Bob Escoffier; 2443.8
ABD;Apic A3S;Christophe Huchet
ABD;République Dominicaine;Yannick Bestaven
ABD;Défi Vendéen;J. F. Durand

Monohull Class 3
1;Storagetek;Regis Guillemot; 1852.6
2;Passion Entreprendre;Jérôme Thiriez; 2142.3
3;Grain de Soleil;Etienne Svilarich; 2287.0
4;Fantasy-Forest;Alain Grinda; 3453.5
ABD;Hellomoto;Conrad Humphreys

Multihull Class 2
1;Crepes Whaou!;F. Y. Escofier; 1232.4
2;Yachting-casino.com;Anne Cazeneuve; 1546.9
3;Vaincre la mucoviscidose;Hervé Cleris; 1812.4
4;Archipel Guadeloupe;Claude Thelier; 1827.2
5;Lehning-Lapeyre-Blanchet-Gourbeyre;P.Y. Guennec; 2160.9
ABD;E-Sat Tri Sélectif;Pascal Quintin
ABD;Groupe France Epargne;Patrick Morvan
ABD;Chaleur Fioul Elan;Didier Levillain

Copyright free ph otos, Gilles Martin-Raget On the web site : www.routedurhum.org / Obligatory photo credit : Gilles Martin-Raget or gmr@martin-raget.com
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