Transat Jacques Vabre 2003 zur Übersicht - www.jacques-vabre.com Alex Thomson Racing: Firefighting in 3rd place down the Atlantic Absender: "Mary Ambler" Datum: 04. Nov 2003 19:07 ALEX THOMSON RACING FIREFIGHTING IN 3RD PLACE DOWN THE ATLANTIC Transat Jacques Vabre: Monohull Class 1 – DAY 3 Leader: Ecover (Golding/Thompson GBR) 1:00hrs GMT Position of SILL: 3rd place Conditions: 25 knots from the South Location: 130m off Cape Finisterre, Spanish coastline * Sill is currently holding 3rd position amongst the 14 other Open 60 monohulls racing in the fleet. They tacked out of the Bay of Biscay earlier than the rest of the fleet and are the furthest boat in the West of the race course * Calm before the next storm: Alex and Bilou are doing thorough checks of the boat and preparing for the next big storm to blow in tonight, bringing 55 knots of wind right on the noise – ouch! Roland Jourdain/SILL auf Südkurs Alex Thomson called this afternoon briefly to inform us that Sill had suffered some electrical problems so they were preserving power on their satellite communications equipment such as the Mini M and Iridium mobile, the two boat phones with voice and data capability, and only keeping the essential units on, like their Standard C which automatically sends out regular GPS position reports to the Race HQ and is used to send and receive data transmissions as well. Alex was on good form despite the events of Monday night: “We suffered badly last night as we looked to be getting into a stronger breeze but in fact at the end of the day were going at 6 knots and so had to tack away from the hole. So the boats in the South won that bet and got a stronger breeze off the Spanish coast, although we thought they wouldn’t from the weather models we had. BUT, tomorrow we should get first a short wind shift to the West which will allow us to gain ground to the South before the others. Anyway, we’re all going to get another pasting as there’s 55 knots forecast for tomorrow morning coming more or less from the South – very horrible but then we don’t mind! “We hope to get a good opportunity out of our Westerly option, we have to indextain our westing now we are here, in any case we are as far west as they are south so it will be interesting to see the positions when we have to go south. After this depression and the short wind shift, there’ll be another low pressure system tomorrow and then a front, bringing NW winds which will take us to the NE trades by Friday. Then we should be on the inside of the fleet and on a better sailing angle than everyone else. It’s not looking pretty on distance to go right now though! “I’m learning a lot from Bilou, asking tons of questions, stuff that he has tried or hasn’t with the boat. We are both on deck in any manoeuvre and discuss the weather a lot but we have a router so it’s down to whether we agree with him or not. Life on board is good, we’re glad to have this chance to rest a bit, I sit in the cuddy in the cockpit a lot, trying to lie in the bunk downstairs is like being a cardiac arrest patient in a scene of ER or Casualty – when they activate the difibrilator thing and your whole body is lifted involuntarily and then smashes down again. Imagine that over and over again! Bilou and I have been getting lots of sleep though, his hand is better, and we’re checking the boat, emptying it out of all the water and have the storm jib ready to go. This is the last big storm, then it’s shorts and T-shirt time!“ NEW LOOK FORMAT OF ATR.COM WEBSITE You will be able to follow Alex Thomson on ‘Sill’ in the Transat Jacques Vabre on a new-look format of the current campaign website at www.alexthomsonracing.com, where Alex’s personal updates & images taken on board, plus the latest race information and boat positions will be posted online. If you wish to make enquiries, sign up to receive updates or send Alex a message of support at any time please register your email through the Quick Enquiries section online or at info@at-racing.com. The Official Race web site is at www.jacques-vabre.com ENDS AT Racing Ltd Address: Unit 11, Haslar Marina, Haslar Road, Gosport PO12 1NU Tel: +44 (0)23 9252 4343 - Fax: +44 (0)23 9252 4646 Website: www.alexthomsonracing.com Sponsorship enquiries: sponsorship@at-racing.com General enquiries: info@at-racing.com Media enquiries: Mary Ambler - Email: mary@at-racing.com - Mobile: +44 (0) 7887 643 583 High resolution images of Alex Thomson / Sill (on board & aerial) are available on request and copyright free. Notes to Editors Alex Thomson, 29 year old professional sailor from Gosport in England, is the youngest skipper ever to win a round the world yacht race after he came 1st in the Clipper ’98 race. Alex Thomson founded in 2000 and headed up the sailing side of yacht charter company, Formula 1 Sailing Ltd for 3 years. His short-handed career includes racing as co-skipper to Josh Hall on ‘Gartmore’ in the 1999 Transat Jacques Vabre. He also came 1st in the 2000 Criterion Round Britain & Ireland race, and 3rd in class in the 2000 Europe 1 New Man STAR on the Open 50 ‘Sail That Dream.com’. Keith Mills has just been appointed CEO of the London 2012 bid for the Olympic Games and is currently Chairman and Chief Executive of Air Miles International Group BV (AMIG) which is the holding company he established in 1988 to develop the AIR MILES programme. He is also Chairman of Loyalty Management International and Loyalty Management UK Ltd, the company which recently launched the Nectar programme. Prior to founding the AIR MILES business, Mr Mills had over 20 years experience in marketing and advertising. He is also a keen sailor, and was part of the crew on board the winning boat in the Clipper ’98 RTW yacht race. AT Racing Ltd is the new company set up by Keith Mills and Alex Thomson to manage all aspects of the Open 60 boat campaign, including shore team, marketing and communications support. Open 60 ‘Sill Entreprises’ - Under the previous skipper, Roland Jourdain, the Lombard design Open 60 ‘Sill Entreprises’ has been on the podium many times since being launched in 1999 and broke the solo 24hr record by covering 436 miles at an average speed of 18.16 knots within days of arriving 3rd on the podium of the Vendée Globe. With trademark giant deck spreaders and rotating mast, ‘Sill Entreprises’ has been constantly optimised from build, particularly for upwind performance, which is second to none in the current fleet. The 2004 Vendée Globe Out of all the current five RTW yacht races, only two are single-handed, and the Vendée Globe is the only non-stop event. Held every 4 years from the port of Les Sables d’Olonne in the Vendée region on the western coast of France, this 26,000 mile solo marathon around the globe is renown as the ‘Everest’ of the sport of sailing. The Vendée Globe was created by legendary French solo skipper Philippe Jeantot after he had won the first two editions of the solo RTW BOC Challenge race, which was competed in 4 legs. First run in 1989 with just thirteen competitors on the start line, the Vendée Globe has now become a high profile international sporting event thanks to the incredible exploits of competitors from outside France such as Pete Goss, Tony Bullimore, and more recently Ellen MacArthur. In 2000/1, the race attracted 24 professional teams with their sponsors, plus a major following from media all around the world. The fifth Vendée Globe starts on 7th November 2004. Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE