14.05.2004
'One man, one boat, the sea...The Transat established in 1960 as the OSTAR'
IN BRIEF:
JUST OVER TWO WEEKS TO GO UNTIL START OF TOUGHEST SOLO NORTH ATLANTIC
RACE...
and less then 10 days until Transat fleet arrive in Plymouth in
preparation for start
* CONSTRUCTION OF TRANSAT START VILLAGE STARTS NEXT WEEK...open to the public
from 22nd-31st May
* FINAL ORMA 60, ALAIN GAUTIER'S FONCIA, COMPLETES QUALIFICATION ALONG WITH
DOMINIQUE WAVRE'S TEMENOS...only four reindexing IMOCA 60s left to qualify
* THE NEW IMOCA 60 BONDUELLE STEALS A MARCH ON THE OTHERS IN HER FIRST OUTING
Visit http://www.thetransat.com for further information
IN DETAIL:
Just 17 days are left before the starting signal from the Royal Navy's HMS
Tyne will mark the start of the 12th single-handed transatlantic race on Bank
Holiday Monday, 31 May.
At the Plymouth Yacht Haven, a short ferry ride across the Cattewater from
downtown Plymouth, construction starts on The Transat Race Village next week.
Under race rules, the competing boats in The Transat are required to arrive
in Plymouth on or before Saturday, 22 May - the contingent of American
skippers Rich Wilson, Kip Stone and Joe Harris are all already berthed safely
in Plymouth following their trans-oceanic delivery trips. With eleven 60ft
trimarans and one 60ft catamaran along with 18 Open 60 monohulls making up
the bulk of the entries, the race fleet will take up considerable acreage and
will be one of the most impressive gatherings of the world's fastest and most
advanced ocean racing machines ever seen. This is the only occasion in the
four year offshore yacht racing cycle that these two classes of boat gather
in the UK and it will be a spectacle not to be missed.
The Transat Race Village will be open to the public from 22nd May to 31st May
and will house a multitude of exhibitors. The Royal Navy display will
include a submarine simulator and Renault will be displaying one of their
Formula 1 racing cars alongside many exhibitors from the British and French
marine sector.
More qualification passages for The Transat have now been completed, the
latest being Alain Gautier's trimaran Foncia and Temenos, the Swiss Open 60
of Dominique Wavre. The only reindexing boats still to carry out their
obligatory qualifiers are the Open 60s Bonduelle, Sill, Pro-Form and
Quiksilver - skipper Anne Liardet departed last night on her qualifier.
This week has seen six of The Transat's IMOCA Open 60 fleet competing in the
1000 Milles de Calais crewed race. The event started last Sunday afternoon
from Calais and saw the boats head west down the Channel across the Celtic
Sea, rounding the Fastnet Rock off southern Ireland before returning to
Calais. The event has been the race debut for the two brand new Marc
Lombard-designed Open 60s Bonduelle and Sill, respectively of former trimaran
skipper Jean le Cam and Roland Jourdain - both favourites for a monohull win
in The Transat. The boats are an evolution of Jourdain's previous Sill and
feature a rotating wingmast with deck spreaders, a canting keel and twin
asymmetric daggerboards, a unique chine in the aft quarters of their hull,
transom hung rudders and a much modified cockpit layout.
After a race-long battle with Mike Golding's team on Ecover, it was the
bright yellow form of le Cam's Bonduelle that arrived first in Calais - an
excellent result for her first race. Sill, launched just 12 days before the
start, was less fortunate and retired with keel problems. As with the
results from the ORMA grand prix the weekend before, little can be read into
these results because the race was fully crewed whereas the Transat is
single-handed.
TENTH EDITION : 1996
Unusually this ran in a similar fashion to the race four years earlier with
Loick Peyron, once again, taking line honours in the 60ft trimaran class
aboard Fujicolor followed by Paul Vatine taking second on board his Region
Haute Normandie but this time by a much closer margin than in 1992 - only
four hours separated the two boats.
The surprise in the French trimaran race for line honours came from Francis
Joyon who chose a route not used by anyone since Blondie Hasler in 1960 - the
Northern route. Joyon went far to the north passing over the top of the
depressions that were slowing his adversaries on the direct route. He had
more than 300-mile lead by the time he had reached the Newfoundland Banks and
nothing seemed capable of stopping him from breaking the record for the
passage. But with just over 400 miles to go to the finish, his Banque
Populaire trimaran capsized. A similar fate befell Laurent Bourgnon on
Primagaz soon after.
Peyron went on to win line honours, the only person since Tabarly to have won
the race twice (Philippe Poupon won in 1988 and crossed the line first in
1984 but lost the race on a time penalty).
The Transat starts on 31st May and email updates will be sent out every week
until the start, then daily for the duration of the race. To unsubscribe,
please email info@thetransat.com
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For further information, please contact
Lou Newlands or Isabel Genis
lou@offshorechallenges.com
isabel@offshorechallenges.com (French/Italian/Spanish speaking)
T: +44 (0)870 063 0218
F: +44 (0)20 7681 2912
Offshore Challenges Events
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