Oceanracing 2004 - The Transat Race 2004 - ORMA 60 RACE - Plymouth

The Transat Race 2004
Plymouth - Boston
www.thetransat.com - zur Übersicht

01.06.2004
* A TOUGH FIRST NIGHT AT SEA...

* ORMA 60 MULTIHULL SKIPPER MICHEL DESJOYEAUX FINDS CONDITIONS HARD-GOING..."I'M TOO OLD"

* SEVERE WEATHER EXPECTED...

See the official Omega clock showing race time http://www.thetransat.com

IN DETAIL:
The first night at sea for The Transat entrants has been hard work in 20 knot headwinds with constant manoeuvring and frequent tacks within the tightly packed fleet. Once passed The Lizard, sea conditions calmed slightly, but this did not allow any rest for the skippers. Early this morning Franck Cammas on ORMA 60 Groupama explained that he had spent all night on deck, strapped into his seat at the helm unwilling to go below. Cammas opted to carry two reefs and a staysail throughout the night to limit the risk of any early breakages.

Positionen 0600BST

The multihull fleet are currently 20-30 miles off the Irish coast, heading northwest in a pack spreading 50 miles north/south with Thomas Coville on Sodebo leading the charge just two miles ahead of Geant. Before leaving the Celtic Sea and crossing the edge of Europe's continental shelf, the skippers may have a brief spell to reorganise and dry-out their yachts before encountering the next ridge of weather at around midday British time. All skippers are preparing for heavy weather over the next couple of days; Michel Desjoyeaux this morning that the ridge would be quicker and narrower than forecast, but followed by severe conditions behind the low pressure, adding "I'm too old to take all these waves".

First 60 ft monuhull to round The Lizard - Pindar AlphaGraphics - reindexs the most northerly IMOCA yacht, but Mike Golding (Ecover) has taken the lead overnight although Jean-Pierre Dick on Virbac has shaved seven miles off Golding's lead in the past few hours. In communication with the race organisation earlier today, Jean-Pierre Dick admitted that he has had almost no sleep since the race start at 14:00 BST yesterday and sounded increasingly tired during the brief, satellite 'phone conversation. It is unlikely that the skippers will have a good chance to rest before the effects of the gale force, southwesterly winds produced in the zone between the next low rolling across the North Atlantic and the Azores High system centred around 40°N.

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THE TRANSAT: POSITIONS 0600BST 1.6.04
Giovanni Soldini takes lead in ORMA 60 class but only just over 1 mile separating him from Coville and Desjoyeaux. Mike Golding holds onto lead in IMOCA 60 class ahead of Jean Pierre Dick and Mike Sanderson. Eric Bruneel 8 miles in front of Franck-Yves Escofffier in the 50ft multihull class as Kip Stone gets to grips with his new 50ft monohull Artforms to take the lead overnight.

ORMA 60
1st TIM-Progetto Italia / Soldini / 2546.0
2nd Sodebo / Coville / 2547.3
3rd Geant / Desjoyeaux / 2547.9
4th Groupama / Cammas / 2549.4
5th Sopra Group / Monnet / 2557.31
6th Banque Covefi / Ravussin / 2558.5
7th Banque Populaire / Roucayrol / 2565.5
8th Sergio Tacchini / Fauconnier / 2566.2
9th Gitana X / Guillemot / 2566.3
10th Gitana XI / Le Peutrec / 2576.9
11th Foncia / Gautier / 2585.8
12th Mediatis Region Aquitaine / Parlier / 2588.5

IMOCA 60
1st Ecover / Golding / 2607.7
2nd Virbac / Dick / 2610.9
3rd Pindar AlphaGraphics / Sanderson / 2617.1
4th PRB / Riou / 2617.3
5th Temenos / Wavre / 2619.5
6th Cheminees Poujoulat-Armor Lux / 2620.7
7th VMI / Josse / 2622.5
8th Pro-Form / Thiercelin / 2624.0
9th Hellomoto / Humphreys / 2625.8
10th Skandia / Moloney / 2638.2
11th UUDS / Laurent / 2639.4
12th Objectif3 / Hedrich / 2639.5
13th Quicksilver Edition / Liardet / 2647.5
14th Austria One / Sedlacek / 2660.5
15th Atlantica-Charentes Maritimes / Leibovici / 2683.5

MUTLI 50
1st Trilogic / Bruneel / 2618.3
2nd Crepes Whaou! / Escoffier / 2626.2
3rd Gifi / Demachy / 2650.7
4th PIR2 / Hochede / 2680.2
5th Nootka / Birch / 2734.1
6th Great America II / Wilson / not left Plymouth

MONO 50
1st Artforms / Stone / 2640.9
2nd Wells Fargo-American Pioneer / Harris / 2646.6
3rd Okami / Bouchacourt / 2654.8
4th Branec III / Langevein / 2677.2