The Transat Race 2004 Plymouth - Boston - Start 31.05.2004 www.thetransat.com - zur Übersicht 02.06.2004 THE TRANSAT: CALM BEFORE THE STORM... 'One man, one boat, the sea...The Transat established in 1960 as the OSTAR' IN BRIEF: * LEADING FLEET PREPARE THEMSELVES FOR FIRST NORTH ATLANTIC STORM... * STRING OF DAMAGE AND FAILURES REPORTED BUT NO 'RACE STOPPING' INCIDENTS... * MIKE GOLDING CLIMBS BACK INTO SECOND Ahead OF PINDAR ALPHAGRAPHICS BUT NO HOPE OF REPAIRING KEEL HYDRAULICS... * RICH WILSON BACK IN THE FRAME OVER-TAKING MIKE BIRCH'S NOOTKA... Foto: Sergio Tacchini DPPI Franck Cammas-Kollision mit Wal IN DETAIL: When Blondie Hasler originally conceived the OSTAR (as The Transat was previously known) the idea was for the event to be a challenge, hence it is not fully crewed nor does it run in the same direction as the prevailing wind conditions. The competitors in the 2004 race are to receive first hand experience of what Hasler had in mind, as in the next 24-48 hours they will experience their first major North Atlantic gale of the race complete with 50 knot headwinds and giant waves coming from exactly the direction they want to sail. All the competitors are aware of the impending weather and will be doing all they can to ensure that they can not only survive it, but reindex competitive. On the 60ft multihulls skippers have the benefit of being able to talk to shore-based routers who can advise them of the best course of action, but on the IMOCA monohulls this practice is prohibited and the task of routing is entirely down to the skipper who are able to use 'publicly available' weather sources such as website with meteorologicial information. Over the last 24 hours the conditions they have been experiencing could not have been more different to what lies ahead as the boats have tackled the light winds found in a high pressure ridge. The ORMA 60 multihulls are now through this as are the monohull frontrunners, but those further back are having less luck. On board Skandia lying in a disappointing 10th position Nick Moloney summed up his situation: "Full keel, desperately trying to get out of this ridge with the others...need a bit of luck over the next few days." For those that are through the ridge the wind is building and it is a high speed day. At the 1300GMT position update for example the two leading multihulls had both averaged more than 22 knots for the previous four hours. The race across the Atlantic is not merely a game of tactics and staying awake for as long as possible. The greatest distraction from racing is when breakage or damage occurs. Some competitors have been experiencing technical problems. Most notable of these is Mike Golding who confirmed today that the engine driving the hydraulics for Ecover's keel canting mechanism had "fried" and was unfixable. He has mastered a technique by which he can haul the sheets in and heel the boat as much as possible before dropping the keel down. With the boat at a crazy angle he then throws the helm over to go on to the new tack. But in the light conditions in the high pressure ridge Golding says he suffered from not being able to heel his boat over enough. His situation is now improving as the wind builds and he has since recovered second place in the monohull class from Mike Sanderson's Pindar AlphaGraphics, which has now dropped back to fourth. Today has seen a spate of boats damaged through collisions with floating objects. This morning Groupama skipper Franck Cammas reported that he had collided with a whale that brought the boat to a halt. His boat's daggerboard is still intact but there is some superficial damage to the board's case. Both Karine Fauconnier and Yves Parlier in the 60ft multihulls class have admitted collisions with large submerged pieces of wood that have hit their rudders. Fortunately, on Fauconnier's trimaran Sergio Tacchini the centre of her three rudders is fitted with a safety system that allows the rudder to 'pop up' in the event of a collision. This worked but Fauconnier said she had lost 1.5 hours securing the rudder back in its 'down' position. Most recently Swiss skipper Steve Ravussin has reported that his index rudder (the trimarans have three, one on each hull) has broken. Ravussin says that he is continuing. In the respective fights for first place, Michel Desjoyeaux's Geant took over the lead in the early hours of this morning from Thomas Coville's Sodebo in the multihulls while Transat Jacques Vabre winner Jean-Paul Dick on board Virbac has extended his by 30 miles ahead of Golding's Ecover over the course of the last 24 hours. Among the 50 footers, Eric Bruneel's slick trimaran Trilogic has doubled her lead over Franck-Yves Escoffier's Crepes Whaou, while American Kip Stone's Open 50 monohull Artforms has extended her lead over Wells Fargo-American Pioneer of Joe Harris. In the battle between the two Irens 50ft trimarans Rich Wilson on Great American II overtook race veteran Mike Birch aboard Nootka in the early hours of this morning. POSITIONS: For latest positions go to http://www.thetransat.com and click on the 'Latest Race Data/Latest Positions' on the orange bar and then click on leaderboard. Positions are available daily every 2 hours from 0600BST-1800BST. 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