The Transat Race 2004 Plymouth - Boston - Start 31.05.2004 www.thetransat.com - zur Übersicht 04.06.2004 THE TRANSAT: MIKE GOLDING TAKES THE LEAD... 'One man, one boat, the sea...The Transat established in 1960 as the OSTAR' IN BRIEF: * MIKE GOLDING TAKES LEAD IN OPEN 60 CLASS... * NIGHT OF 'ARMAGEDDON' FOR ORMA 60 SKIPPERS... * ORMA 60 REDUCE DANGER OF ICE WITH 'GENTELEMAN'S AGREEMENT'... See the official Omega clock showing race time http://www.thetransat.com IN DETAIL: Grin and bear it. The leading Open 60 skippers have been looking at the weather charts as well as observing the increased lumpiness of sea over the course of today and have become resigned to the fact that tonight will see them enduring 45 knot headwinds. Eiszone vor Neufundland Neuer Flottenleader/DPPI Thus it will come as little solace to British Open 60 skipper Mike Golding that according to the 1500GMT position reports he had finally managed to overtake French skipper Jean-Pierre Dick who has led the monohull class for the last days. "We've got 35 knots going upwind in a big lumpy sea, so right now, making ground on the leader is irrelevant," Golding said before this news had come through. "It's a case of last man standing. These boats aren't built to go upwind in this type of breeze in seas like this." After receiving a 45 knot whipping last night, skippers in the ORMA multihull fleet have today been recounting their war stories. While race leader Michel Desjoyeaux has extended his lead to 60 miles and says he slept through last night's chaos, other skippers were not so fortunate. "The night was hard when we passed the centre of the low pressure with rough sea and wind increasing to around 45-50 knots," recounted Foncia skipper, Alain Gautier. "I was on starboard [tack] for one hour and in two minutes it was armageddon - the indexsheet broke and the boom went down and the battens broke on the rig. I broke four battens and I have to drop the indexsail but with 45 knots it is not easy." Banque Populaire trimarans have capsized the last two times this race has run and skipper Lalou Roucayrol said that he had come perilously close to scoring a hat trick. Sailing at 25 knots his trimaran had launched out of the water and dived headlong into a wave burying all three of her bows in freezing North Atlantic water back to the mast with her transoms pointing heavenward, her three rudders completely clear of the water. By a miracle the trimaran halted at this point and her sterns crashed back down allowing the French skipper to continue, albeit considerably shaken. Fred le Peutrec was struck by a more routine problem that again could easily have ended in catastrophe. Sailing under reefed index and a small jib, the fierce 40 knot winds unfurled the top of his Solent jib, causing the sail - not normally used above 20 knots - to balloon high up in the rig. This situation is what had caused Philippe Monnet's Sopra Group to capsize in the 2002 Route du Rhum. It took le Peutrec six hours to untangle the sail and get back into the race. In contrast tonight will see the leading multihulls attempting to avoid running out of wind as they pass through another high pressure ridge. Potential disaster in the ORMA multihull class was reduced this afternoon with the news that the skippers have reached a gentleman's agreement to leave a waypoint to starboard enabling them to avoid the worst of 'iceberg alley' to the east and south east of Newfoundland. They have agreed not to sail into a zone to the northwest of 47degN 47degW and this will have a significant bearing on their course over the next hours. Elsewhere in the fleet Vincent Riou on Open 60 PRB has dropped six places. First one of his transom-hung rudders came off and he spent one hour attempting to refix it. Subsequently several of the fittings retaining the battens in his indexsail failed. A long way to the northeast of the fleet second placed 50ft multihull Crepes Whaou! of Franck-Yves Escoffier has been forced to retire from The Transat when his trimaran's daggerboard broke. 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. Email powered by Active ISP http://www.activeISP.com 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 Cowes Waterfront - Venture Quays Castle Street East Cowes Isle of Wight PO32 6EZ Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE