11.06.2004
SKANDIA ON A CHARGE TO BOSTON....
IN BRIEF:
* Nick Moloney and Skandia jumped on the North Atlantic expressway to Boston last night. Chasing the leading 3 boats.
* Swiss yachtsman Dominique Wavre on TEMENOS has taken 2nd position from Mike Sanderson on PINDAR
* Light airs ahead all the way to the finish, forecast show many holes in the fickle breeze.
IN DETAIL :
Nick Moloney has been chewing-up miles overnight. His Open 60 SKANDIA continues to make great strides on third place in the Transat race, that reaches its climax in Boston this weekend. Her deficit has dwindled from 110 miles on Dominique Wavre`s TEMENOS yesterday to 84 miles on Mike Sanderson’s (now third placed) PINDAR on Friday.
PINDAR’S broken daggerboard looks to have cost Sanderson second place into Boston this weekend, will it now cost him third? in a call between Sanderson and Moloney overnight Mike expressed his frustration with the current conditions
SKANDIA was the fastest yacht in the top six overnight, covering 189.61 miles in the 24 hours upto 0900 GMT.
Fifth-placed Conrad Humphreys on HELLOMOTO sailed into a hole last night and could only watch as SKANDIA pulled away to put 95 miles between them.
Briton Mike Golding on ECOVER holds the lead. He has a 37-mile buffer on TEMENOS with 365 miles to sail to Boston.
In a call to the Skandia Multimanager Shore Team in Boston this morning Nick said that he was "pleased with his position but is expecting to sail into some light patches soon" he had been on the phone with some of the other sailors in the fleet - including his good friend JoJo on VMI, who had been heading towards New Foundland overnight - "looking for ice for the finish party beers" as they chatted, they compared the conditions - both sailors have found it very very cold - colder than the southern ocean when they sailed together to win the Jules Verne Trophy on the maxi catamaran ORANGE - " This race course is the coldest there is...the nights are really very clear with incredible stars, but really cold, we are certainly looking forward to the warmer weather ( and the welcome ) that we can expect in Boston, I am really really looking forward to the finish line - but we have some tricky conditions to get through"
IMOCA POSITIONS 1300 GMT
NAME / SKIPPER / LAT / LONG / DIST
1. ECOVER / Golding / 43 05.72'N / 63 08.56'W / 346 to finish
2. TEMENOS / Wavre / 43 02.32'N / 62 18.88'W / 41.6 behind leader
3. PINDAR ALPHAGRAPHICS / Sanderson / 42 55.88'N / 62 13.12'W / 40.67 behind leader
4. SKANDIA / Moloney / 43 09.04'N / 60 24.36'W / 120.49 behind leader
5. HELLOMOTO / Humphrey's / 41 47.20'N / 58 18.40'W / 220.75 behind leader
ABD CHEMINÉES POUJOULAT - AMOR LUX / STAMM
ABD PRB / RIOU
ABD VIRBAC / Dick
QINETIQ FACT OF THE DAY : SLEEP DEPRIVATION
Nick has been sailing for over 11 days. Under normal circumstances, on dry land, Nick would have slept for over 80 hours during that period, averaging between 7 and 8 hours per night. During the course of the Transat, it is unlikely that Nick has slept more than 20 hours IN TOTAL and never for a significant period in one time.
Every systems and process within the human body is affected by sleep derivation. Generally, gross physical activities (e.g. winching or grinding) are less affected than functions involving mental thought and decision making (cognitive functions).
Activities requiring vigilance or a substantial cognitive effort will deteriorate in proportion to the level of sleep deprivation. Creative thinking, vigour, perception of effort or exertion, and the ability to exercise maximally are all reduced as a result of sleep deprivation and levels of confusion and fatigue are increased.
Lack of sleep does not generally affect levels of anger and depression, muscular strength, or exercise metabolism, and there are no changes in the performance of simple/practiced psychomotor tasks (motor tasks that depend upon sensory or perceptual coordination of the muscles).
All these effects of sleep deprivation are compounded by the general physical fatigue and emotional stress associated with the task of racing a 60-foot yacht across the Atlantic single-handed. The daily reports coming in from Nick and many of the other skippers are showing indications that they are beginning to report the classic symptoms associated with sleep deprivation.
Further information see http://www.qinetiq.com
PERFORMANCE PARTNER OF THE DAY : RENAULT UK
Official supplier of Transportation to Nick and the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team
http://www.nickmoloney.com/renault
For more information visit http://www.nickmoloney.com or contact :
Helen King
hk@offshorechallenges.com
T : +44(0)870 063 0210
M : +44(0)7870 678360
* For further information contact http://www.skandiasetsail.com
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