Figaro Solo Transatlantic race 2005 01.04.2005 TROPHEE BPE PROLOGUE TODAY – TWO DAYS UNTIL SKANDIA IS ON START LINE… Skandia is a leading provider of long-term savings and pioneer of the highly successful multi-manager investment approach. IN BRIEF: * TODAY, FRIDAY 1ST APRIL, SAM AND TEN OTHER BENETEAU FIGAROS COMPETING IN THE TROPHÉE BPE WILL TAKE PART IN THE RACE PROLOGUE…PRE-RACE FAVOURITE GILDAS MORVAN WILL NOT BE SAILING DUE TO AN KNEE INJURY… * “I’VE GOT 100 LITRES OF WATER UNDER THE CHART table WHICH IS SOMETHING I DON’T NORMALLY SAIL WITH, AND THAT MAKES THE BOAT A LOT HEAVIER!…” * “I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO THE PROLOGUE, IT WILL BE COMPETITIVE BECAUSE WE’RE ALL COMPETITIVE PEOPLE…” * SKANDIA IS THE FIRST BOAT TO PASS THE PRE-START INSPECTIONS… Alle sind am Kai versammelt Photo : Benoît STICHELBAUT / DPPI IN DETAIL: With two days to go until the start of the Trophée BPE, 11 of the 12 strong fleet left the dock in the Quai du Commerce at 1000BST this morning to take part in the race prologue. Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert) will not be taking part after injuring his knee yesterday going up the mast. He will still be on the start line on Sunday. The prologue starts at 1200BST today and will be their last chance to go out sailing before the race start on Sunday. The course is 15 miles long and the current forecast is an Easterly wind of 15 knots. The boats are expected to arrive back at the dock in St.Nazaire at approximately 1500BST. The results will be on the website later today http://www.samdavies.com/skandia THOUGHTS FROM SAM BEFORE PROLOGUE “I’m looking forward to the prologue, it will be competitive because we’re all competitive people but for me it’s the last chance to go out sailing with Skandia in race configuration, to try out my new ballast tank once more which is only one week old now so – it’ll be good to just try out everything before the race start. I’ve got 100 litres of water under the chart table which is something I don’t normally sail with, and that makes the boat a whole lot heavier. It feels a little bit different so it will be nice to get used to the motion of the boat when she’s laden down and get my head into it. It’s an opportunity to be on my own on SKANDIA for 4-6 hours. At the beginning of a race, I’m quite often inundated with journalists, race committee and working with Erwan to make sure the boat’s ready, so for me it’s quite nice to get a bit of peace for a few hours and be alone with my little boat!” View a video clip of Sam on AUDIO/VIDEO section of website. Images of Sam with her 100 litres of water, where it is stored onboard SKANDIA, and others can be seen in the website GALLERY http://www.samdavies.com/skandia SAM & SKANDIA’S LAST WEEK BEFORE THE START SKANDIA arrived at the Quai du Commerce in St.Nazaire on Saturday afternoon to join the other 11 competing boats. It was a huge relief to leave Port La Forêt after spending the week waiting for the completion of the new water ballast tank. First to pass boat inspections/checks... This week the Trophée BPE race committee have been carrying boat inspections of the whole fleet – one by one. The race committee look at each Beneteau Figaro2 checking all aspects of the boat from sails to safety and technical equipment - this can take a whole day! Lionel Pean, Trophée BPE Race Director, explains the reasoning behind this meticulous process, "Equal opportunity. These inspections make sure that all the competitors comply with the rules of the Figaro class, so that everyone starts the race on a level playing field. No boat has an advantage due to any technical elements they have onboard. This makes it fair - everyone has a chance of winning.” On Tuesday, it was SKANDIA’s turn...after a few minor alterations, the race committee decided that she met all requirements and was the first boat to pass the inspection. First of two skipper briefings... On Tuesday evening, Sam attended the first of two skipper briefings which will take place before the start. This first briefing explained in detail the technical and organisation structure surrounding the race, safety & communications. One interesting aspect for Sam, and especially the eight other skippers who have never done a solo transatlantic race before, was an explanation of the signals a plane will give you in the air in order to communicate with you in the event of rescue. This is a sobering reminder of the dangerous situations they could be faced with... The second briefing taking place on Saturday, the final evening before the race start, will be more focussed on the weather and the race itself. While the skippers have been preparing for today’s prologue, the race village at the Quai du Commerce is being visited by members of public who have come to admire the boats, take photos, soak up the atmosphere and watch the ‘preparateurs’ making the last preparations on their boats. TROPHEE BPE ENTRY LIST (skipper / boat name/ sail number*) 1. BESTAVEN Yannick / AQUARELLE.COM / 34 2. CAUDRELIER Charles / BOSTIK / 3 3. DA CRUZ Antonio Pedro / LITTLE BLACK SHARK / 47 4. DAVIES Samantha (GB) / SKANDIA / 10 5. DROUGLAZET Eric / CREDIT MARITIME - ZEROTWO / 6 6. EMIG Marc / TOTAL / 30 7. GREGOIRE Jeanne / BANQUE POPULAIRE / 40 8. LIVORY Yannig / ENTREPRENDRE AU PAYS DE LORIENT / 67 9. MORVAN Gildas / CERCLE VERT / 5 10. RAISON David / not communicated / 93 11. TRIPON Armel / GEDIMAT / 57 12. VITTET Dominic / ATAO AUDIO SYSTEM / 22 (*If a skipper's finishing position in the Championnat de France 2004 is in the top 10 this determines the number on their indexsail) Official race website: http://www.trophee-bpe2005.com (French only) 2005 FIGARO PROGRAMME 3 April: Trophée BPE 2005 (St.Nazaire – Cienfuegos, Cuba) 6-25 June: La Generali Solo 2005 1-28 August: La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro 2005 PARTNER OF THE DAY : BRITTANY FERRIES Official Cross Channel Travel Partner to Sam and the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team http://www.samdavies.com/brittanyferries Email powered by Active 24 For more information visit http://www.samdavies.com/skandia or contact : Josie Robinson (English) josie@offshorechallenges.com T: +44(0) 870 063 0210 Caroline Muller (Francais) bienvenue@welcomeonboard.fr T: +33 (0)6 80 40 00 24 Other information sources online: Finistère Course au Large Classe Figaro Bénéteau If you would like to unsubscribe or change your frequency, please go to http://www.samdavies.com/updates NOTES TO EDITORS * Skandia Set Sail aims to offer people more opportunities to participate in the sport on a broader level. Its objectives are to make sailing more accessible, grow the sport’s reach and enrich peoples’ lives through the sport. * Skandia's Set Sail portfolio is divided into three groups: events; teams and athletes. * Events include: the title sponsorships of Skandia Cowes Week, the world’s oldest and largest regatta on the Isle of Wight, UK (title sponsors for 10 years in 2004); Skandia Geelong Week in Victoria, Australia – now twinned with Skandia Cowes Week; the Skandia Brown Cup (the Scottish Schools Sailing Championship) and Skandia Cowes Youth Week, a leading international match racing championship. * Teams include: the Skandia Maxi, Australia’s biggest ocean racing yacht and line-honours winner of the 2003 Sydney-Hobart Race. * Athletes include: Star class yachtsmen Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell and Sam Davies, the up and coming single-handed yachtswoman and her Figaro campaign. * Sail 4 Cancer is the official charity of the Skandia Set Sail programme www.sail4cancer.org * For further information contact www.skandiasetsail.com * Skandia in the UK launched in 1979 and is now one of the UK’s leading financial services groups providing pensions, investment and protection products through intermediaries in the UK and overseas. Creators of the multimanager approach, Skandia has teamed up with the world’s top fund managers to create a range of funds tailored for investors’ individual needs. * Parent company, Skandia Insurance Company Limited, is one of Europe’s oldest insurance companies. It has developed and evolved constantly over the years to reach its present position as one of the world's leading long-term saving companies with operations in over 20 countries and assets under management exceeding £56 billion (as at 31.12.04). For more information on Skandia Insurance Company Limited visit www.skandia.com * For more information on Skandia in the UK visit www.skandia.co.uk Issued by Skandia Life Assurance Company Limited. Registered Number: 1363932 England. Registered Office: Skandia House, Portland Terrace, Southampton, SO14 7EJ Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE