Figaro Solo Transatlantic race 2005 05.04.2005 DAY 3: SAM PREPARES SKANDIA FOR STRONG WINDS EXPECTED IN NEXT 24HRS... Skandia is a leading provider of long-term savings and pioneer of the highly successful multi-manager investment approach. IN BRIEF: * SKANDIA HOLDS 5TH PLACE AND WITH A BOAT SPEED OF 6.3 KNOTS IS NOW THE 2ND FASTEST BOAT IN FLEET... * TODAY HAS SEEN 2 NEW RACE LEADERS SINCE THE START, CREDIT MARITIME-ZEROTWO EARLIER THIS MORNING BUT MORE RECENTLY BANQUE POPULAIRE WHO TOOK 1ST AT THE 1000HRS POSITIONS... * THE Stable WIND CONDITIONS ARE FORECASTED TO INCREASE IN STRENGTH OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS... * "I'M MAKING SURE EVERYTHING IS SAFE AND SECURED SO NOTHING CAN FLY AROUND WHEN IT GET'S ROUGH..." IN DETAIL: As the fleet continue west, they have found more stable conditions with winds of around 15 knots. After 36 hours of light winds and continuous sail changes, this new weather system has allowed Sam and the other 11 skippers to take the opportunity to sleep in preparation for the strong winds which are forecasted in the next 24 hours. SKANDIA has held 5th place and is now the 2nd fastest boat in the fleet with a speed of 6.3 knots. The 1000hrs positions show that Sam has gained 1.5nm on the leader since the last report. She is now further south than she had been compared to the leading pack. At 0400hrs, SKANDIA & BOSTIK were the two most northerly boats of the leading six but now SKANDIA has a more central position. Earlier this morning at the 0400hrs positions, CREDIT MARITIME-ZEROTWO took the race lead for the first time with BOSTIK 2nd and BANQUE POPULAIRE 3rd. The latest report at 1000hrs show that BANQUE POPULAIRE has now taken the lead, 2nd is CERCLE VERT (+0.8nm) with CREDIT MARITIME-ZEROTWO in 3rd (+2.7nm). BOSTIK who has held 1st place since the start on Sunday has now dropped down to 4th, 5.6nm behind BANQUE POPULAIRE. The closeness of racing is typical of the Bénéteau Figaro2 Class and with the lead changing hands at every position report every 1/10th of a knot boatspeed counts. These small gains and losses can occur as skippers snatch small amounts of sleep and enter the new weather system at different times. As Sam explained earlier today, "I think it will be different now but in the last 24 hours it was really light and there was a really big shift as the old cold front went through and suddenly there was from 0 up to 18-23 knots of wind yesterday evening so i think it probably depends how quickly people got that." EMAIL LOG FROM SAM Hello! It is just getting light now. We are going upwind on Port tack, skirting around the top of the high pressure. Since the start we have had all kinds of different wind, and indexly very light stuff (between 1 and 2 knots for all of the first night!) Finally, yesterday afternoon, the NW wind filled in and we managed to get going fast at last - 9 knots in the right direction. It was the first time there had been a stable wind, and so I took advantage of the conditions, put the pilot on, and went down below to sleep. I discovered after a few short sleeps that my body tricks itself - I sleep, then when I wake up it feels like I have been asleep for ages, but when I looked at my watch it had only been less than 5min! That explains why I felt so tired yesterday - because I thought I had had some sleep the night before, but in fact, the total amount of sleep was probably less than 30 min. So, the solution was to set the alarm - so that I sleep longer (!) and teach my body not to wake up until the alarm rings! It is normally the other way round! And after that I managed about 4 or 5 20 minute sleeps - very good! Feeling much more refreshed now! The sleep was nicely timed that I was much less tired around 2am when the wind shift came and I had to tack. After the tack I arranged everything inside and outside so that SKANDIA and I are ready for the strong wind that is coming in the next 24hours. All I have left to do is to get some "easy to prepare" food out so that I don't go hungry! These little boats are pretty lively in 30 knots going upwind, so it is almost impossible to do anything whilst she is jumping off the waves. Luckily, this next batch of wind is going to be short-lived! I had spent all of yesterday and last night in the company of Yannick Bestaven and Marc Emig, but as the morning brightens, I can no longer see my "friends"...It is useful to be able to see other boats because you can judge your boat speed and course, so now it is the first time that I am alone for the race I must take care to keep SKANDIA at 100%! It is a beautiful sunrise - with the sun tinting the sky a deep orange! I am not sure how long it will stay nice for - hopefully a few hours of sunshine would be nice to charge my solar panels! Better go now, I need to go and check the trim...... Speak soon Sam x EXCERPTS FROM SAM AUDIO What has it been like this morning? "It's lovely! Fantastic sailing day blowing between 14 and 16 knots of wind. There's big swell from the North-West and just the chop coming from the South-Westerly wind we've got. The sun is out and there are little puffy clouds in the sky! I think I've just gone through the passage of the container ships between Ushant and Cape Finistere because I've had loads of big ships going infront and behind me all morning so I stopped my sleeping pattern to make sure I didn't get run down!" Have you got anybody in sight? "No I did have - last night and all of yesterday I had Yannick Bestaven (AQUARELLE.COM) and Marc Emig (TOTAL) with me, but when it got dark they just seemed to drop back quite quickly and I haven't seen them - I'm not sure if maybe I tacked before them but now i'm all on my lonesome!" You are expecting some stronger winds in the next 24 hours - what kind of things are you doing to prepare for that? "I'm just making sure that everything is safe. We've now got 2 spinnaker poles because we can take a spare so I'm lashing the poles together and securing them to the deck.... making sure my diesel cans are secure and the tops are screwed down tight. Then generally making sure everything is secure down below so nothing can fly around when it get's rough, get some food, and prepare some drinks." To listen to the full audio from Sam go to the Audio/Video section of website. LATEST POSITIONS 1000BST 5/4/05 (boat name / boat speed /distance to leader) 1. BANQUE POPULAIRE / 6.4kts / 0.0 2. CERCLE VERT / 6.3kts / +0.8nm 3. CREDIT MARITIME - ZEROTWO / 5.8kts / +2.7nm 4. BOSTIK / 5.8kts / +5.6nm 5. SKANDIA / 6.3kts / +10.3nm 6. TOTAL / 6.3kts / +13.3nm 7. AQUARELLE.COM / 6.0kts / +13.8nm 8. ENTREPRENDRE AU PAYS DE LORIENT / 6.2kts / 20.2nm 9. LITTLE BLACK SHARK / 5.5kts / +23.5nm 10. COUTOT ROEHRIG / 6.2kts / +24.7nm 11. GEDIMAT / 5.9kts / +31.7m 12. ATAO AUDIO SYSTEM / 5.4kts / +34.4nm Click here for full positions report 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 : MUSTO Official technical clothing supplier to Sam and the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team http://www.samdavies.com/musto 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 Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE