Figaro Solo Transatlantic race 2005 07.04.2005 DAY 5: SKANDIA TOP SPEED SO FAR – 16KNOTS!... Skandia is a leading provider of long-term savings and pioneer of the highly successful multi-manager investment approach. IN BRIEF: * SKANDIA MOVES UP ONE POSITION OVERNIGHT TO 7TH GAINING 3NM ON LEADER... * "I DID MY FIRST 16 KNOTS OF THE RACE WITH THE ASYMMETRIC SPINNAKER UP WHICH WAS COOL, AT THE MOMENT THE WIND IS GUSTING ABOUT 19-29KNOTS..." * SKANDIA AND COUTOT ROEHRIG TAKE THE MOST SOUTHERLY ROUTE, "I'M HAPPY ABOUT BEING SOUTH..." * BANQUE POPULAIRE DROPS DOWN TO 4TH, BOSTIK AND CREDIT MARITIME-ZEROTWO MOVE UP ONE PLACE TO TAKE 2ND AND 3RD... IN DETAIL: SKANDIA moved up one position over night to put her in 7th. Sam has gained 3nm on the leader since 0400hrs, now 29.6nm behind Gildas Morvan (CERCLE VERT) at the 1000hrs position report. No change in the race leader since yesterday morning but with BANQUE POPULAIRE dropping down to 4th, BOSTIK and CREDIT MARITIME-ZEROTWO have both moved up one place to take 2nd and 3rd. SKANDIA and COUTOT ROEHRIG have taken the most southerly route with Antonio Pedro Da Cruz (LITTLE BLACK SHARK) just to the north of them. The question is will their tactics give them an advantage later on?... "I was talking to David Raison last night because we were right next to each other, we had a chat on VHF! I'm happy about being south - I had a look at the weather routing and all the routes show to go south. The latest one I looked at which was more long range, looking further past the Azores, was to go south of the islands. I don't mind being south because the wind is going to come round and the one thing I didn't want to do was to get stuck too far north and end up having to drop the spinnaker to reach back down to get round the Azores." The majority of the fleet are north of the Rhum line and sailing in a cold northerly wind of around 15-29knots in a temperature of around 2-7degrees. All skippers have hoisted their spinnakers are except for one - Antonio Pedro Da Cruz (LITTLE BLACK SHARK) who is still sailing with his genoa. This North wind is forecasted to change to a north-easterly later today. Sam decided to try and get some sleep in last night to enable her to steer in the breeze today. Other skippers decided to stay awake and steer in the "gusty and shifty" variable winds. Marc Emig (TOTAL), Gildas Morvan (CERCLE VERT) and Jeanne Grégoire (BANQUE POPULAIRE) didn't sleep all night. With just over 900nm to the Azores, around 5 days of sailing, it is looking like the fleet will be flying their spinnakers all the way to the islands! EMAIL LOG FROM SAM (0716HRS) Hello I am FREEZING! I can't feel my toes! Luckily, after our experience in the Transat Jaques Vabre (can't sleep unless hands are warm) I remembered to bring some "sleeping gloves!" This year's model of sleeping glove is very high-tech - the Musto windstopper fingerless convertible mittens! They are forbidden from going outside, because for really good sleep performance they must be dry (then you have really nice dreams|!) However, the fingerless option is excellent, as the sleeping gloves double as "chart table gloves"!!! I am typing this with the sleeping gloves on, mitten bit flipped up!! (Being careful that I don't fall asleep as I write!) Yesterday was good - all day tight reaching with asymmetric spinnaker. There is a decision as to how far south to go as we pass the Azores, it is the first real tactical decision of the race, and even though the Azores are a way away, I need to start to plan the approach now, so I have been working a lot looking at the weather forecasts and routing models.... I was pleased with myself last night because I managed to get SKANDIA set up nicely balanced to sail the tight spinnaker reach in 20kts wind under pilot, so I could manage some 20min sleeps. The wind was pretty gusty and shifty, so 20min was max if I was lucky before I needed to trim or ease the sails! I also had to put the pilot on a fairly high power consuming setting, so I must be careful to not use that too often, or I will run out of diesel! Hopefully there will be some more sunshine soon, as sunrise approaches, because I really need to thaw out my feet! Perhaps next time I will have to bring slippers as well as sleeping gloves!!! (and no Charlie, I'm not doing the ARC race!) Sam xx TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO WITH SAM How has it been this morning? "It's been quite windy, I did my first 16 knots of the race with the asymmetric spinnaker up which was cool...going for the wipe out, we're nearly touching the water, I can see through the window - the boom just went in the water, I think I might have to go...actually we're ok now...the wind at the moment is about 19-29knots, last night there was about 25 knots so it's a bit windier this morning. True wind angle is 130." How do you feel about being the most southerly boat of the fleet? "I'm happy being here because I had a look at the weather routing with the Chopper and all the routes show to go south. The latest one I looked at which was more long range, looking further past the Azores was to go south of almost all the islands. I don't mind being south because the wind is going to come round into the south and the one thing I didn't want to do was to get stuck too far north and end up having to drop the spinnaker to reach back down to get round the Azores." What sails do you have up now? "I've got asymmetric spinnaker and full index - it's pretty full on! I just had my boom in the water so it's kind of on the edge! I guess that's why I'm a bit more south, I put the spinnaker up quite early and hooned off south but it's fun, steering so it's cool. In a minute I'm going to go back up and steer for a while." How are the conditions looking for the next 24 hours? "I haven't looked at my chopper yet but it looks like the wind should come round and lift so we should be more 'pole-back' so the conditions should be a little bit easier in the next 24hours. Then we'll be gybing, then wind will head up again as it goes round more in to the south which is why I want to be south to have a good angle coming back towards Flores. Hopefully it will just be full on like this for today and then a bit more borne away. Then I'll change to the big symmetric spinnaker and gybe at some point..." Have you eaten much in the past 24 hours? "I ate more yesterday. I haven't been eating enough because I think I'm only on day 3 of food. After I wrote the email this morning, I ate some of Ellen's left over porridge which warmed me up!" How are you coping with being alone? Are you starting to get in the rhythm of a solo sailor? "Yes, I'm not lonely at all - you get less lonely the more time you're out here because you get used to it. It's different because there's a phone so you never really get lonely. I'm definitely getting in to the rhythm of it, being able to sleep and feeling less tired. The first couple of days I had a really big headache all the time.....WIPE OUT!! OH NOOOOOOO....sorry there's a really big swell!...every time we get a really big wave the boat goes up the wave...it's ok now!...I'm really getting in to the rhythm of it and it's fine. I'll probably get really bored in between 5-10 days when we'll have easier conditions but at the moment it's great!" Listen to the full audio from Sam at Audio/Video section of website Communications thanks to BT Broadband JARGON BUSTER CHOPPER - this is a weather file that gets loaded into Sam's Vaio laptop computer and displays forecast wind for the next 5 days - helping her to predict where she should position the boat for the best conditions. Every 6 hours there is a new weather model and learning how to interpret the data is a key skill. RHUM LINE - this is the course that you would steer directly between two points...this is hardly ever the fastest route as the wind direction means the skippers must sail where the wind allows them - in this case the weather system over the first 4 days kept the entire fleet more north than the Rhum line. LATEST POSITIONS 1000 BST 7/4/05 (boat name / boat speed /distance to leader) 1. CERCLE VERT / 9.0kts / 3697.8nm to finish 2. BOSTIK / 8.7kts / +3.8nm 3. CREDIT MARITIME - ZEROTWO / 9.8kts / +4..8nm 4. BANQUE POPULAIRE / 8.3kts / +6.2 5. AQUARELLE.COM / 9.0kts / +16.1nm 6. TOTAL / 8.5kts / +23.3nm 7. SKANDIA / 10.6kts / +29.6nm 8. COUTOT ROEHRIG / 8.5kts / +31.2nm 9. ENTREPRENDRE AU PAYS DE LORIENT / 8.3kts / 33.9nm 10. GEDIMAT / 11.0kts / +40.9m 11. LITTLE BLACK SHARK / 8.9kts / +42.6nm 12. ATAO AUDIO SYSTEM / 8.1kts / +45.2nm 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 : RENAULT Official vehicle supplier to Sam and the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team http://www.samdavies.com/renault 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 Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE