Figaro Solo Transatlantic race 2005 26.04.2005 DAY 24: 36HRS OF WIND BEFORE THE CALMS RETURN... Skandia is a leading provider of long-term savings and pioneer of the highly successful multi-manager investment approach. IN BRIEF: * 32 MILES SEPARATE TOP 10 BOATS... * SKANDIA IN 4TH, FURTHER PLACE CHANGING EXPECTED TODAY WITH SUCH SMALL DISTANCES BETWEEN BOATS... * SKANDIA SPENTS THE AFTERNOON SAILING ALONGSIDE 2ND & 3RD PLACED BOATS BOSTIK & CERCLE VERT. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PHOTO TAKEN BY SAM OF BOSTIK, METRES AWAY... * WIND FORECASTED TO STABILISE FOR NEXT 36 HOURS... IN DETAIL: With just 32 miles separating the top 10 boats, this is one of the closest finishes ever seen in a transatlantic race. SKANDIA is now 4th, 4nm behind BOSTIK in 3rd and 0.6nm in front of 5th ATAO AUDIO SYSTEM. Race leader CREDIT MARITIME-ZEROTWO has pulled away and is 16nm ahead of CERCLE VERT in 2nd. At the 1900hrs position report last night, SKANDIA moved up to 2nd but considering the 5 leading boats are now within 22 miles of each other, it is no surprise to see SKANDIA back in 4th this morning. Further place changing is expected today as the fleet continue to compress averaging speeds between 5 and7 knots. SKANDIA was not alone on the water yesterday, after spending the afternoon sailing alongside BOSTIK with CERCLE VERT just in front, "It’s quite nice to gauge my speed against them, and it was good to have Gildas and Charles next to me because they’re really fast!" Click here to download photo taken by Sam of BOSTIK (all images can be viewed in Gallery on website) Conditions are forecasted to improve today as the sea breeze fills in later on. The next 36 hours will see the fleet gybing downwind, hopefully creating easier sailing conditions. Due to the closeness of this race, and their competitiveness, the 12 skippers are being forced into racing with the strategy they would normally adopt in a normal short race - minimal sleep and maximum time at the helm. After racing 3800nm across the Atlantic this is not recommended, "I think everyone's going to collapse at the end of this race!" EMAIL FROM SAM (0120HRS) Hello I think I might melt if it gets any hotter! The thermometer registered 43 degrees C today (in the sunshine) the one in the cabin was 36. I think I drank at least 5 litres of water / isostar today! For me last night was the hardest night of the race. I was tired and stressed to see everyone behind catching up like that. It is so hard when you work hard and sail well to get ahead, then it is all for nothing as you get an unlucky break with the weather and everyone else catches up. Also there was little wind! But the morning brought a better mood for me (even though I only managed to snatch 20 min sleep) and I realised that it is worse for others, when the boat next to me turned out to be Charles (Bostik) who had been stuck in no wind under the point for 12 hours! We had a long chat on the VHF and he told me that the first thing that came into his head when he saw me was that he would kill for an English breakfast!! (I keep a stock of Heinz baked beans in Concarneau and Roindex and I cook English breakfast occasionally as an English treat for friends!! Charles is a fan!) Unfortunately I don't have beans on board as they are too heavy! Charles is dreaming of food as all he has left is freeze dried (no treats or snacks!) I was happy to be with Charles, and just in front of us was Gildas, so when the 2 knots of wind kicked in we went off together. That is good for me because I know that these two are some of the fastest boats in the fleet, and the two of them will be pushing each other, so if I manage to "hang on" to them I will be sailing fast. It was a case of "hanging on" but as night falls now, they are just ahead - infact, it was a case of rich get richer today and Gildas got away from Charles and he got away from me. But it was another long and hot day at the tiller in the scorching heat! Luckily, now, a little more breeze has filled in and I can put the pilot on - hooray! I think I might be able to get some sleep at last (I know that I am lacking in sleep) Only 382 nm to go! But we are only doing 4.5 knots over the ground. There is one knot of current against us. So we could still be out here for 4 days! We are all checking we have enough water to last. I have more than 20 litres, so I will be OK - even if I drink 5 l /day! (it's possible!) Anyway, I need to go trim the sails, then it is dinner. Now it is the night it is cool enough to eat (29 deg in cabin, less outside) - spaghetti bolognaise tonight - my favourite! A deindex... Sam x EXTRACTS FROM AUDIO WITH SAM (1000HRS) How was your night? “It was good, I slept most the night, the wind picked up to 15 knots and we were dead running, which is a bit annoying because you’re not heading for the mark. It was still slow but better than the last 4 days! I got the boat nicely trimmed, had some dinner then went to bed. There are quite a lot of ships around so you can’t sleep for a long time. I was sleeping for 30 minutes at a time and then going up and checking the trim, checking for ships, then sleeping again. When there was a ship close by, I had a little snooze in the cockpit on my beanbag. Now I’m feeling much more refreshed but the wind has dropped off now so it’s only 9-10 knots which is a bit frustrating. I thought it was because I gybed in shore but I gybed back out again and there was nothing left out there either. Right now, I’m on the gybe towards the shore, which I think is the paying gybe at the moment. I’ve lost my friends now, because when it got dark I couldn’t see their nav lights which was a bit disappointing, but I can hear them on the radio so they can’t be too far away!” How is it looking for the next 24 hours? “There is a little bit of wind and then the winds going to decrease again and we’ll be stuck in no wind again in about a day and a half I think. We’re gybing downwind to the tip, which will be the next 36 hours in fact, to get to Cabo Cruz. There should be a bit more sea breeze today because there’s a bit of gradient, so hopefully the sea breeze will pull that round and we’ll have a nice angle to gybe in to the point, which will be good. Hopefully sailing downwind they’ll be slightly easier sailing conditions so we can hide in the shade a bit in the heat and not have to stuck on the tiller with a sheet in our hand.” What is it like sailing so closely to other boats? Can you gauge when they are sleeping and benefit from that? “It’s quite nice to gauge my speed against them, and it was good to have Gildas (CERCLE VERT) and Charles (BOSTIK) because they’re really fast. So it’s good to have them but at the same time, it’s difficult cause if you push to hard then you completely wear yourself out. Then you fall asleep and lose them completely so you have to find a balance. You can’t tell when the other skippers are sleeping even when you’re sailing close to each other. It makes no difference to boat speed because you only sleep when you know there will be no change in boatspeed.” Did you expect this race to be so close? “No not really but then this isn’t a normal transatlantic race - it has a freaky finish and this has put a stop button on everyone. It’s not surprising at all. This 2nd stage of this race is like a completely different race. I can’t wait to finish now, not because I’m not happy out here, just because this last bit is really frustrating. All the hard work that we have done up until now has come to nothing.” Listen to the full audio from Sam at Audio/Video section of website. Communications thanks to BT Broadband LATEST POSITIONS 1000 BST 26/4/05 (boat name / average boat speed /distance to leader) 1. CREDIT MARITIME - ZEROTWO / 5.0kts / 331.2nm to finish 2. CERCLE VERT / 6.9kts / +16.6nm 3. BOSTIK / 6.6kts / +17.0nm 4. SKANDIA / 5.2kts / +21.4nm 5. ATAO AUDIO SYSTEM / 6.9kts / +22.0nm 6. BANQUE POPULAIRE / 6.4kts / +30.0nm 7. AQUARELLE.COM / 7.0kts / +30.4nm 8. COUTOT ROEHRIG / 7.4kts / +30.9nm 9. TOTAL / 6.3kts / +31.1nm 10. GEDIMAT / 6.0kts / +32.6nm 11. ENTREPRENDRE AU PAYS DE LORIENT / 8.4kts / 63.3nm 12. LITTLE BLACK SHARK / 9.0kts / +211.0nm 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