Transat Jacques Vabre 2005 www.teamellen.com zur Übersicht 05.11.2005 TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE MONOHULL START In a South Westerly 20 knot breeze, under relatively clear skies but in fairly rough seas already, the 19 strong Open 60 & 50 monohull fleet, all with 1 or 2 reefs in the indexsail and staysail or Solent sail hoisted, set off from the line on port tack heading directly offshore towards the headland at Contentin and into fiercer weather forecast for tonight. Fotos: Yvan Zedda SILL: Rasanter Start in Le Havre Three to five days of gale force conditions and heavy seas lie ahead of them in their 4,340 mile voyage to Bahia in Brazil. With no inshore course to navigate off the line, the monohull fleet were able to get away smoothly in the strong conditions. Bernard Stamm and Yann Elies on Cheminées Poujoulat took the best start ahead of UUDS, skippered by Hervé Laurent and Laurent Massot. All the race favourites weren’t far behind though, starting with Bonduelle, skippered by Jean Le Cam and Kito de Pavant in third. In the Open 50 class, Défi Vendéen, raced by Jean-François Durand & Karen Leibovici crossed the line first at the same time as Bonduelle. At the end of 20 minutes of upwind sailing on the race course, a group of 6 Open 60s opted for one reef in the indexsail and staysail combination, and took about 500 metres out of those who preferred to keep the Solent up. In this leading group, tightly packed together, the race favourites emerged in this order around the Metzinger marker buoy : Mike Golding and Dominique Wavre (Ecover), Roland Jourdain and Ellen MacArthur (Sill et Veolia), Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron (Virbac-Paprec), Jean Le Cam and Kito de Pavant (Bonduelle). Brian Thompson and Will Oxley (Skandia), as well as Marc Thiercelin and Eric Drouglazet (Pro-Form). Sailing upwind, boat speed for the Open 60’s was around 12 knots, quite impressive considering the uncomfortable seas. Under a steel grey sky, these colourful wings cut a contrasting picture against the dramatic cliffs off Le Havre. In the Open 50 class, Kip Stone and Merf Owen on Artforms came through to lead the fray but was pipped at the Metzinger marker buoy by rivals Joe Harris and Josh Hall on Gryphon Solo. Earlier in the day, Race Director, Jean Maurel, admitted to being a little nervous in these situations: “We’d have preferred that the first 24 – 48 hours was calmer to get the sailors settled into the race. So right from the off, they’re not going to get much sleep for the next 4/5 days, the strongest conditions are forecast for Tuesday with gale force winds and a big sea... These are heavy conditions to start off in, the skippers should all be preserving their boats during this time because it is truly boat-breaking weather. All the boats are extremely well prepared, and this kind of weather in November is not unexpected.” Weather Forecast by Louis Bodin Saturday afternoon: 15 – 20 knots from the SW on the start line. This wind from the SW is likely to shift towards the SSW at the end of the day, and build to 20 – 25 knots then 30 knots off the Contentin headland. The sea state will get rougher around the coastline. During the first night Sat – Sun: the wind will rotate to the SSW at 20 – 30 knots. This will be quite an irregular breeze. The swell will build continuously as the fleet approaches the mouth of the English Channel. Sunday: For the monohulls the wind will stay from the SSW with a very choppy sea state, 4 – 5 metre waves, the swell from the SW, as the fleet exit the English Channel. For the multihulls the start will be rougher than for the monohulls. SSW wind on the start line from 20 – 25 knots gusting to 30 knots. The sea nearer to the coast will be manageable. However offshore the sea state will be very rough. During the night Sun – Mon the wind is likely to rotate again to the SW 15 – 25 knots, then to the West at the end of the night when the first front passes. The shift to the West will be gradual. The sea will be particularly difficult with the strong SW swell. Monday: New rotation to the South – South West with the winds building from 20 – 30 knots, then 35 – 40 knots at the end of the day. Big swell from the South West. Tuesday: Passage of a more active front than the first with a violent rotation of the wind to the North West, between 30 – 40 knots at the end of the day. A strong SW swell with breaking wave tops, creating a difficult sea at the passing of the front. Ranking at the ‘Metzinger’ Top Marker buoy: Open 60 Fleet: 1. Ecover (Golding/Wavre) 2. Sill (Jourdain/MacArthur) 3. Pro-Form (Thiercelin/Drouglazet Open 50 Fleet: 1. Gryphon Solo (Harris/Hall) 2. Artforms (Stone/Owen) 3. Vedettes de Bréhat (De Broc/S. Escoffier) Official Rankings at 14:46 GMT Open 60 class: Pstn / Boat / Lat / Long / Hdg / DTF / DTL 1 Sill et Veolia 49 34.68' N 0 10.32' W 12.1 292 4330.3 0.0 2 Ecover 49 34.56' N 0 10.32' W 11.9 290 4330.4 0.0 3 Virbac-Paprec 49 34.92' N 0 10.12' W 12.1 294 4330.4 0.1 4 Bonduelle 49 35.00' N 0 10.00' W 12.3 296 4330.5 0.1 5 Skandia 49 34.88' N 0 09.56' W 11.6 296 4330.8 0.5 6 Pro-Form 49 34.44' N 0 09.92' W 11.4 289 4331.0 0.7 7 Roxy 49 34.28' N 0 09.16' W 11.0 292 4331.2 0.9 Open 50 class: Pstn / Boat / Lat / Long / Hdg / DTF / DTL 1 Gryphon Solo 49 33.92' N 0 08.08' W 10.0 294 4332.3 0.0 2 Artforms 49 33.80' N 0 07.72' W 9.9 293 4332.6 0.3 3 Vedettes de Bréhat 49 33.80' N 0 06.96' W 9.4 297 4333.1 0.7 Quotes from the Boats: Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) : “We’re ready to face the blow which will take us into the English Channel and down to Ushant. The bigger issue is the sea-state, otherwise it is a fairly classic weather forecast for this time of year, which doesn’t really afford any great tactical opportunities. We just have to push through and preserve the boat before getting into the Trade winds, which are looking very well established and high up in latitude.” Mike Golding (Ecover) : “We are pretty happy about going upwind in strong conditions, because it is exactly in this kind of weather that the boat excels. This will be our opportunity.” Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle) : “Of course we’d all prefer to have 15 knots of following breeze than 40 knots on the nose. We have to manage the situation so that we stay up in the lead pack but don’t break anything on the boat, and look after ourselves until we get to Cape Finisterre....and then all the way to Bahia ! On days like these, I’m glad I’m not on a multi... !” Loïck Peyron (Virbac-Paprec) : “We’re going to see some beautiful big seas, that’s going to shake us all up for sure, but it’s no stress. With Jean-Pierre, we already encountered similar conditions in our qualifier and we can still perform well. The weather forecast is a real eye-opener, with two fronts passing in succession and not necessarily at the same speed. There’ll be some tricky navigating ahead.” International Media Relations: Mary Ambler Email: mary.ambler@xalt.co.uk Mob: +44 (0)7887 643 583 TV Media Relations: Anne Millet Email: millet-anne@wanadoo.fr Race web site: www.jacques-vabre.com – click on the Union Jack flag to go to the English version Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE