18.11.2005
Press Release No. 18
Friday 18th November, 2005
www.jacques-vabre.com
TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE 05:
UNDER 1 HOUR AND 15M BETWEEN VIRBAC-PAPREC AND SILL ET VEOLIA IN FINAL 100M TO THE LINE
• Leaders: at 14:44:00 GMT: Banque Populaire 952.5m DTF (ORMA 60), Virbac-Paprec 92.6m DTF (IMOCA 60), Gryphon Solo 1494.6m DTF (Open 50 Monohull), Crepes Whaou ! 64.4m DTF (Open 50 Multihull)
• ETAs: The current ETA for the first boat into Bahia is between 1600 – 1700 local time (1900 – 2000 GMT) for Open 50 Multihull Crepes Whaou! The IMOCA Monohull leaders Virbac-Paprec and Sill et Veolia are expected to arrive from around 2200 – 2300 local time (0100 – 0200 GMT)
• Brazil Media Centre: The fixed telephone line for all media enquiries 24/7 is: 00 55 71 3319 3435. Please call this number in the first instance to reach me.
• You can Skype me! I will be on Skype out in Brazil (Search for MaryAmbler) when working if conversation is needed.
• Arrival images: the official photographer, Yvan Zedda, will be sending out arrival photographs to a pre-arranged list, make sure you’ve let me know you want to be on it to get these pix.
• Race Record for the IMOCA Monohull class is held by Roland Jourdain and Gael Le Cleac’h on Sill Plein Fruit in the 2001 Transat Jacques Vabre, finishing the race after 16 days, 13 hours and 23 minutes at an average boat speed of 10.9 knots.
ARRIVAL PROCEDURE
At each arrival, the finish & elapsed time will go online immediately. There will be an official welcome and 'Champagne Mumm' moment on the pontoon, followed by a press conference and then the skippers will record audio interview for the web site and media. Transcripts of these audio interviews will go online as soon as possible. A finish press release will be sent to media shortly after the press conference giving the times and quotes for reference.
CLASS 2 OPEN 50 MULTIHULL FLEET
The last shall be first today, and in this case, ahead of all the big 60 footers who naturally take the lion’s share of the interest in this race, the unstoppable Open 50 Multihull, Crêpes Whaou !, skippered by Father-Son duo of Franck-Yves and Kévin Escoffier, is set to be the first boat to arrive into Salvador by the end of the day today. Amazingly, the second Open 50 multihull, Gifi (Demachy / Langlois) is 1,800m behind off the Cape Verdes.
Father Franck-Yves commented this morning: “I would have preferred to arrive at sunset but it will probably be nearer midnight local time. I announced at the start that this is the boat’s first Transat, and it was built to attract people to race in this class. It’s a fun boat, beautiful lines, at an affordable price…our aim was to show off the boat, show it can go quickly, and keep up with the Open 60’s, but to win we still have to get to the finish! Our dream is about to come true!”
IMOCA 60 CLASS UPDATE
After 13 days on the go from Le Havre, less than 1 hour separates Dick / Peyron (Virbac-Paprec) from Jourdain / MacArthur (Sill et Veolia), both sailing at a boat speed of around 14 knots just 14.8m apart from each other at the latest polling after Sill et Veolia made up 10 miles overnight closer inshore. The two index protagonists in the IMOCA 60 Monohull fleet are not yet in sight of each other but could well finish late this evening from around 2200hrs local time (GMT -3hrs).
Loick Peyron summed up the race for the team on Virbac-Paprec: “The tension hasn’t slacked for a moment between us and Sill et Veolia since the start. We’ve been no more than 30 miles apart for 2 weeks now, it’s a real game of cat and mouse, the hunter and the hunted, cops and robbers, whatever you want to call it. It’s all going well on board for us, although we could have had a better night, but all the better to have such close opposition, it gets everyone finding that bit extra to keep fighting, and it means we’ll deserve an even bigger swig of champagne and rum cocktails when we get there..”
Roland Jourdain gave his view on the arrival: “Our ETA depends on if we slow down overnight. Would be great to turn up for cocktail hour but it looks more like we’ll arrive for after dinner coffee. There could be a wind shift before the finish. It’s tough because we are so close but not close enough yet. Even though the forecast is for wind all the way to the finish we’ll be looking for any opportunity. Between sunset and sunrise, we don’t know yet if there will be a real drop in the breeze or not, that reindexs to be seen. If there was, and Virbac-Paprec made one bad gybe then we could sneak past…”
The closest duel in the fleet is actually between Anglo-Australian pair Thompson and Oxley on Skandia, holding off the French team of Thiercelin / Drouglazet on Pro-Form by just 1.9m for 5th place. Where the French skipper Thiercelin preferred not to comment “until we’ve overtaken Skandia”, Brian was full of enthusiasm for this race: “We are locked into the same speed as Pro-Form, as we have been since the start and it’s going to be full concentration on both boats until the finish. Tonight may be the deciding factor as we may get out of sight of each other. Then tomorrow we will find out where we our again for the downwind duel to Salvador. The race has been fantastic so far and this photo finish only makes it more so.”
Seven Open 60 monohulls have now crossed the Equator, UUDS being the latest at 771m behind Virbac-Paprec. The Anglo-French female pair of Liardet and Merron on Roxy are 100m behind, just leaving the Doldrums and will be next to cross over into the Southern Hemisphere. Last but not least, Antunes / Coldefy on Galileo, the only Brazilian entry in the race, are 35m West of Santo Antao, the most northerly island of the Cape Verde archipelago.
MULTIHULL UPDATE: ORMA 60 FLEET
In the ORMA 60 trimaran class, Banque Populaire (Bidegorry / Lemonchois) has pulled out a 75m lead over Gitana 11 (Le Peutrec / Guichard), in turn now 67m ahead of Géant (Desjoyeaux / Destremau), all three now charging at full pelt 25 – 30 knots under gennaker downwind towards the finish line 950 miles away now. After three days pushing upwind in the SE Trades, yesterday, Banque Populaire rounded Ascension Island at approx 1600 GMT, followed 3 hours later by Gitana 11 around 1900 GMT and in third, Géant, at 2030 GMT an hour and a half later.
OPEN 50 CLASS 2 MONOHULL UPDATE
Thanks to the brilliant Brian Hancock, writing for Gryphon Solo team!
Leading Open 50 Class 2 monohull, Gryphon Solo is going ‘gangbusters’ as Joe Harris and Josh Hall eat up the last few miles of fine sailing before they hit the Doldrums later today. Yesterday, the boat was in its element surfing cresting seas with a full size spinnaker, and this morning the speed is still up as they gain every last advantage from the steady trade winds. In a few hours it’s all going to change...
“We are having just a perfect time of it out here,” Josh Hall said in a satellite phone call. “The boat is really loving this stuff. Right now Joe is at the helm with a huge grin on is face. I am at the nav station watching the speedo which often reads over 20 knots. We are on the edge of the spinnaker so hand steering is critical.” The northeast trade winds are well established and have taken the Open 50 fleet south at a record pace. The top three boats have passed the Cape Verde Islands and all of the competitors are lining themselves up for the doldrums which loom just over the horizon. Josh continues. “We have been studying the weather information and feel that we are perfectly lined up for a quick transit of the Doldrums. We hope to be in and out within 24 hours.”
The parking lot that slowed Joe and Josh a couple of days ago crushed Servane Escoffier and Bertrand de Broc on Vedettes de Bréhat as they took a lot longer to get free of the grip of the high pressure with the result that they have dropped back into third place. The old nemesis Artforms has slipped into second 30m ahead of Vedettes and is on a charge, now only 270 miles astern of Gryphon Solo as the front runners align on the same latitude. Kip Stone tells it like it is from his viewpoint: “Merf and I have decided that hand steering around the clock is the only way we're likely to make any more gains on Joe Harris and Josh Hall between here and the equator. Now well out in front, they did an excellent job of digging themselves out of the slow zone and, although we may close a few miles on them over the next twelve hours, they enjoy a commanding lead and will be the first boat to reach new breeze building to the south. At that point, they'll start pulling ahead again and until they run smack into the Doldrums over the weekend, there's nothing for us to do but hold on as best we can.” There is still a long way to go, however, and in sailing anything can happen.
WEATHER by Louis Bodin
The first IMOCA 60 Monohulls will be sailing closer to the Brazilian coastline now where the subtle differences in wind speed could make a difference. The trade wind will slowly rotate to the East during the day and soften to between 10 – 15 knots. This breeze will carry them to the finish line, but if they arrive during the evening or overnight the wind could become less stable in the final miles.
Official Rankings at 14:44:00 GMT
IMOCA Open 60 Class:
Pstn / Boat / Lat / Long / Hdg / DTF / DTL
1 Virbac-Paprec 12 18.84' S 37 11.56' W 14.8 199 92.6 0.0
2 Sill et Veolia 11 56.40' S 37 09.68' W 10.4 251 107.4 14.8
3 Bonduelle 11 09.20' S 36 00.00' W 13.0 223 190.0 97.5
4 Ecover 10 06.16' S 35 21.76' W 13.9 211 260.2 167.6
5 Skandia 9 24.40' S 35 01.80' W 11.9 211 304.0 211.4
6 Pro-Form 9 25.28' S 34 58.00' W 11.8 211 305.9 213.3
Open 50 Monohull Class 2:
Pstn / Boat / Lat / Long / Hdg / DTF / DTL
1 Gryphon Solo 9 10.84' N 27 52.72' W 8.0 189 1494.6 0.0
2 Artforms 13 56.72' N 28 09.44' W 13.3 190 1759.4 264.9
3 Vedettes de Bréhat 13 10.60' N 24 28.48' W 13.2 197 1794.7 300.1
4 Top 50 Guadeloupe 15 32.64' N 21 45.16' W 9.5 189 1993.6 499.0
5 Polarity Solo 18 19.52' N 28 25.76' W 9.9 185 2008.7 514.2
ORMA Open 60 Class 14:44:00 GMT:
Pstn / Boat / Lat / Long / Hdg / DTF / DTL
1 Banque Populaire 10 16.48' S 22 36.84' W 25.1 269 952.5 0.0
2 Gitana 11 10 55.84' S 21 11.76' W 25.5 272 1027.9 75.4
3 Géant 9 46.80' S 20 15.40' W 23.9 261 1094.9 142.4
Open 50 Multihull Class 2 14:44:00 GMT:
Pstn / Boat / Lat / Long / Hdg / DTF / DTL
1 Crêpes Whaou ! 12 49.84' S 37 30.00' W 15.2 271 64.4 0.0
2 Gifi 15 14.16' N 26 32.72' W 11.0 189 1862.3 1797.9
Quotes from the Boats:
Monohulls:
Loïck Peyron, Virbac-Paprec : “We’ll get there eventually…it’s cooler at the end of the day too, which is good for us as the tension hasn’t slacked for a moment between us and Sill et Veolia since the start. We’ve been no more than 30 miles apart for 2 weeks now, it’s a real game of cat and mouse, the hunter and the hunted, cops and robbers, whatever you want to call it. It’s all going well on board for us, all the better to have such close opposition, it gets everyone finding that bit extra to keep fighting, and it means we’ll deserve an even bigger swig of champagne and rum cocktails when we get there. We could have done better last night, we’re flying our spinnaker and full indexsail, we’re moving along nicely but the wind is starting to lift so we have to put in some gybes. The big blond on board is smeared in suncream and wearing a baseball cap, and he’s still beginning to go red..!”
Roland Jourdain (Sill et Veolia): “We’re sailing downwind in steady Trade winds and just trying to get to the finish, sailing at around 13 knots in the heat. Our ETA depends on if we slow down overnight. Would be great to turn up for cocktail hour but it looks more like we’ll arrive for after dinner coffee. There could be a wind shift before the finish, we’ll be fighting right to the finish. It’s tough because we are so close but not close enough yet. Even though the forecast is for wind all the way to the finish we’ll be looking for any opportunity. Between sunset and sunrise, we don’t know yet if there will be a real drop in the breeze or not, that reindexs to be seen. If there was a drop in the wind and Virbac-Paprec made one bad gybe then we could sneak past…”
Kito de Pavant (Bonduelle): “It’s really, really hot. We finally shed our wet weather gear last night, as we have kept them on the whole way for 12 or 13 days now. We’re actually really enjoying the conditions out here, we’re under spinnaker, she’s sliding through the waves. I couldn’t really say who’s going to win up ahead, I don’t want to place bets. It’ll go down to the wire, they must be biting their nails, though, it’s some fight they’re having. Both teams are having to do whatever it takes to make the boat go faster than the other one, and keep going all this time. With all the manoeuvres you have to make on the final approach into All Saint’s Bay, too, it’s going to be close if the wind drops off tonight. It makes it so much better for the class that the boats are all pretty close in performance. As for us, we’ve nearly broken twice the material on this boat than Jean did by himself in the Vendée Globe!”
Dominique Wavre (Ecover) : “It’s getting hotter by the minute! We’re swapping with each other at the helm, sailing under small spinnaker along the Brazilian coast. It’s really exciting, this race, but we’ve suffered from the rudder damage. The boat seems more erratic at the helm, but it’s not obvious. She’s still an incredible boat, but very humid inside, perhaps the English like that but as a Swiss it’s not such a good thing!”
Brian Thompson (Skandia): “The battle is really on with Pro-form now 330 miles to go and she is right on our outside hip, just where we saw her at dawn this morning. We had a good day yesterday holding her back with her upwind advantage over us and now we need another good day and night to finish ahead of her. We are locked into the same speed as her, as we have been since the start and it’s going to be full concentration on both boats until the finish. Tonight may be the deciding factor as we may get out of sight of each other. Then tomorrow we will find out where we our again for the downwind duel to Salvador. The race has been fantastic so far and this photo finish only makes it more so. Both us and Pro-form have really pushed our older boats and I am really pleased that we are up with the newer boats.”
Marc Thiercelin (Pro-Form) : “We’re racing in sight of Skandia. For the moment, we’re trying to pass them. We’ll talk to them about it when we’ve overtaken them. We’re absolutely neck and neck, it gets the adrenalin going for sure…”
Miranda Merron (Roxy): “Roxy is reaching along at 14 knots, and it looks like it will be a beautiful day. We were finally released from the clutches of the doldrums mid-afternoon yesterday. The first light fingers of breeze from the south-east were magic. The sky cleared considerably and the wind filled in, building gently. Unfortunately, UUDS got away earlier than us, even though there had not been much in it in the doldrums. A bit of a lottery, but we still have a 1000 miles to catch them!”
Kip Stone: “Merf and I are on our best helmsman behavior as we simply don't have any more sails to spare and, except for the storm jib, each one of them will be critical over the next 2,000 miles if we're going to keep on the attack. In stark contrast to the past few days, we're a little bit like old ladies now each time a squall comes by and we douse the kite early if there's any worry at all. I never quite pictured myself sailing like this, but it's the only way we're going to get this boat to Salvador quickly!”
Paul Metcalf (Polarity Solo): “We are chasing hard and it looks like we are making some good progress, moral is good on board and we are falling into more and more efficient working patterns with sail handling and nav. What a great race!”
International Media Relations:
Mary Ambler
Email: mary.ambler@xalt.co.uk
Mob: +44 (0)7887 643 583
Brazilian Direct Line: 00 55 71 3319 3435
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
|
