Monday 30th October 2006
WINDS SHIFT AND SPEEDOMETERS GO DANCING
All the competitors spent last night on deck with weary shifty winds conditions over night, sailing along the busy Hushant lane. They changed sails constantly, that is almost all the sail wardrobe was taken out and readied to be used, to stick to the wind changes and in order to optimize the speed of the boat. Groupama is still leading the race at 4:00 PM, followed by Géant and Banque Populaire. At 4:00 PM, the situation has clearly changed in the front where the 60-foot multihulls finally showed instantaneous speed at around 20 knots. Most of the International entries being in the top ranking of their respective class.
No doubt, the ORMA trimaran skippers are enjoying the Southwestern winds that hit their sails in the afternoon. They are on the edge of the low pressure system positionned on the Azores, which means that it is time to release all the power these boats can develop. Speedometers are now showing “usual” speed, up to 25 knots for Brossard (Yvan Bourgnon at 4:00PM).
Franck Cammas is still leading over Michel Desjoyaux (Géant) and Pascal Bidégorry (Banque Populaire), with only a few miles separating the first and the last boat (Madinina, the last multi-60 is only 161.7 miles from Groupama). The regata-style – as the skippers call it – of the Transat will be over soon and we should see the situation evolve in the next two days.
In the IMOCA class, the three skippers who chose to sail closer to the English coasts - Jean Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec), Roland Jourdain (Sill & Veolia), Jean le Cam (VM Matériaux) and Brian Thompson (Artemis) found the best way out of the English Channel, while the ones who picked up the opposite coasts (Brittany) stayed in the calms, showing only speeds up to 5 knots (against 11 for the 3 fellows in the lead)
In the middle and rear of the fleet, a weak and unpredictable breeze still accompanied the multis and monhohulls during the afternoon. For them, Northern winds are announced in the night or by the next day. Tired voices responded when we called the skippers on the radio. “ My speed is 1 knot, and I don’t expect things to change before tomorrow. I haven’t slept much and I think it’ll be another 24 hours like that, says Kip Stone (Artforms – Class 2 mono), who dropped to 3rd place, leaving the lead to Servane Escoffier (Vedettes de Bréhat Cap Marine).
Most of the boats were “sailing” at around 1 to 2 knots, requesting all the efforts and energy of the skippers to keep them moving “I had all the sail wardrobe out, at least I am now more familiar with my sails’ range than at the start!” - says Cécile Poujol ( PACA entreprendre – Class 40). Added to that some of the skippers had to fight to get rid of the seaweeds caught in their rudders. Some of them also had to drop the anchor to avoid going back.
Trying to anticipate the announced shift, a few boats (whatever the class), started to take a northern route in the last 24 hours. They are seeking to be the first to touch this fresh air coming from the North, and then be able to make a direct route towards the Azores.
According to Meteo France, favorable sailing conditions should appear on the charts tomorrow for everyone.
RankingsOn 10/31/2006 08:00
Monohulls
IMOCA Jean-Pierre DickVirbac-Paprec Classe 1 Pierre-Yves GuennecJeunes Dirigeants Classe 2 Kip StoneArtforms Classe 3 Michel KleinjansRoaring Forty Classe 40 Dominic VittetAtao Audio System Multihulls
ORMA Michel DesjoyeauxGéant Classe 2 Franck-Yves EscoffierCrêpes Whaou ! Classe 3 Ross HobsonIdeal Stelrad >> All rankings
Jérémie Beyou, skipper of the monohull DELTA DORE, has informed Jean Maurel, the director of the Race, that he has had to decide to quit the race for family reasons: The state of his wife, who is pregnant, has worsened and has required the skipper to rejoin her rapidly. His sponsor and his technical team support his decision unanimously.
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