Oceanracing 2006 - Route du Rhum

Route du Rhum-Banque Postale
Start 29. Oktober 2006 - St.Malo
www.routedurhum.org - Übersicht

31.10.2006
http://www.routedurhum.com
Vincent Riou, PRB / IMOCA - Dismasted
According to him, the mast broke on Monday one hour before sunset, " out in the middle ", Then it collapsed and broke into three pieces. The sea was at that time "pretty flat" and PRB was reaching. The last winner of the Vendée Globe saw the mast subside at the place where he found himself a few seconds before, when he was trimming the indexsail.
He recuperated the bottom of the mast, the boom, and some pieces of carbon to bring back to the experts, to whom he will make a presentation of all the steps before the going down of the mast. " A mistake was made at some point, in the conception of the mast, and the calculations" he says. "There's no way we start the building of a new mast without knowing what happened"

The skippers who sailed on the northern route during the last 24 hours were the first to touch the announced overnight shift of wind from Southwest to North. Sailing conditions freshened during the day, the front of the fleet now sailing at 20 to 25 knots and touchy sea conditions (waves coming from the front). The pace is really fast but no doubt the skippers enjoy these accelerations that give a second breathe to the race. Sails are stiffened and the men and women need to focus on the best way to negotiate the winds rotation from Northwest to North, then East during the night, as they run down the Atlantic towards the Azores. At the front of 60-footer fleets (monohulls and multihulls), most of the boats gibed to re-position themselves. So far the competitors seemed to have managed « their own race », but the time has come to keep a close eye on where the others are and how they are doing. The night is usually a good occasion to try new options, when the skippers are allowed not to send their position to the race headquarters. Decisions onboard now have to do with preserving materials and human resources, finding time to rest after the random conditions of the first 36 hours of an exhausting racing.

FAST TRACKS DOWN TO THE AZORES

ORMA 60-Foot multihulls
Michel Desjoyaux (Géant) on the northern route was first to get the wind shift forecasted and immediately accelerated the pace followed by Lionel Lemonchois (Gitana XI) and Yvan Bourgnon (Brossard). Pascal Bidégorry (Banque Populaire) gibed first, not an easy task in 20 knots of wind.
At the 4 :00 PM polling, rankings had changed, with Gitana XI leading over 11 miles on the title holder, Michel Desjoyaux. Banque Populaire - 3rd bypassed Yvan Bourgnon's Brossard followed by Groupama now in 5th.
All the ORMA multihulls have now gibed to head Southwest.

IMOCA 60-foot monohulls
The newest boats (Virbac Paprec, Sill et Veolia) increased the distance with the rest of the fleet, the 3rd displaying a 30 miles delay on his predecessor. VM Matériaux stands around 30 miles behind. . Brian Thompson was still hanging on to the leading pack, ranking 4th at 12 :00 but not polled at 4 :00 PM.

Vincent Riou kann es noch nicht fassen

Das ist der "Blick in die Röhre"

Für einen Segler demütigend

Desaster ohne dramatischen Anlass

Fertigmachen zum Abschleppen

40-footer monohulls
Sailing in a wind of 20 to 25 knots, the 40-foot monohulls touched 12 knots of speed. The race against time has now started. Three boats are clearly leading the 25 boats' pack. Leader since Monday, Dominique Vittet stays cautious about the ranking « the fleet is really spread out but the gaps are small » which means any wind shifts could dramatically modify the ranking.
At 4 :00 PM, 20 miles separated Phil Sharp (philsharpracing.com), Ian Munslow (Bolands Mill) from the front leaders the third Britton 40-footer entry Nick Bubb (Kenmore Homes) less that 10 miles away from them.

Class 2 and 3 multihulls
Franck Yves Escoffier (Crêpes Whaou !) has been out of touch since the beginning of the race, accumulating a 50 miles lead over the 2nd Trilogic. The skippers are now thinking about eating and resting – a bit, when they do not have problems onboard to solve. F.Y Escoffier has problems with his pilot that do not allow him to leave the steering stick to go to sleep.
There's a sheer battle on the water between Ross Hobson (Ideal Stelrad) and Pierre Antoine (Imagine).

Class 1,2 and 3 monohulls
Ranking in class 1 monohull has been pretty steady since the start, Pierre-Yves Guénec (Jeunes Dirigeants) indextaining a firm supremacy on his followers.
In class 2, the fleet is split in two. In the first pack, Michel KleinJans (Roaring 40) has to deal with Regis Guillemot (Charter Régis Guillemot Martinique) while the second has 115 miles deficit and over on the leader. Aurelia Ditton (Dangerous when wet) indextaining her 3rd place at the 4 :00 PM pollings, and has had to deal with what she call water « ingress » when she had water awash on the floor of the boat more than one time in the last days.

QUOTES OF THE DAY
Ross Hobsson – Ideal Stelrad/ multi Class 3 (4 :00 AM):
« I had had good steady winds for the 5 past hours, and I am doing good progress down the Bay of Biscay. I am sailing much better this morning than at the same time yesterday. I am concentrating on my own race even though I am keeping an eye on my competitors and try to indextain my lead. The boat is in perfect condition, I had to replace a bit on the alternator, but it is something that we forgot in the preparation. No problem with the boat at all. The forecast shows that the wind will increase, that's good as we will sail faster and harder.

Ian Munslow – Bolands Mill / class 40 (10 AM) :
« I got winds now, I am going west in a good breeze. I had a quite a bit of sleep last night. That was fantastic. I saw Dominic Vittet at dark and at the moment I am having a cup of coffee, taking it easy. I don't know my ranking and I am waiting for other people to tell me.
After we gave him the polling at 8 :00 AM : That's good, they're all pro sailors and I am just the boat builder you know ! But yes I was expecting this result, I know the boat is very fast. In light air I suffer.

4 :00PM polling - CLASS LEADERS MULTIHULLS ORMA : Gitana XI / Lionel Lemonchois Class 2:Crêpes Whaou ! / P.Y Escoffier Class 3: Imagine / Pierre Antoine MONOHULLS IMOCA : Virbac Paprec / Jean Pierre Dick PRB / Vincent Riou : Dismasted Delta Dore / Jeremie Beyou : Abandon Class 1 : Jeunes Dirigeants / P.Y Guennec Class 2 : Arforms / Kip Stone (US) Class 3 : Roaring Forty / Michel Kleinjans (BE) - La Promesse / JanKees Lampe (dismasted) Class 40 : Atao Audio System / Dominique Vittet Pen Duick SA http://www.penduick.com http://www.routedurhum-labanquepostale.com www.routedurhum-labanquepostale.com