Route du Rhum-Banque Postale Start 29. Oktober 2006 - St.Malo www.routedurhum.org - Übersicht 10.11.2006 THE HARBOUR IS FILLING UP IN POINTE A PITRE After Claude Thélier and Franck-Yves Escoffier last night, Antoine Koch (Sopra) crossed the line after 12d00h50’41s at sea. His speed average is 12.26 knots. Pointe à Pitre expects Roland Jourdain (Sill et Véolia-IMOCA) this evening – French time onto the arrival line as well as Thierry Duprey du Vorsent (Gitana XII-ORMA). Jean Le Cam’s (VM Matériaux - IMOCA bows should cut the line tomorrow during the day. The finish for third in the IMOCA should be disputed between Jean Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec) and Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit’Air). In monohull Class 2 Servane Escoffier (Vedettes de Bréhat Cap Marine) is giving a hard time to Kip Stone (Artforms) who had a difficulties keeping his head out of the water after a tough passage in the low pressure system. Phil Sharp and Gildas Morvan (40-footer class) are now entering the last 1,000 miles run of this race. Gildas is homing in on Phil while the first boats in the fleet are approaching the next front. R.Jourdain/SILL vor dem Sieg SILL ist nicht mehr zu bremsen ORMA 60 multihulls Claude Thélier was warmly welcomed in Guadeloupe, where he lives, after he crossed the line on the former Primagaz of Laurent Bourgnon (which set up the previous record). He spent 11d11h 56’ 1” with an average speed of 12.84 knots. Antoine Koch has arrived this afternoon. IMOCA 60 monohulls Armel is back ! The skipper of Brit’air is making use of the results of his weather option further West (and on a Northern Route) after the Azores, and has overtaken Dominique Wavre – now in 5th - who shows a 40 miles deficit on him. The arrival line is now at sight for Roland Jourdain ( 30 miles) but his speed as well as Jean Le Cam’s has dramatically dropped ( “up” to 2 knots at 4:00 PM). The gap between these 2 is now 20 miles. The announced battle between Jean Le Cam and Jean Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec) for 3rd should now take place between Jean Pierre and Armel. Jean-Pierre Dick has managed so far to indextain a 57 mile gap with Armel. Brian Thompson (Artemis) should not be in the top 5 as he aimed to before the start of the race and said he was frustrated not to have accompanied Armel in his option after the Azores. He should arrive tomorrow evening in Pointe à Pitre and will make the most to close in on Dominique Wavre even if the steady winds in which they are sailing will not give him an opportunity to hook up the Swiss skipper. 40-footer monohulls 1,000 miles to run for the front leaders who sailed today in the North – Northwest with 20-25 knots and a manageable sea. ”That is 2 legs length of the Figaro Race” says Gildas Morvan, after having spent an wonderful night at the helm in a 2 meter swell under a sparkling sky. More to the South, Dominic Vittet (20 transatlantic crossings under the hull) finally touched yesterday the winds his collegues in the North went through one day earlier. He compared his boat to a rodeo horse that wanted to get rid of him with each wave. He also mentioned that the big low pressure system they were supposed to meet tomorrow was like the frog who wanted to become an ox. Finally, the frog deflated and the situation should be less difficult to handle than what it looked like before. Phil Sharp has lost a bit of his lead since yesterday (now 80 miles of lead) but is looking forward to the next step of the race: the passage of the front (upwind) and the downwind sailing they should find behind. Joe Seeten was collected sound and safe by a cargo ship 5 hours after setting off his distress beacon. CLASS 2 monohull The pressure is still on between Kip Stone and Servane Escoffier who are not far away from the 1,000 miles to the arrival. Kip lost two sails, one at sea (his code 5) and one which is lying on the deck (his solent) after his passage through the low. He commented that this situation was “personally discouraging” but he did not forget to mention that he was now back on his feet. Servane is still heading West on a Northerly route to touch the winds generated by the low pressure system building under her. She mentioned that there must have been a mistake in the information she was given before the race as she hasn’t seen any Trade Winds yet and she still wears her boots and has her wet suit on ! On the other hand the news that she had sailed more miles than Kip in the last 24 hours made her happy enough to celebrate with “Fraise Tagada” – some dark pink chemical sweets she has onboard. QUOTES OF THE DAY Phil Sharp / philsharpracing.com 10:00 AM It was quite a relaxing night and day compared to the previous couple of days. We had quite straightforward sailing conditions yesterday, downwind for a bit and then upwind. It was also an opportunity to catch up hours of sleep. I had 5/ 6 hours of sleep last night which is quite unusual. I want to be refreshed for the next few days and be able to push hard if I need to. Morvan has a bit of distance back of me because he had slightly more wind overnight. I think we are in similar conditions now, so hopefully I can indextain the gap. The last thing I want to do is push hard and be absolutely “knocked” by the end of the race. We may have light winds towards the finish. I’ve had a light finish before and I’ve been really tired which made me lose a lot so I want to make sure I am not going to do that again. We needed the genaker a bit last night but unfornutately I had to do without it. It might also be there that I lost a few miles to Morvan. For the next few days: I think it is going to be upwind to the front and then we have a shift downwind on that front. The finish could be light and it is a very useful sail in the light winds. I just have to cross my fingers really and hope it’s a good breazy finish with downwind sailing. It’so much nicer there, I was litteraly sleeping in the cockpit in a thermal T-shirt yesterday. It’s amazing the transition from the North Atlantic to the Atlantic Tropics. The seas changed from really dark green to nice clear blue and the temperature goes up ! I don’t want to miss the prize giving ! Hopefully I will have a bit of time to prepare for it ! I have to shave and organize a shower to smell remotedly respectable, because at the moment I don’t! Class leaders 4 :00 PM polling IMOCA : Sill et Véolia / Roland Jourdain Class 3 multi :Imagine / Pierre Antoine Class 1 mono : Jeunes Dirigeants / P.Y Guennec Class 2 mono : Artforms / Kip Stone (US) Class 3 mono : Roaring Forty / Michel Kleinjans (BE) Class 40 : philsharpracing.com / Phil Sharp Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE