IMOCA-Race: ECOVER BtoB 2007 www.transatecoverbtob.com - www.imoca.org - Übersicht Thursday 6 december 2007 Carried along by the wind... The weather conditions have become more difficult over the past few hours with the arrival of stronger E to NE'ly tradewinds, which sometimes exceed thirty knots. Under reduced sail area, the fourteen solo sailors are lying low whilst Armel Le Cléac'h is motoring towards the Cape Verde archipelago. It certainly isn’t the sailors' favourite point of sail, especially when the seas are built up and chaotic and that there’s at least two more days of such conditions ahead... Over 25 knots of wind for the tail end of the fleet including Canadian Derek Hatfield (Spirit of Canada): "I have had some problems with the computers at the start and the weather systems haven’t worked through the way I wanted until a couple of days ago. I’ve got some automatic pilot problems too. It’s quite a drastic day today too. The wind is blowing at 26 degrees True and I've got 34/35 knots over the deck. It's very bumpy with messy seas and conditions are difficult because the boat's slamming a lot." And at the head of the fleet, the situation isn‘t any more agreeable as Marc Guillemot (Safran) indicated: "I’m being bounced around like a shaker! We are more geared towards preserving the material than performance but we're still managing to make headway of between 14 and 16 knots... Of course I’m happy to have clawed back 20 miles on Loïck but I had a slight issue last night: I got hit in the eye by a jib sheet and I couldn't see anything for quarter of an hour..." Same tempo for his sistership driven by Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel): "We’re going fast, too fast even and it's not very comfortable. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to slow the boat down because we’ve got more than 25 knots at the moment. I’ve hoisted the ORC and the reduced the indexsail to two reefs... It whistles, it vibrates, it slams... I don’t know which sail I should hoist when there is 35 knots! Already I’m making 17 knots... We’ve got two days of this before it calms down a bit before the Canaries, but the end of the course promises to be brisk: with an arrival in a week’s time!" Safran spices things up a bit... And though Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty) is continuing to lead the dance, his lead has been seriously reduced since escaping the Doldrums! The danger comes from Marc Guillemot who seems to be going a knot quicker whilst also gaining laterally, that's to say closing on the wind a bit more in order to get onto the same trajectory as the leader... And Kito de Pavant was also flashed as being the fastest of the fleet this Thursday afternoon, on the same VPLP-Verdier design... Yann Eliès (Generali) is still on the pace too as his Finot design is particularly at ease in these conditions. Conditions which have caused the staysail of Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas) to give up the ghost: “What a terrible morning! Fortunately I managed to roll in the staysail because it was flogging about in the wind... I am now under ORC but obviously it's slower. After blowing out my staysail this morning I admit now that I lost my gennaker in the drink four days ago too after halyard problems. Suddenly everything is a lot more sluggish and I’ve had variable wind for the past 2 hours. It’s certainly a great school for next year!” As regards the ranking, there's no great changes other than the fact that the chasing pack have now really taken a beating in terms of their deficit of miles on the head of the fleet. Now replacing Sam Davies (Roxy) as 'head hunter' of the chasing pack, Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty (Maisonneuve) is now over 200 miles astern, whilst the tail end of the fleet is 300 or even 400 miles back, or one long day's sailing for Dee Caffari (Aviva) and Rich Wilson (Great American III), still continuing to battle courageously onwards. At this pace the Canaries will be within firing range for some from this Sunday and the final phase of the Transat Ecover-BtoB will step up the tempo once again, with a SW'ly breeze scheduled to carry them to Port la Forêt...! Before thoughts can turn to home though, Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) observed that “We’ve already been on the same tack for three days and it’s likely to stay that way for the next two days at least!" The structures will be highly solicited then, as will the solo sailors, who are having a lot of issues recuperating the fatigue accumulated from a week at sea in carbon hulls which resonate and vibrate with every wave... Finally, news at last from Mike Golding (Ecover), unable to be contacted by the race organization earlier this afternoon. A French journalist at the Paris Boat Show did manage to get hold of him a few minutes ago and Mike appeared to be in great shape, concentrated and ‘au taquet’ (flat out) manoeuvring! Quotes from the Boats: Dee Caffari: “I’m struggling to indextain ‘me’ in these conditions. I know I should eat but I don’t really want to eat anything and I know I should drink but I can’t be bothered to make anything. When you don’t sleep and you’re tired, it all compounds in conditions like these. But it’s all useful practice that I can use next time. It makes me laugh that I spent 178 days at sea on the Aviva Challenge and 70 per cent of it was upwind but it was pure luxury compared to this. The boat is so different and, when she is crashing to windward, it is a really uncomfortable environment to be in. It feels as though it is falling apart, the windows are leaking and it’s miserable. We are taking a lot of water over the top of the boat. Everything feels wet and filthy. Even the flying fish are confused – they don’t know whether to fly or get carried in the waves. Life is pretty uncomfortable. I have discovered that in my reading of the weather I am still lacking in confidence and am easily swayed. I find it hard to stick to what I think and why I think it even though I have done ok so far. I just need to do more of it. I am also finding it difficult to predict where I will be in a few days compared with everyone else in the fleet but hopefully that will also become easier as I get more solo miles under my belt.” Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia): "Conditions are still just as complicated. The winds have dropped off a bit but the seas are quite big. Overnight the wind was coming from every direction. Now conditions are a bit more organised but I'm staying below. We're sailing quite close on the wind but the automatic pilot is doing fine. I’m making about 17/18 knots of boatspeed and the boat is slamming into the waves." Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel): “Conditions are impressive and we’re flying along. The boat vibrates as it pierces through the waves. It slams and echoes through the hull. It's not comfortable. We've got 25 knots of wind and I'm making 17 knots of instantaneous speed, averaging 14/18 knots of boatspeed. We're likely to have another couple of days of these conditions and then I'm hoping things will become more ordered with an arrival in Brittany in around 7 days. Conditions are great for validating the boat that's for sure!" YTransat ECOVER B to B Ranking 13:16 (French time) 1 Gitana Eighty Peyron Loick at 2252.20 miles from the finish 2 Safran Guillemot Marc at 13.90 miles behind 3 Generali Elies Yann at 32.20 miles behind 4 Groupe Bel Kito de Pavant at 32.60 miles behind 5 Foncia Desjoyeaux Michel at 80.00 miles behind 6 Ecover Golding Mike at 117.20 miles behind 7 Cheminées Poujoulat Stamm Bernard at 162.10 miles behind 8 Maisonneuve Dejeanty Jean-Baptiste at 225.30 miles behind 9 Roxy Davies Samantha at 241.00 miles behind 10 Cervin EnR Bestaven Yannick at 241.60 miles behind 11 Akena Vérandas Boissières Arnaud at 260.30 miles behind 12 Aviva Caffari Dee at 363.50 miles behind 13 Spirit of Canada Hatfield Derek at 382.40 miles behind 14 Great American III Wilson Rich at 407.80 miles behind - Brit'Air Le Cleach Armel - - - - - - - - Downloads http://blanconegro.extranet-e.net/public/BEL_071129_01.jpg Kito de Pavant / Bel Crédit : V.Curutchet / DPPI http://blanconegro.extranet-e.net/public/BRITAIR2.jpg Radio sessions 06/12/07 Listen and download the radio sessions by clicking below http://www.transatbtob.com/page-event-media-audio-event-vacations.html Next ranking 06/12/07 - 18h00 on www.transatecoverbtob.com http://www.transatecoverbtob.com/ http://blanconegro.extranet-e.net/public/Transat_Ecover_B2B_transat_en_solitaire_entre_le_Bresil_et_la_Bretagne_classement_200712061316.pdf RADIO SESSIONS As from November 30th and until the race’s arrival, radio sessions with the competitors will take place, daily, at 3:00 pm (french time). These radio sessions will be broadcasted, live, on the race’s website every day a 3:00 pm. As from November 30th until December 9th, the radio sessions will be opened to the public and will take place, live, on the Brittany region’s booth (STAND Hall 1 N92-R111) at the Paris boat show. Rights free photos for non commercial and press use only - 10x15 cm max. Compulsory Copyright : V.Curutchet / DPPI Press Contact Agence Blanco Negro e-mail : media@transatbtob.com Florence Elizalde Mob : +33 (0) 6 34 18 66 54 Tel : +33 (0) 1 47 72 81 41 Kate Jennings E-mail : katejennings@free.fr Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE