Oceanracing 2007 - Transat Jaques Vabre 2007

Transat Jaques Vabre 2007
von Le Havre nach Bahia - Start 3. November 2007
www.jacques-vabre.com - www.transatbtob.com - Übersicht

11.11.2007
UNCERTAIN FUTURE

Whether it is in terms of weather or racing the future days look a bit hairy for the skipper. Doldrums, Canary Islands, Madeira are words that echoe like sunshine, warmth and blue waters,...At sea in the Transat Jacques Vabre, they also mean tactics, - more - manoueuvers, happiness or low mood at the rhythm of the polls. Above all, imagine the weather patterns you are used to in this place - and you, a sailor of experience who knows his way among them - but the 3-day forecasts you previously relied on have proved to be random for the last 7 days. Tricky. This “new” situation” made this race interesting for the crews, but difficult too when they wanted to make a decision to stay in the match. What kind of discussions were taking place on board and how tough it would be to stick with their decision when the result was being stuck in a wind hole, is difficult to assess. After 7 days at sea the race proved to be tiring as much as challenging. And it's not finished finished!

MONOHULLS – IMOCA and Class 40

At 12:00 the 5 frontrunners of the Imoca fleet were within 10 miles of each other. Groupe Bel snatched a few places to grab 2nd place. At 4:00 p.m, there were only 4 boats within 4 miles! Safran still leading before Groupe Bel, and Ecover 3 (who gained one more place), Gitana Eighty slipping to 4th. The gap in miles has increased in 4 hours between 4th and the 8th other boats sailing within a hundred miles of the leader. Foncia for example has slipped down three places after putting further east in her route now sailing 25 miles away from Safran (10 miles at 12:00).

ORMA - BANQUE POPULAIRE
© MOCHET Marcel / AFP

CLASS 50 - NIM Interim Management
© MOCHET Marcel / AFP

The other boats leading the pack are following each other after all passing through the Canary. Generali 9th, 119 miles away from Safran and Cheminées Poujoulat 7th – are following the same track whilst Brit'Air and Roxy chose to pass through Gran Canaria and Teneriffe on a more westerly route.

The boats are still manoeuvring in a North / North-easterly flow of 15 / 20 knots trying to adjust their sails (spinnaker or gennaker) to their route and the wind conditions.

Aviva has been loosing ground after being surprised by the wind changing direction, at her approach of Madera. They are now back on the hunt to retake the ground lost in the operation.

Approaching Maderathe fleet of Class 40 is sailing in 10/12 knots negotiating in a mined area of patches without wind and they do not have much choice regarding their route. Apart from Sidaction, the first part of the fleet (say till “En avant les enfants ranked 13th) will leave Maderaat their west trying to keep the benefit of the flow that fills their sails. Clarke Offshore racing who positioned herself at the west yesterday (at the west of the direct route as well of Sidaction) seems to put some east in her route in trying to get back on a more direct route. The rear of the fleet will probably reach the island only tomorrow.

MULTIHULLS ORMA and Class 50
Groupama sails now with a nice 302 mile lead (4 p.m.) over Gitana 11 who mentioned at the audio session today that apart some failure aboard the green trimaran the game seemed to be over but....

After Gitana 11, it is now Banque Populaire's turn to make a pit stop. The crew has spent 50h at sea trying to reinforce the rudder they had broken earlier and were trying to avoid stopping. They finally decided to stop in Sal (Cape Verde) where their shore crew is now working. They do not know how long they will have to wait before they can set sail again. Pascal Bidegorry was extremely disappointed as this incident will cost him 2nd place in the race.

Sopra Group put the foot on the accelerator after deciding to sail closer to the African coast (more that 200 miles gained at 12:00) whilst Brossard who stayed on his route is losing more and more ground.

At 4:00 p.m. the pace of Crêpes Whaou! has slowed down to 9 knots (16 knots at 4:00) and even after stopping the boat in a sheltered area beneath Fuentaventura for 2 hours to send Karine Fauconnier up the mast, the overall leader of the class 50 still shows 194 miles of advance on her closest 2nd. It needs to be said that Laiterie de St Malo was caught in no wind sailing too close to GranCanariasIslands. It looks like they are still battling up to get out of the trap.

In 3rd Croisières Anne Caseneuve is sailing at 14 knots but is situated well above the archipelago. Last of this Class DZ energy.com is sailing 736 miles behind and still have not sailed pass the Strait of Gibraltar.
*****
Samantha Davies – Roxy (IMOCA)
Sailing in North, downwind in 8-10 knots, big blue sky, heavy sky and big sunshine, very hot. We just passed between Teneriffe and Gran Canaria. We can see Tenerife just behind us to the North in the haze because I think the WWW from Africa is making the visibility not so good. Nice flat see and very very hot ! We are very happy with our positions, we are really happy since the beginning of the race actually to be able to be able to hang on to the leader group. And our objective is to try to hang on as long as possible. And now the current objective is Generali who looked as she was stucked in some no wind. So we set our eyes on to motivate us trim the sails well today.

Ever since a week ago we've worked hard to stay with this group and we haven't stopped yet. We work as hard as we can but at the same time we are trying to have positions that enable us to rest at the same time as push hard a 100 % . The time has gone really quickly we haven't had a chance to get bored because we are working so hard on the boat.

You have to realize that it's our bodies that makes the boat go fast so if you push to hard you end up not sailing the boat so well afterall. Roxy is a great boat for being up to sail with one person so you can be a 100 % with one person sleeping and resting.

Bruno Dubois – Ecover (IMOCA)
Mike had established a very precise track through the Canaries, working out exactly where we should go, based on his experience, and we never really stopped. We are back really in the game which is great. We are a little below Safran and Bel at the moment and can see them both clearly, which is fine. At the moment we are just looking at covering the good guys. We are not on a perfect course, but overall this has been such a good learning curve for the boat it is great. We still have some sails which we have not even put up yet. continued Dubois
“We are in the middle which is fine. We have to watch Britair out to the west and watch the east side, but at the moment we are in the middle and that is no problem.”
“And we have been good with our sleep. I can see if would have been tough on Safran but there has been no pressure on us. We try to always get our rest when we can and now we are in the game with a good gauge on the other boats around. All this is great for the future and we have learned so much.”

Anne Liardet – 40 degrees (class40)
So, all that just to say that despite a thorough bashing, “40 Degrees” has had no issues so far – thank you and well done to Alex (head preparateur of 40 Degrees).

As for the crew, we are trying to survive being becalmed. Now the breeze has come back, enabling us to get going again, but all night it's been “Waterloo, morne plaine…”, in contrast to the weather information which said we should have had enough wind to average 8 knots of boatspeed. So the conclusion is; weather info in the bin, and we are straight-lining it… I will let you know if this method is successful.

Every day I have a good reason to think of Miranda (whom I am replacing for this race): during the last Transat Jacques Vabre which Miranda and I raced together, she introduced me to the delights of mayonnaise as a means of considerably improving freeze-dried food… now I can't go without it. There's a good supply on board and each time I use it, it reminds me of Miranda, without whom I would never have sampled one of life's great pleasures: just imagine, Bolinos (like instant noodles) with mayonnaise. Delicious!!!

Download http://media.rivacom.fr/event/jacques_vabre/photo/hd/orma_60_boats_4.jpg CLASS 50 - NIM Interim Management © MOCHET Marcel / AFP Download http://media.rivacom.fr/event/jacques_vabre/photo/hd/class50_boat_15.jpg CLASS 40 - Sidaction © MOCHET Marcel / AFP Download http://media.rivacom.fr/event/jacques_vabre/photo/hd/class40_boats_51.jpg Pen Duick SA http://www.penduick.com © RivaCom