The Artemis Transat 2008 www.theartemistransat.com Übersicht 16 May 2008 BLACK-OUT FOR 36 HOURS Image On day six of The Artemis Transat, Seb Josse onboard BT is still leading the way on a surprisingly calm North Atlantic! No wind! That was most certainly the last thing the skippers expected when they entered The Artemis Transat, as this race normally delivers strong upwind conditions as the depressions roll across the North Atlantic from the USA. But looking at the pictures sent from the boats today, the least you can say is that the sea is flat, very flat! Onboard BT, Seb Josse shared a quiet sunset yesterday and was followed by a small group of whales today. These calm conditions are nevertheless no opportunity to rest for the skippers. Quite on the contrary, they are exhausting as the skippers work tirelessly looking for any tiny puff of air that will help them get the boat moving again! Foto: Seb Josse/BT "This morning BT has regained some breathing space after yesterday where his lead was reduced and his time was spent looking behind him as his competitors ground down his lead. It's the Atlantic yoyo. If this morning the five leading boats have not completely exited the area of calms, from this evening at a time that will depend on their westerly positioning, the boats will touch a new South West wind, then SSW, generated by a low pressure before the ice gate. Today's work will be to fight their hardest to get out of the glue they've been stuck in, and limit the losses on the boats to their west." Explains Jean-Luc Nélias, who delivers his weather analysis on the race website. To read the Jean-Luc's full article, please click here http://www.theartemistransat.com/60/article.asp?sid=15082 There was no verbal contact with Seb today who has obviously taken the opportunity to get some rest in the more stable conditions today after a tiring night in little wind.  The only communication was brief and self-explanatory: "Small speed, big slow!" ImageBT is making close to 10 knots of boat speed as he enjoys the new south-west wind which is expected to build further, although another ridge of high pressure is being forecast around the ice gate that the leaders are expected to reach on Monday.  The ice gate is 230 miles long and was put in place by the race organizers due to the density of the ice spotted in the area north of 40 degrees of latitude. It will be a worrying phase of the race for Seb who suffered a collision with ice in the 2004 solo Vendée Globe that put paid to his hopes of a podium position,, although he still finished the race in fifth place. The black-out period starts tonight at 1800 GMT for 36 hours during which no positions will be published, although it is still permissible to contact BT directly for Seb's latest news.  This means none of the competitors will know where the competition is and will only be able to sail the course they think is best based on the weather forecast.  The organisers introduced the black-out to create some further intrigue about what the fleet will do - returning to the early days of this race when the skippers set out and nothing was known about their position until they appeared at the finish! High-resolution images of the BT Team Ellen skipper and boats are now available for download via the event media website http://media.theartemistransat.com. Don't forget to sign up for press updates, with images, video and audio files available to download. Follow all theaction and find out more about the team at the new even website http://www.btteamellen.com For further information on the BT Team Ellen contact: Coralie Rassinoux BT Team Ellen Communications Manager Email: coralie.rassinoux@ocgroup.com Tel: +44 (0)870 063 0218 http://www.btteamellen.com/ellen/partners.asp?cat=partners&nd=1 Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE