The Artemis Transat 2008 www.theartemistransat.com Übersicht 17 May 2008 Day 7: Wind on the nose, wet, foggy and grey - and black(out): finally 'normal' conditions for The Transat · IMOCA 60 fleet sail 'blind' with no position reports until 0600GMT Sunday - instead of 2 hourly information, it's just like the old days! · Race leader last night, Seb Josse (BT), shares on video conference the upwind, wet and grey conditions - "the serious sailing has begun" · Whilst the leading group of 5 race hard for every mile, the second group led by Sam Davies (Roxy) have some real tactical options to take whilst their opponents cannot see their moves Finally the 23 skippers still in the race have conditions that one expects on The Artemis Transat - wet, cold, upwind, foggy, all the shades of grey you can imagine as Loick Peyron mused at this morning's brief call to Gitana Eighty. Grey yes, but black also, as since last night at 1800GMT the 36 hour positions blackout has kicked in. Instead of the 2 hourly position updates that the skippers normally get during the day now they get nothing - no information at all about where the other boats are. Not even the race organisation communication team have the information - just like in the old days! Generali hat wieder Wind von vorn © Yann Elies / Generali Sam Davies hat noch Zeit für Glückwünsche Foto: Sam Davies/Roxy Whilst the timing of the blackout has not come at a time that gives any major strategical options for the leading group (have a look at Jean-Luc Nelias's daily strategy update http://www.theartemistransat.com/60/article.asp?sid=15199, it doesn't mean that nothing has changed. And there is some certainty that the front-runners will be keeping their foot to the floor during the black-out to try and steal some miles without their competitors knowing. The leader at the time of the start of the blackout last evening, Seb Josse (BT), gave us an update this morning (good video conference http://www.theartemistransat.com/60/video.asp?vidid=1557911374&channel=1494779298. "Port tack, 20 knots, wind is building, starting to get wet, the serious sailing has started!" In these conditions, the skippers must move and stack every bit of weight on the boat on the high side to help the speed of the boat. Of course with the blackout the skippers can't tell how they are doing against the other boats; "It's a bit different today, as for sure normally we are tuning our boats with reference to the speed and heading of the other boats - today it has to be more on feeling, its interesting for sure." Loick Peyron (Gitana Eighty) likened the concept of the blackout to that of the Apollo spacecraft passing to the back side of the moon. "As a concept its interesting, although the timing of this one is not going to leave many options for the leading boats at least" Dee Caffari also spoke in video http://www.theartemistransat.com/60/video.asp?vidid=1557911377&channel=1494779298 on how much the skippers' day is driven by the position reports "Its really compulsive viewing you can't help but every 2 hours be hooked to the screen to see where everybody is, so its kinda weird not having that distraction today. So it is a case of sailing your own race, sailing with whatever weather you have, which I must admit has turned very wet, grey and miserable. But I'll be really keen to see the positions tomorrow morning!" Tomorrow is the 2nd anniversary of Dee Caffari's (AVIVA) arrival back in UK waters after successfully completing her solo round the world record against the prevailing winds. Now just starting to bash her way upwind mid-Atlantic onboard her new IMOCA Open 60, Dee compared the machines - "that boat was a bullet proof tank, these are not that at all - much more responsive, much faster and much more fun!" Yann Elies onboard Generali, sent some images in that confirm the sudden change of ambience, "now we are definitely on The Artemis Transat, I was beginning to think I was on a Jacques Vabre!". Day 7, and finally the much promised greyness of the North Atlantic has swept across the fleet! The blackout may well have even more significance for the second group, led by Sam Davies on Roxy, who was holding 6th place last night at the last position poll. With Akena just to her north, and Cervin and Safran crossing paths yesterday afternoon much further south, the next 24 hours could be decisive in terms of who will make it to the icegate first. Love it or hate it, tactical options available or not, everyone will be waiting by their computers at 0600GMT tomorrow for the position blackout to end to see just how they have fared in this very grey 36 hours in the North Atlantic. For Further information, please contact OC Events T: +44 (0)870 0630218 E: info@ocevents.org mailto:info@ocevents.org Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE