22.05.2008
Positionstabelle 22.05.08
Day 12: Into the Atlantic mincing machine
- Leading pack break through the light zone early
- Southern group suffer longest
- Mid-Atlantic match racing for 40 Degrees and Fujifilm
- Herrmann and Bouchard in a training session
- Fast speeds expected overnight
The Artemis Transat's leading pack were the first to catch new breeze this morning with frontrunner, Giovanni Soldini and Telecom Italia taking the first bite of 15 knot south-westerly wind in the early hours, 85 miles from the ice gate. Beluga Racer (2nd place), Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR (3rd place) and Appart' City (4th place) caught the breeze soon afterwards. Overnight, however, there were losers in the fleet. At the position blackout last night, Appart' City was just 3 miles behind Thierry Bouchard's Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR and Boris Herrmann's Beluga Racer, although the gap had widened to just under 30 miles this morning, instantly splitting the tight-knit trio by an unusual margin after 12 days of immensely close racing. The reason, possibly, stems from Yvan Noblet's report that his wind instruments had ceased to function, hamstringing performance on Appart' City.
The more southern boats have hurt most in the light breeze. Louis Duc in 10th place on Groupe Royer switched to port tack, heading north-west this morning: "I'd worked hard all night to keep the boat moving," he reported to the race office. "I was on a 260° heading, which was good for the ice gate, but at daylight, the wind died completely." While Louis Duc wriggled north to find some breeze, one boat in the southern group banked some south at 0600GMT: "I had to do a little tack south after the position poll came in," said Miranda Merron in 5th place with 40 Degrees this morning, "just to keep between Alex and the ice gate." Merron's position report revealed that Alex Bennett and Fujifilm were 19 miles behind 40 Degrees, slightly to the south and a covering manoeuvre was required in their mid-Atlantic match race. For Merron, the ice gate is a hurdle: "It's a shame that the gate is almost dead upwind and it'll be good to get to it as there's some quite big weather coming in." Once passed the gate - a 130 mile long horizontal line south of the Grand Banks - tactical options for the Class40 fleet will broaden, but for now, beating into the building breeze is essential. "It's currently blowing between 12-13 knots and it's very civilised," she reported at 1000GMT, "and it's rising slowly by about 1 knot every half an hour." This afternoon, Merron's lead had decreased slightly to 12 miles, although she has picked up speed, averaging 8 knots - 1 knot faster than Bennett - as the pair head for the ice gate. "We've had such an easy time of it, it's probably about time we all had a bit of a spanking." With the highest winds of the entire race expected over the next 24 hours, Merron is well prepared: "I'm now starting to pack in as much sleep as I can and I'm really loving it! I just hope everyone comes out the other side of it OK with no damage to their boats."
Halvard Mabire in 8th place this afternoon on Custo Pol was deeply unhappy earlier having lost only a handful of miles to the Merron and Bennett combo, he had fallen an additional 40 miles behind Soldini overnight: "I'm quite frustrated because my position in the south of the fleet hasn't paid-off at all," he said this morning. Worse still, Benoit Parnaudeau in 9th place on Prevoir Vie disappeared into the position blackout slightly further south and 15 miles behind Mabire, but had gained a handful of miles under cover of the night: "It's not good and Benoit has kept moving and I haven't, so the gap has closed." Getting worked-up over a small gain by another Class40 may seem excessive with just under 1,300 miles reindexing, but the racing has been so close that every mile lost or gained has become a tragedy or a triumph for the 11 competitors.
The most exceptionally tight racing over the past few days has been raging between Boris Herrmann on Beluga Racer and Thierry Bouchard with Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR who have frequently traded 2nd place over the last 36 hours. "I had a very good night with a few sail changes," said Herrmann with Teutonic understatement this morning. "I went from spinnaker, to Code 5, then genoa and in a bit of time we'll need the staysail." Overnight, the wind has clearly been shifty for Beluga Racer: "The last 24 hours have been like an inshore regatta," he agrees, "although we have kept the same course and the wind has done all the moving." For the German sailor sailing 510 miles south-east of Newfoundland, the darkness began to recede at 0900GMT, shortly before his satellite phone call with the race office: "I can just see Thierry Bouchard now," he confirmed, "coming out of the night. He's approximately 1 mile behind me and a bit to windward." Yesterday, during a very calm patch, both boats were separated by 800 metres, making 2 knots boatspeed through the water, but pushed back towards Europe by the Gulf Stream and recording minus 8 knots over the ground. Far from feeling stressed by the proximity of Bouchard, Herrmann is using the situation to his advantage: "For me it's more relaxing as it's useful to have a benchmark. I can see if my speed is good, if I'm sailing too high, or too low, or too slow. I can also see when he changes his sails." Herrmann and Bouchard are racing identical Akilaria 40s, so the comparison is invaluable. "It's like having a coach following me," notes Herrmann.
Just 1.5 miles astern of Herrmann this afternoon, Thierry Bouchard on Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR, is also finding the close company an advantage: "Boris took a few miles out of me last night, but I've caught up a bit this morning and it's good to have somebody in front as a benchmark." For the moment, Bouchard is not too concerned with the German's lead: "It's no stress, really. There's still a long way to go and we'll see what happens at the finish line."
Weather files now place the race leader, Giovanni Soldini and Telecom Italia, in 20 knots of south-westerly breeze with a 56 mile lead over the nearest rival Beluga Racer. The low pressure system providing the wind power is currently centred over eastern Newfoundland and as Soldini completes his ice gate obligations, he will benefit from reaching conditions as he bends north with building breeze through until Friday. Simon Clarke, stranded in the south, 270 miles to the east of the Italian and on a near-identical latitude, will be impatient to get some stronger winds and start to get Clarke Offshore Racing back in the game. However, the British skipper may have to wait until midday on Friday to jump into the stronger band of breeze.
Class40 ranking and Distance to Leader figures for 1400GMT Thursday 22nd May
1 Telecom Italia 0
2 Beluga Racer 56.5
3 Mistral Loisirs - Pole Santé ELIOR 58
4 Appart City 89.4
5 40 Degrees 138.4
6 Fujifilm 150.7
7 Groupe Partouche 176.5
8 Custo Pol 179.7
9 Prévoir Vie 188.9
10 Groupe Royer 191.3
11 Clarke Offshore Racing 270.2
For Further information, please contact OC Events
T: +44 (0)870 0630218
E: info@ocevents.org mailto:info@ocevents.org
|
