7.Transat Quebec Saint-Malo 2008 - Oceanracing 2008

7.Transat Quebec Saint-Malo 2008
www.quebecsaintmalo.com - Übersicht

23 07 07h44
And the first at Percé is...
On target, the skipper Franck-Yves Escoffier rounded the second passage mark of this Transat Quebec Saint Malo at 0510 UT. The mark is level with the town of Gaspé and its infamous pierced rock, and its passage revealed a considerable lead over the 26 competitors still racing, the only retirement being that of the forty footer "Les Entreprises Lorraines" skippered by Patrice Carpentier.

Trimaran "Crêpes Whaou" führt

After being pushed along by nearly 20 knots of breeze yesterday and in enough fog to make a Norman feel down (Mabire (!)), the crews were slipping through the Honguedo Strait last night under the île d'Anticosti in a light N'ly wind. The gennakers have put in an appearance again and though they're forcing the three leading trimarans to change tack, they are now sailing downwind and are finally stretching away from the trajectories of the monohulls. In view of the Percé (pierced rock), the trimaran "Crêpes Whaou", boosted by its 38 mile lead over the chasing pack led by fellow Saint Malo skipper Victorien Erussard (Laiterie de Saint Malo), is lengthening its stride and is preparing to pick up the pace still further as he makes towards the archipelago of Saint Pierre et Miquelon in what is finally a steady N'ly. In his wake he has three protagonists from his class of Open 50 footers caught in the light airs.

Giovanni Soldini (Telecom Italia) has consolidated his leadership in the Class 40s. He is making headway 58 miles astern of the large red trimaran and is now having to keep an eye on a new threat in the form of Christophe Coatnan and his Groupe Partouche, who dropped down from his N'ly course yesterday and back into the thick of the action. In contrast Krauss (Mistral Loisirs), Parnaudeau (Prévoir Vie) and Mabire (Pogo Structure), lost out big time in the ranking stakes overnight. Of particular note is the fine third place by Eric Galmard and his Khat 7 who has been in the running since Quebec. Though the Belgian Christophe Bullens is taking time to kick up the heels of his old 60 foot Imoca "An Ocean of Smiles", he is nevertheless leading the class Fico (albeit due to Yannick Bestaven (Cervin ENR) not polling) and he is relishing the tough battle with the 40 footers skippered by Italian Giovanni Soldini. In the meantime Georges Leblanc, a local hero in Quebec, has broken an inner stay and has lost time repairing it. He is now at the tail of the chasing pack in the wake of the catamaran Delirium, nearly 160 miles from Percé. Another less fortunate sailor from Saint Malo, Denis Douillez and his Class FICO have arrived in Matane to repair their indexsail track. « Previous article Latest news Next article »

Class 40 23 07 07h06
Novedia's recoveryTanguy De Lamotte gives us his account of his misfortune after running Novedia Group into the sand whilst heading the fleet...
"After a very light but very fine departure from Quebec, we took the head of the Class 40 fleet following a succession of sail changes and lengthened our stride overnight to reach a 10 mile lead in the morning ranking after less than 24 hrs of racing..."

Class 50'Open 23 07 10h12
Message from Victorien Erussard off Ile d'AnticostiSince noon yesterday we have been in a big light zone. We're finding it very tricky to find a bit of breeze and extract ourselves from this disturbed area off the Ile d'Anticosti. We hoped to touch a few knots of breeze offshore but no, not a sausage! Just a light onshore breeze, ruffled by a 2 to 3 knot wind on our backs, thus favouring a comeback by Imagine and Forget. This duo were further offshore than us last night but haven't made any gains on us for the past 10 hours.