Into the Med

News from the Challenge Mondial and Brian Thompson on board Sergio Tacchini

Pos	Boat	Lat	Long	SOG	COG	Time of fix	DTF	DTL
1	Groupama	36 18.76' N	4 47.32' W	9.3	38	14/05/2003 18:04	1588	0
2	Banque Populaire	35 56.04' N	5 03.40' W	11.3	123	14/05/2003 17:32	1600	12.6
3	Géant	35 59.44' N	5 36.16' W	2.7	145	14/05/2003 18:04	1630	42
4	Bayer CropScience	36 00.24' N	5 54.84' W	11	78	14/05/2003 17:00	1634	46.3
5	Bonduelle	36 13.12' N	6 11.92' W	11.1	81	14/05/2003 18:04	1662	74.6
6	Banque Covefi	36 07.32' N	7 47.64' W	11.6	88	14/05/2003 17:24	1729	142
7	Gitana	36 30.24' N	7 43.12' W	9.4	98	14/05/2003 18:04	1737	150
8	Sergio Tacchini	36 41.40' N	7 42.08' W	13.1	90	14/05/2003 18:04	1740	153
9	Sopra Group	36 39.96' N	8 01.12' W	11.5	138	14/05/2003 18:04	1754	166
10	Sodebo	36 49.00' N	8 46.52' W	15.1	138	14/05/2003 18:04	1792	204
	Belgacom					Retired
	Foncia					Retired

Groupama and Banque Populaire, the leading two 60ft tris in the Challenge Mondial Assistance this afternoon passed through the Strait of Gibraltar.

After strong running conditions that took them down the coast of Portugal the front runners are now facing two less than ideal options. They are faced with headwinds and the tactical choice is heading towards the coast of Spain where the gradient winds appear to be very light and southerly or head across towards Africa where there is better pressure, but the wind is more easterly.

At the time of writing it appeared that Groupama was taking the former option while Banque Populaire was taking the latter.

Because of this situation and there still being reasonable conditions to the west of the Strait, this is giving those astern the opportunity to play catch up. Most noticably Jean le Cam's Bonduelle has moved back into contention following her severe batten breakages that lost her ground earlier in the race.

Foncia

Following Belgacom's dismasting earlier and Foncia's capsize, the Challenge Mondial Assistance fleet is now down to 10 boats.

More details have been emerging about the reasons behind Foncia's capsize. It is understood from skipper Alain Gautier that prior to the capsize they hit something in the water which damaged the rudder. The result was that it became difficult to helm. Gautier is believed to have sent one of the crew to investigate leaving the genniker sheet un-attended. A wave came up from behind and started to skew the boat and Gautier was unable to prevent the boat capsizing.

For the last 24 hours the crew have been protected inside the cockpit while one of their number remains on watch. A tug was dispatched to them this morning from Lisbon and was due to rendez-vous with Foncia this afternoon. Divers were going to detach the mast before the upturned trimaran is taken in tow. It is believed they may try to tow it upside down.



Last Brit standing

With Ellen out of the race, the only Brit left in it is Maiden II skipper Brian Thompson (above), who is racing aboard Karine Fauconnier's Sergio Tacchini. This boat was nearly destroyed in last November's Route du Rhum and has been completely rebuilt over the winter, but Thompson admits she was only ready one week before the start of the Challenge Mondial Assistance.

"We kind of expected it wasn't going to be trouble free," he admitted this afternoon as Sergio Tacchini was off Cape St Vincent on the southwest corner of Portugal. "It is pretty obvious that the boats are the front are theone that launched early."

The previous night (Tueday) they had seen 40 knot winds, but the main reason for their low position was due to batten problems. "We broke all battens on second day," said Thompson, who describes himself as the go-faster helmsman on board. "We were right by Groupama when that happened, so we were in the right place. Then we lost a lot of time fixing all the battens, then we had a good reach."

Fortunately having launched so late they had anticipated many of the problems and are carrying a lot of spares. They were able to replace all the broken battens. "Part of the plan for this trip was that we wanted to get to the finish. It's a good thing we brought all the spares, because we seem to be getting through them rapidly."

Then their problems were compounded when the bobstay for the bowsprit broke in half. "We had to spend the last day fixing it." This involved them sailing inshore to find flat water before Damien Foxall and Eric Dumont could fix it with pieces of Spectra. "It is larger diameter and not as neat so hopefully it will hold. We're not going to push it 100% but enough downwind to be able to get downwind. But we are probably not going to be able to reach really well with the bobstay and the pole as it is."

This is Thompson's first go on one of the new generation 60ft tris, but he covered many 1,000s of miles aboard Steve Fossett's Lakota. "It is absolutely great. It is very similar to Lakota, but better in lots of ways. The foils keep the bow up, the cockpits are huge. There's a lot more room. The sails are a lot more developed. The solent and staysail are much bigger. It is the same sort of base boat, it has just been tweaked and improved in so many ways but you can recognise the beast underneath is the same."

Thompson says it is noticably faster on certain points of sail. "Upwind it is definitely faster and downwind in the heavy stuff it was quicker too. It didn't bury the bows as much. It's got ballast tanks and the foils really help to lift the bows up." The foil have yet to lift the entire boat out of the water, as some of the new boats are able to on a reach. "I don't know if this boat does that. It might need foils at the back! But we haven't had any flat water reaching yet.

Thompson adds that he is learning a lot about these boats and is finding the racing fantastic. "They are really pushing it along. And not seeming to break much."

Lying eighth at the moment their prospects are not looking that rosey, but Thompson is philosophical. "It is a long race. Everyone could park around Sicily and we could get round them."