Three weeks to go

Latest news of the Transat

'To finish first, first you must finish...' is an old adage in ocean racing and during the Transat's 2800 mile course from Plymouth to Boston there is a good chance the boats will come in for considerable punishment as they sail upwind into gale force conditions. Aware of this the skippers and their shore teams are spending much time prior to the race attempting to ensure their vessels can withstand the rigours of sailing the 'wrong way' across the North Atlantic and do not have to limp home prematurely through gear failure.

There are few better ways to shake out any bugs and weaknesses than to go racing and last weekend off the Breton haven of La Trinite-sur-Mer the ORMA 60ft trimarans had their first Grand Prix of the season.

The Grand Prix demonstrated Sergio Tacchini and Groupama to have a fractionally better turn of speed than their eight competitors (Yves Parlier's new catamaran did not take part in the regatta). Sergio Tacchini in particular have improved their upwind ability over the winter through lengthening their daggerboard and this will prove an advantage come the Transat. While useful, this performance advantage when sailed fully crewed will be less relevant come the Transat as single-handed the performance of the boats will rely much more on the ability of the skipper to keep the boat going in the right direction at maximum speed without breaking.

Six of the Open 60s will be undergoing a similar test when on Sunday they set sail in the 1000 Mille de Calais race from Calais to the Fastnet Rock and back via Dover. Again, this race is fully crewed and will be a good shakedown for The Transat starting in a little over three weeks. The race will include Britain's Mike Golding on Ecover and will be the first outing for the Marc Lombard designed Sill and Bonduelle, skippered by Frenchman Roland Jourdain and Jean le Cam respectively.

Meanwhile the qualifications for The Transat continue. This week has seen many of the leading Open 60s complete their 750 miles passages including Vincent Riou's PRB, Around Alone winner Bernard Stamms Cheminées Poujoulat-Armor Lux, Sébastien Josse' VMI, and Jean-Pierre Dick's Transat Jacques Vabre winner, Virbac.

Following the arrival of Kip Stone's 50-foot mononhull Artforms in Plymouth which the skipper sailed halfway around the world from New Zealand, most of it solo, Joe Harris' Wells Fargo-American Pioneer is now only a few hundred miles from the English coast and should arrive in Plymouth this weekend.

Two new partners supporting The Transat are announced this week, in the shape of BT Broadband and Sony UK. Sailing has long been a sport that embraces and advances high-tech communications.

BT Broadband are providing communications support at The Transat start events in Plymouth to include the provision of dedicated ADSL and ISDN lines. BT Broadband will also provide communications support during the race at the main Transat 'race control' office in Cowes, Isle of Wight.

Sony will provide Sony Vaio laptops to allow The Transat management team to track the race across the North Atlantic ocean and will also provide Sony WLAN access cards that will give the media and race teams wireless internet access.

Sony plasma screens around the media centre and race village will show interviews with skippers, and display information on the expected route, including up-to-date weather analysis. In addition, Sony Video-Conference Units will link the start venue in Plymouth to Race Control in Cowes, a media information point in Paris, and the finish venue in Boston.