Mille Mille underway

Light wind start from Calais for the Open 60s

After blowing dogs off chains complete with horizontal rain yesterday in Calais, the 1000 Milles de Calais for 'fully crewed' Open 60s finally got underway this afternoon in just 8 knots of breeze from the WSW.

The gun went at 1641GMT, after a delay of 1 hour 41 minutes as the competitors struggled to make it to the start area off Cap Blanc Nez due to the light conditions and foul tide.

The 1000 Milles de Calais is one of the official 2004 celebrations of the Entente Cordiale between the French and English and thus the start line was between two naval ships, one from each nation.

After a premature start by PRB, who had to restart first across the line was Virbac, followed closely by Ecover and then Bonduelle and Arcelor Dunkerque all boats sailing under full main and Solent. Sill's crew were taking it gently following their overnight delivery to Calais from Cherbourg arriving 0515 (French time) this morning. The six Open 60s headed off westward hugging the north French coast to stay out of the tide, close to the beach where giant German fortifications remain from WWII.

The initial course takes the boats to a mark of Cape Gris Nez and then on to Boulogne 14 miles away before they are free to take whatever course they want to the Fastnet Rock, provided they leave the Scillies to starboard. Passing Boulogne should coincide nicely with the tide turning in their favour at aronud 1800GMT. It is likely that the boats will take this opportunity to high tail it across the Channel with the wind conveniently lifting them on starboard tack. By tomorrow morning the wind is set to be from the due north and very light making the effect of the tide all the more important. The wind looks set to remain in the north for the next 48 hours and is forecast to build marginally the further west the boats sail.

The weather has not helped the build-up to this race. Light winds on Friday saw the racing between Ecover, Arcelor Dunkerque and PRB cancelled, while yesterday it was also canned, but on this occasion due to excess winds. Hence the British Ambassador to France, Sir John Holmes, who was in Calais yesterday for the Entente Cordiale celebrations was unable to go racing with Mike Golding on Ecover.

Considering that 18 Open 60s are entered in the Transat, that the IMOCA class are trying to hold more events for its members and that Calais have done such a good job in laying on this event, the turn out from both sides of the Channel for the 1000 Milles is very disappointing with just six of the fleet taking the start line. Where is Pindar, the boat optimised for crewed racing? Where are Nick Moloney and Conrad Humphreys? Where are the troupe of other French and Swiss boats? Yes, it is close to the start of the Transat, but the two brand new Lombard boats Bonduelle and Sill have made the effort and neither appears even to be finished...

While Roland Jourdain's new Sill only reached Calais just before dawn this morning, her sistership Jean le Cam's bright yellow streak Bonduelle made port on Friday afternoon. On the delivery from her makers in Cherbourg Bonduelle had suffered some cracking to the port side of the bulkhead on the aft side of her keel box.

Sill and Bonduelle are not the only teams to have been carrying out work this week. On board Jean-Pierre Dick's Virbac they have fitted a new mast since dismasting in Le Defi Atlantique last year when a rigging pin pulled out. Dick was able to save part of the mast which was used in the construction of the new spar. In Calais the crew have been trying to sort out a problem with the keel canting mechanism following the installation of a new hydraulic system over the winter.

The Ecover team were this week fitting a new starboard daggerboard. During Golding's qualification for the Transat the board suffered a collision witha submerged object and subsequently broke. And on Vincent Riou's bright orange PRB (between Sill, PRB and Bonduelle we have the colours of a Tequila Sunrise) the crew have been putting the finishing touches on their new forestay arrangement - the babystay has been replaced by a large inner forestay.

Quotes from the boats:

Designer Merfyn Owen is sailing on board Ecover:
“I’ve decided to sail aboard as it’s still a new boat so we’ve got a lot to learn. My primary role is going to be the datalogging - comparing the theoretical with the actual.  Essentially I’ll be looking at how the boat performs according to the various heights of the daggerboard, the optimal sail crossovers, the best gybing angles...  That means noting the performance criteria - how much daggerboard to have down on a particular tack and so on. It’s a great opportunity to go over the whole boat and detail areas for improvement.

"At the same time I’m really looking forward to sailing amongst old friends and having fun. With my line of work I simply don’t get the chance as often as I’d like. In fact the last offshore race I did was a very similar course in the Mini Fastnet 2001 with Ian Munslow.

Fresh from his round the world record on board Cheyenne, Brian Thomson is one again sailing on board Ecover, having raced the two handed Transat Jacques Vabre on board:
“It’s going to be an interesting course. It’s high tide when we leave so the current will be against us to start with so we’re not going to get off to a cracking start with the light north/north-westerly winds forecast. Once the tide turns though we’ll be upwind in the light airs which is particularly good for Ecover, though the coastal breezes off the British coast are going to make things quite tricky.”

Skipper of Ecover, Mike Golding says of the first 12 hours that they’re anticipating “reasonably fast reaching in light conditions. We’ll be under full sail and gennaker on flat waters, conditions that will favour those boats that have big rigs. We’re slightly wary about the length of time the race is going to take with the lack of wind but it wouldn’t be the 1000 milles de Calais if we chipped the corner off Wolf Rock! At least the light winds will provide an ideal environment for testing out the brand new boats Sill and Bonduelle though and I’m looking forward to getting out there and seeing how we compare.."

See more of Gilles Martin-Raget's images from the start here