Early lead for Ellen

As monohull fleet sets sail on the Transat Jacques Vabre

In a southwesterly 20-25 knot breeze, under relatively clear skies but in fairly rough seas, the 19 strong Open 60 & 50 monohull fleet, all with 1 or 2 reefs in their mainsails and staysail or Solent sails hoisted, set off from the Le Havre start line on port tack heading directly offshore towards the headland at Contentin and into fiercer weather forecast for tonight.

Three to five days of gale force conditions and heavy seas lie ahead of them in their 4,340 mile voyage to Bahia in Brazil. With no inshore course to navigate off the line on this occasion, the monohull fleet were able to get away smoothly in the strong conditions. Bernard Stamm and Yann Elies on Cheminées Poujoulat got the best start ahead of UUDS, skippered by Hervé Laurent and Laurent Massot. All the race favourites weren’t far behind though, starting with Bonduelle, skippered by Jean Le Cam and Kito de Pavant in third. In the Open 50 class, Défi Vendéen, raced by Jean-François Durand & Karen Leibovici crossed the line first at the same time as Bonduelle.

At the end of 20 minutes of upwind sailing on the race course, a group of six Open 60s opted for one reef in the mainsail and staysail combination, and took about 500 metres out of those who preferred to keep the Solent up. In this leading group, tightly packed together, the race favourites emerged in this order around the Metzinger marker buoy : Mike Golding and Dominique Wavre on Ecover, Roland Jourdain and Ellen MacArthur on Sill et Veolia, Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron on Virbac-Paprec, Jean Le Cam and Kito de Pavant on Bonduelle. Brian Thompson and Will Oxley on Skandia, as well as Marc Thiercelin and Eric Drouglazet on Pro-Form. Sailing upwind, boat speed for the Open 60s was around 12 knots, quite impressive considering the uncomfortable seas. Under a steel grey sky, these colourful wings cut a contrasting picture against the dramatic cliffs off Le Havre.

In the Open 50 class, Kip Stone and Merf Owen on Artforms came through to lead the fray but was pipped at the Metzinger marker buoy by rivals Joe Harris and Josh Hall on Gryphon Solo.

Earlier in the day, Race Director, Jean Maurel, admitted to being a little nervous because of the weather situation: “We’d have preferred that the first 24-48 hours was calmer to get the sailors settled into the race. So right from the off, they’re not going to get much sleep for the next four or five days, the strongest conditions are forecast for Tuesday with gale force winds and a big sea... These are heavy conditions to start off in, the skippers should all be preserving their boats during this time because it is truly boat-breaking weather. All the boats are extremely well prepared, and this kind of weather in November is not unexpected.”

Weather Forecast by Louis Bodin

Saturday afternoon: 15-20 knots from the SW on the start line. This wind from the SW is likely to shift towards the SSW at the end of the day, and build to 20-25 knots then 30 knots off the Contentin headland. The sea state will get rougher around the coastline.

During the first night Sat-Sun: the wind will rotate to the SSW at 20-30 knots. This will be quite an irregular breeze. The swell will build continuously as the fleet approaches the mouth of the English Channel.

Sunday: For the monohulls the wind will stay from the SSW with a very choppy sea state, 4-5m waves, the swell from the SW, as the fleet exit the English Channel.

For the multihulls the start will be rougher than for the monohulls. SSW wind on the start line from 20-25 knots gusting to 30 knots. The sea nearer to the coast will be manageable. However offshore the sea state will be very rough.

During the night Sun – Mon the wind is likely to rotate again to the SW 15-25 knots, then to the west at the end of the night when the first front passes. The shift to the west will be gradual. The sea will be particularly difficult with the strong SWerly swell.

Monday: New rotation to the south-south west with the winds building from 20-30 knots, then 35-40 knots at the end of the day. Big swell from the southwest.

Tuesday: Passage of a more active front than the first with a violent rotation of the wind to the north west, between 30-40 knots at the end of the day. A strong SW swell with breaking wave tops, creating a difficult sea at the passing of the front.

Ranking at the ‘Metzinger’ Top Marker buoy:

Open 60 Fleet:
1. Ecover (Golding/Wavre)
2. Sill (Jourdain/MacArthur)
3. Pro-Form (Thiercelin/Drouglazet

Open 50 Fleet:
1. Gryphon Solo (Harris/Hall)
2. Artforms (Stone/Owen)
3. Vedettes de Bréhat (De Broc/S. Escoffier)

Positions at 18:44

Pos	Boat	Lat	Long	Spd	Crs	DTF	DTL
	Open 60s
1	Sill et Veolia	49 46.24' N	1 32.72' W	12.2	270	4276	0
2	Bonduelle	49 49.24' N	1 32.92' W	13.6	278	4276.6	0.6
3	Virbac-Paprec	49 46.28' N	1 30.24' W	11.9	274	4277.6	1.6
4	Ecover	49 45.64' N	1 29.96' W	11.1	273	4277.7	1.7
5	Skandia	49 46.52' N	1 28.60' W	11.2	273	4278.7	2.7
6	Pro-Form	49 45.84' N	1 18.04' W	12.9	281	4279.1	3.1
7	Roxy	49 47.08' N	1 26.16' W	10.8	277	4280.7	4.7
8	Cheminées Poujoulat	49 48.12' N	1 23.96' W	12.4	285	4281.9	5.9
9	UUDS	49 46.24' N	1 20.28' W	10.2	275	4284.1	8
10	Galileo	49 45.04' N	1 18.92' W	9.6	286	4284.9	8.9
11	Mare Verticale	49 45.64' N	1 18.68' W	9.8	282	4285.1	9
12	Maisonneuve-Région Basse Normandie	49 45.60' N	1 18.16' W	9.9	282	4285.4	9.4
	Open 50s
1	Gryphon Solo	49 45.04' N	1 18.76' W	10.3	281	4285.3	0
2	Artforms	49 44.88' N	1 17.24' W	9.8	281	4286.3	1
3	Vedettes de Bréhat	49 44.16' N	1 12.84' W	10.6	282	4289.2	3.9
4	Défi Vendéen	49 43.60' N	1 10.84' W	10.7	286	4290.6	5.3
5	Top 50 Guadeloupe	49 43.28' N	1 04.96' W	10	284	4294.4	9.1
6	Adecco - Etoile Horizon	49 41.00' N	0 59.40' W	8.9	279	4298.4	13.1
7	Polarity Solo	49 41.04' N	0 58.88' W	9.3	286	4298.7	13.4