Gitana closing on Guadeloupe

Record set to be demolished tonight in Route du Rhum as there remains all to play for in the Open 60s and Class 40s

Sunday November 5th 2006, Author: James Boyd, Location: Transoceanic

Images courtesy of Expedition Navigation Systems and ProGRIB

Positions at 2000GMT

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Lat	Long	Spd	Crs	Spd	Crs	Spd	Dist	DTF	DTL
					Inst		4hr av		24hr
	ORMA 60ft tris
1	Gitana 11	Lionel Lemonchois	17 35.40' N	60 43.56' W	21.5	221	21.4	227	22.6	543	129	0
2	Banque Populaire	Pascal Bidegorry	19 25.16' N	57 54.92' W	20.1	212	20.1	224	19.9	478.1	336.4	207.4
3	Sodeb'O	Thomas Coville	21 20.84' N	55 51.64' W	16.4	223	17.7	210	18.3	438.9	499.3	370.3
4	Géant	Michel Desjoyeaux	21 23.32' N	55 33.76' W	15	222	16.3	214	16.6	398.1	513.6	384.6
5	Brossard	Yvan Bourgnon	20 07.44' N	53 37.28' W	3.1	330	16.7	211	15.4	370.3	566.2	437.2
6	Groupama 2	Franck Cammas	21 28.24' N	53 50.04' W	19.3	226	18.7	240	18.8	452.4	585.6	456.6
7	Foncia	Alain Gautier	23 25.24' N	50 27.08' W	20.3	288	15	239	15.3	368	815.7	686.7
8	Region Guadeloupe-Terres de Passions	Claude Thelier	27 05.60' N	45 34.12' W	16.1	196	15.9	194	11	263	1157.1	1028.1
9	Gitana 12	Thierry Duprey du Vorsent	30 04.84' N	45 25.84' W	9.2	196	9.2	201	9.7	232.4	1267.4	1138.4
10	Sopra Group	Antoine Koch	33 09.04' N	46 23.80' W	1.4	278	7.7	240	9.9	236.9	1356.4	1227.4
11	Orange Project	Steve Ravussin	39 58.08' N	34 50.76' W	1.4	250	8.5	236	7.5	180.7	2042.7	1913.7
12	Madinina	Gilles Lamire	38 29.88' N	28 35.16' W	13	162	0.7	141	0	-0.5	2240.1	2111.1
	IMOCA Open 60s
1	Sill et Veolia	Roland Jourdain	32 15.84' N	42 43.36' W	11.3	228	12.5	230	11.9	284.7	1457.3	0
2	VM Matériaux	Jean Le Cam	34 47.12' N	43 32.96' W	14.1	267	11.2	267	9.1	218.7	1525.5	68.2
3	Virbac-Paprec	Jean-Pierre Dick	34 41.20' N	43 19.24' W	11.3	278	11.3	261	8.8	211.4	1529.6	72.3
4	Temenos II	Dominique Wavre	33 11.52' N	40 24.52' W	9.1	273	7.2	239	10.1	243	1584.2	127
5	Artemis	Brian Thompson	33 49.85' N	39 38.97' W	7.1	281	6.4	205	9.1	218.2	1637.6	180.3
6	Roxy	Anne Liardet	33 52.60' N	36 20.84' W	10	204	7.6	209	8.2	196.1	1776.5	319.2
7	Brit Air	Armel Le Cléac'h	40 27.72' N	42 43.64' W	6.1	238	10	281	5.7	137.7	1799.3	342
8	Safran	Marc Guillemot	34 38.36' N	35 08.92' W	6.3	192	5.2	255	6.7	161.6	1850.9	393.6
9	Maisonneuve Basse Normandie	JB Dejeanty	34 59.64' N	33 01.02' W	2.7	245	4.4	233	6.6	158.9	1950.8	493.5
10	Adriana Karembeu Paris	Philippe Fiston	38 31.80' N	28 37.52' W	0	0	0	0	4.2	101.7	2239.3	782
ABD	Delta Dore	Jeremy Beyou
ABD	PRB	Vincent Riou
	Class 2 multis
1	Crêpes Whaou !	Franck-Yves Escoffier	32 33.44' N	46 06.04' W	10.4	304	8.3	265	7.4	178.8	1341.1	0
2	Trilogic	Eric Bruneel	33 43.72' N	39 13.36' W	7.2	210	6.4	198	8.5	203.3	1651.4	310.3
3	Laiterie de Saint-Malo	Victorien Erussard	34 12.36' N	36 01.56' W	10	181	9.6	187	7.4	177	1800.3	459.2
4	Jean Stalaven	Pascal Quintin	38 22.12' N	35 53.40' W	4.2	240	4.1	216	7.3	176	1943.9	602.7
5	Gifi	Dominique Demachy	37 37.72' N	33 04.12' W	4.2	263	4	253	6.1	146.5	2030.6	689.5
6	Négocéane	Roger Langevin	37 16.87' N	31 43.99' W	6	231	4	219	5.5	133.1	2074.3	733.2
7	Deleage & DIAZO	Loic Escofier	41 00.84' N	33 20.28' W	10	253	6.4	254	9	215.8	2135.3	794.2
8	Le Bon Marche - Rive Gauche	Anne Caseneuve	38 31.96' N	28 37.48' W	0	0	0	0	1.1	26.7	2239.4	898.3
	Class 3 multis
1	Imagine-Institut des Maladies Génétiques	Pierre Antoine	38 02.16' N	32 41.92' W	4.3	204	7.3	224	6.2	149.7	2058.6	0
2	Ideal Stelrad	Ross Hobson	39 34.64' N	33 30.52' W	4.2	242	6.3	244	7.6	183.5	2078.5	19.9
ABD	Switch.fr	Charlie Capelle
	Class 1 monos
1	Jeunes Dirigeants	Pierre-Yves Guennec	37 49.48' N	26 58.76' W	8.3	229	6.3	235	5.9	140.5	2289.6	0
2	Antilles-Sails.com	Philippe Chevallier	40 34.56' N	26 42.20' W	5.1	268	4.5	232	6.9	166.6	2373	83.4
3	Ville de Dinard	Bruno Reibel	39 53.52' N	26 05.40' W	4	247	3.8	229	6.2	148.2	2381.6	92
4	TAT Express	Arnaud Dhallenne	39 39.72' N	25 37.24' W	4	200	6.2	193	6	143.2	2394.8	105.2
	Class 2 monos
1	Artforms	Kip Stone	38 31.40' N	36 13.84' W	2	222	1.8	243	6	144.5	1938.9	0
2	Vedettes de Bréhat Cap Marine	Servane Escoffier	41 16.84' N	34 08.52' W	3.4	230	6.6	236	4.1	97.6	2116.1	177.2
3	Cap Guadeloupe 971	Luc Coquelin	41 02.72' N	32 37.44' W	3	231	2.5	247	5.3	127.6	2162.6	223.8
4	AOI Solidarité Dentaire Internationale	Denis Douillez	37 50.12' N	24 27.84' W	7.3	217	6.9	214	5.7	137.2	2398.4	459.6
	Class 3 monos
1	Roaring Forty	Michel Kleinjans	37 47.64' N	30 29.04' W	6	230	4.2	235	6.8	162.2	2141.2	0
2	DangerousWhenWet	Aurélia Ditton	42 52.08' N	27 45.24' W	5.7	274	4.5	241	6.2	148.3	2403.9	262.7
3	Fantasy Forest	Alain Grinda	41 11.34' N	19 37.80' W	6.4	257	6.4	259	5.7	135.9	2677.4	536.2
ABD	A Fond Contre la Spondylarthrite	Didier Le Villain
ABD	La Promesse	Jankees Lampe
ABD	Charter Regis Guillemot Martinique	Regis Guillemot
	Class 40
1	Oyster Funds	Gildas Morvan	39 08.40' N	35 32.76' W	0.3	251	4.4	289	5.8	139.1	1986.8	0
2	philsharpracing.com	Phil Sharp	41 05.32' N	36 51.80' W	4.2	295	7.1	259	6.3	152.3	2014.6	27.8
3	Atao Audio System	Dominic Vittet	36 52.12' N	32 04.32' W	4.4	201	4.6	227	5.5	132.5	2045.8	59
4	Appart'City	Yvan Noblet	36 50.16' N	31 28.48' W	6.2	212	4.4	226	4.7	112.3	2071.9	85.1
5	Chocolats Monbana	Damien Grimont	38 58.26' N	32 47.94' W	7.6	255	5.1	240	6.5	155.5	2079.8	93
6	TMI Technologies	Joe Seeten	37 12.00' N	31 27.64' W	3.8	258	4.9	230	4.7	113.5	2083.2	96.4
7	IXSEA	Olivier Rabine	39 39.24' N	33 17.88' W	3	216	5.4	246	6.8	162.9	2089.1	102.3
8	Tchuda Popka 2	Gw Catherine	37 33.64' N	31 34.12' W	6.3	221	7.8	231	8.4	200.6	2089.6	102.7
9	Cinémas Cinéfil.com	JE Criquioche	38 22.64' N	29 55.20' W	3	192	3.5	209	6.7	159.7	2180.2	193.4
10	Bolands Mill	Ian Munslow	41 14.20' N	32 12.48' W	4	232	4.2	245	5.8	138.9	2184.6	197.8
11	Kenmore Homes	Nick Bubb	41 14.84' N	31 59.76' W	3	214	4.2	228	5.8	140.4	2192.8	206
12	Cotes d'Armor - Pierres et Mer	Philippe le Gros	38 11.32' N	29 07.76' W	3.3	236	2.6	238	5.2	123.6	2208.8	221.9
13	Le Comptoir Immobilier	Guillaume Voizard	38 12.44' N	29 00.56' W	1.3	208	3.7	208	5.5	130.9	2214.3	227.5
14	Guyader L'Esprit de la Mer	Gery Trentseaux	38 31.88' N	29 07.20' W	5	193	4.9	194	6.2	148.1	2218.9	232.1
15	Lexibook	Hervé Papin	38 26.56' N	28 43.32' W	10.4	332	1.8	221	4.9	118.7	2229.7	242.9
16	Cap VAD	Thibaud Derville	38 56.16' N	29 03.32' W	7.3	224	7.5	221	7.5	180	2233.3	246.5
17	Nous Entreprenons	Jacques Fournier	38 54.40' N	28 45.16' W	10	286	6.2	231	6.6	159.2	2241.9	255.1
18	FNAIM Pays de Loire	Lionel Regnier	37 48.48' N	27 12.44' W	6.3	215	6	223	5	120	2279.4	292.6
19	KNAUF Industries	David Lefebvre	39 29.92' N	27 29.16' W	7.3	152	5.9	191	6.6	158.1	2312.8	326
20	Paca Entrprendre	Cecile Poujol	39 32.88' N	27 31.52' W	5.3	252	5.2	245	6.7	160.7	2313.3	326.5
21	Destination Calais	Pierre-Yves Chatelain	38 10.96' N	26 28.96' W	7.4	258	5.4	233	5.1	123.3	2320	333.2
22	Nouvelle Caledonie	Yves Ecarlat	39 08.16' N	26 08.96' W	3.2	218	5.8	245	6.1	147.2	2356.4	369.6
23	Fermiers de Loué - Sarthe	Francois Angoulvant	39 55.52' N	25 28.44' W	6.2	234	6.6	205	5.7	136	2407.8	421
24	Jardin Bio Equitable	Benoit Parnaudeau	39 37.76' N	25 15.20' W	4	233	4.8	230	5.6	135.5	2409.2	422.4
25	Siegenia-Aubi	Marc Lepesqueux	42 08.28' N	22 39.16' W	5.3	216	5.8	223	6.6	158	2580.7	593.9

As the tailend Charlies in the Route du Rhum are bearly one third of the way to Guadeloupe so the latest sched shows just 129 miles left to go for Lionel Lemonchois on board Gitana 11, scheduled to make a hero's arrival in Pointe a Pitre Guadeloupe at 1:02 French time (00:02 GMT) Monday morning. This will make his run across the Atlantic one of just seven and a half days - a phenomenal record, demolishing Laurent Bourgnon's time set in the 1998 race of 12 days 8 hours 41 minutes and 6 seconds by more than five days, or 60% of Bourgnon's time. If the course is 3,543 miles as the crow flies this would make his average VMG across the Atlantic 19.68 knots - although obviously he sailed many more mles. Lemonchois' arrival in Guadeloupe is so premature that most race officials have yet to get there!

Photographer Gilles Martin-Raget is there however and earlier today took up a chopper to see Lemonchois' progress - his photos can be seen on the following pages or at his site here.

At present Pascal Bidegorry on Banque Populaire looks secure in second place, due to arrive at lunchtime tomorrow, while the fight is one for third place - just 14 miles separating Thomas Coville on Sodebo and 2002 winner Michel Desjoyeaux on Geant with Yvan Bourgnon on Brossard closing from the east on a more downwind angle.

Meanwhile in the Open 60s it has been all change in the lead with Roland Jourdain on Sill et Veolia taking over the lead from Jean-Pierre Dick on Virbac-Paprec. Sill was the only one of the lead Open 60s to choose the tactical option of passing thorugh the Azores Islands and while the forecast appears to show this as the less favourable option compared to leaving the mid-Atlantic island group to port and continuing on west as the other boats did, nonething shortly after the 2000GMT position report last night Jourdain's red flyer regained the lead as Dick and Jean le Cam on VM Materiaux continued to be engaged in a match race which only ended this afternoon when the two boats separated, the highly experienced le Cam pulling into second place fractionally ahead. Meanwhile Dominique Wavre's Temonos is taking a more easterly passage south with Brian Thompson on Artemis in his wake.

The arrival of the warm front (to be seen in the top left corner of the image above) appears to have taken longer to arrive than was anticipated and because of this it has been a relatively slow day as the boats have been attempting to make progress south in light southeasterly winds. With nothing to lose Armel le Cleac'h on BritAir is the only Open 60 skipper making a concerted effort to get through the front and into the serious 30-40 knot NNEerly winds on its opposite side - this appeared imminent, even though it will be too late - this flyer has caused him to drop back to 319 miles off Sill's lead. It will be interesting to see le Cleac'h progress tomorrow morning. In the meantime it is likely that the leaders will be forced to put in a hitch to the west sometime tomorrow once the wind veers to the SSE in which case they too will have to pass through the front - at this point it will pay to be northwest in le Cam and Dick's position as they should be able to get into the new breeze on the opposite side of the front before Jourdain or the boats to the east.

In the Class 40 there seems to be some very differing opinion about which part of the course to be on at present. Second placed Phil Sharp is making the same ballsey call as le Cleac'h, in attempting by being the most northwesterly boat to get through the front first. Meanwhile 330 miles to the southeast, there are four Class 40s led by Dominique Vittet's ATAO Audio System, in front of the most impressive procession of Route du Rhum boats passing through the middle of the Azores islands at present. In between lies the Class 40 leader Gildas Morvan on Oyster Funds who has been taking the middle ground and - arghh - appears to be stuck. Over the last four hours Morvan has made 1.6 knots average compared to Sharp's 7.5 and Vittet's 4.5. This can prove good news for Sharp who looks like he will be through the front sometime late tomorrow morning and will then be able to hightail it towards the Caribbean in 30-40 knots of NNEly compared to his opponents who will be making the best they can in 10 knot southerlies.