Telecom Italian first Class 40

An update from the Transat Jacques Vabre race course

Monday November 26th 2007, Author: James Boyd, Location: Transoceanic

Images courtesy of Expedition Navigation Systems

Positions at 0800

Pos	Boat	Crew	Lat	Long	Spd	Crs	Spd	Crs	Spd	Dist	DTF	DTL
					Inst		4 hr aver		24 hrs

	Open 60s
1	Foncia	DESJOYEAUX Michel/LE BORGNE Emmanuel	17j 2h 37m 5s								0
2	Safran	GUILLEMOT Marc/CAUDRELIER Charles	17j 3h 31m 55s								0
3	Cheminées Poujoulat	STAMM Bernard/CARIOU Tanguy	17j 5h 19m 2s								0
4	VM Matériaux	LE CAM Jean/MORVAN Gildas	17j 7h 50m 13s								0
5	Ecover III	GOLDING MIKE/DUBOIS Bruno	17j 16h 9m 33s								0
6	Groupe Bel	DE PAVANT Kito/COL Sébastien	17j 17h 44m 15s								0
7	Brit Air	LE CLEAC'H Armel/TROUSSEL Nicolas	17j 21h 13m 6s								0
8	Gitana Eighty	PEYRON Loick/LEVAILLANT Jean Baptiste	18j 7h 33m 55s								0
9	Generali	ELIES Yan/AUDIGANE Sébastien	18j 7h 40m 56s								0
10	Roxy	DAVIES Samantha/GREGOIRE Jeanne	18j 21h 56m 20s								0
11	Maisonneuve	DEJEANTY Jean Baptiste/LAURENT Hervé	19j 6h 2m 18s								0
12	Akena Vérandas	BOISSIERES Arnaud/CHOMETTE Jean Philippe	19j 22h 16m 54s								0
13	Cervin EnR	BESTAVEN Yannick/GUERIN Ronan	19j 23h 36m 50s								0
14	Aviva	CAFFARI Dee/KING Nigel	20j 8h 10m 40s								0
15	Pakea Bizkaia 2009	BASURKO Unai/GANDARIAS Gonzalo	21j 7h 46m 55s								0
16	Great American III	WILSON Rich/BIRCH Mike	13 13.16' S	37 49.33' W	7.8	252	9.1	208	7.5	180.7	46.2	0
ABD	Artemis	MALBON Jonny/TOURELL Graham

	ORMA 60s
1	Groupama	CAMMAS Franck/RAVUSSIN Steve	10j 0h 38m 43s								0
2	Gitana 11	LEMONCHOIS Lionel/GUICHARD Yann	10j 9h 49m 6s								0
3	Banque Populaire	BIDEGORRY Pascal/RAVUSSIN Yvan	10j 16h 57m 57s								0
4	Brossard	BOURGNON Yvan/VINCENT Jacques	11j 1h 15m 9s								0
5	Sopra	KOCH Antoine/GENDRON Grégory	11j 11h 23m 30s								0

	50ft multis
1	Crèpes Whaou !	ESCOFFIER Franck Yves/FAUCONNIER Karine	15j 22h 27m 37s								0
2	Laiterie de Saint Malo	ERUSSARD Victorien/DAHIREL frédéric	17j 15h 0m 50s								0
3	Croisières Anne Caseneuve	CASENEUVE Anne/HOUDET Djamina	19j 10h 0m 10s								0
4	NIM Intérim Management	ROUCAYROL Lalou/VAN DEN BROEK Pierre	19j 12h 33m 40s								0
5	Négoceane	LANGEVIN Roger/LANGEVIN Alexis	21j 2h 56m 0s								0
6	Victorinox	MONNIER Dany/DUPUY Pierre	11 39.49' S	36 11.13' W	7.7	214	10.4	219	9.8	235	163.6	0
7	DZ energy.com	DE CARLAN Hervé/DE CARLAN Nolwenn	1 36.53' N	27 41.99' W	6.3	212	7.3	212	4.4	105.8	1095.5	931.9
ABD	Avocet 50	LILTI Jean-François/GOSSELIN Xavier

	Class 40s
1	Télécom Italia	SOLDINI Giovanni/D'ALI Pietro	22j 13h 2m 22s								0
2	ATAO Audio System	VITTET Dominic/CHABAGNY Thierry	22j 17h 49m 20s								0
3	Chocolats Monbana	GRIMONT Damien/Le Roux Erwan	12 52.68' S	37 15.20' W	15.8	267	10.2	228	8.9	213.3	78.2	0
4	Appart City	NOBLET Yvan/MORVAN Patrick	12 50.35' S	37 02.36' W	12.5	265	9.8	224	8.6	205.5	86.6	8.4
5	A.ST Groupe	EMIG Marc/de BROC Bertrand	12 19.44' S	36 40.36' W	11.8	218	10.1	214	8.8	212	119.8	41.6
6	Groupe Partouche	COATNOAN Christophe/LEBAS Christophe	11 42.36' S	36 27.36' W	9.4	204	10.7	210	9.3	224	148.7	70.5
7	Vecteur Plus - Groupe Moniteur	JOURDREN Bruno/PICHELIN Nicolas	11 19.16' S	36 13.32' W	9.4	221	10	215	9	215.2	173.6	95.4
8	Novedia Set Environnement	DE LAMOTTE Tanguy/BUBB Nick	10 27.28' S	35 23.68' W	9.6	216	10.3	209	9.3	223.3	244.3	166.2
9	Sidaction	AUBRY Arnaud/CARPENTIER Antoine	10 13.16' S	35 18.60' W	9.6	201	10	209	9.5	227.8	257.5	179.4
10	Mistral Loisirs - Elior	BOUCHARD Thierry/KRAUSS Oliver	10 02.20' S	35 18.84' W	10	216	10.1	211	9.3	223.1	265	186.8
11	Deep Blue	ARTHAUD Florence/POUPON Luc	9 54.00' S	35 22.08' W	10.2	214	9.8	215	9.2	220.3	268.7	190.5
12	40 Degrees	HARDING Peter/LIARDET Anne	9 31.88' S	34 35.40' W	9	218	8.7	211	9.2	219.6	316.8	238.6
13	Thirard	DOIN Pascal/DEFERT Eric	9 11.04' S	34 39.88' W	9.8	203	7.9	204	9.1	218.3	328.5	250.3
14	E Leclerc Ville La Grand	VIANT Jean-Michel/MAGRE Olivier	9 38.48' S	34 13.12' W	9.6	216	9.9	222	9.6	230.8	328.9	250.7
15	Siegena Aubi	LE PESQUEUX Marc/CUBILLOS Felipe	9 00.16' S	34 35.04' W	8.2	202	7.3	206	8.5	204	339.7	261.5
16	Clarke Offshore Racing	CLARKE Simon/LINDSAY David	8 47.84' S	34 30.68' W	8.6	202	8.1	204	9.1	217.5	351.7	273.5
17	En avant les enfants!	BERREHAR Yvon/BIBOT Gérald	8 43.12' S	34 12.56' W	7.4	208	8.5	210	9.1	218.4	367.3	289.1
18	Merci les amis !	POUJOL Cecile/BEAUVAIS Rémi	8 42.40' S	34 09.16' W	7	174	8.6	207	9.4	225.8	370.1	291.9
19	Pindar 40	ROYLE JO/BARRIER Alexia	8 12.28' S	33 57.12' W	6.8	214	8.1	210	9.6	231.1	400.4	322.2
20	Jardin Bio - Prévoir	PARNAUDEAU Benoît/CASO Jean-Christophe	7 49.08' S	33 45.40' W	8	207	7.5	211	8.2	196.5	425.5	347.3
21	Concise	GOHL Dan / GALL Tom	7 09.48' S	33 34.76' W	6.8	216	7.7	213	9.3	224.3	462.7	384.6
22	Nous Entreprenons	FOURNIER Jacques/JANTET André	7 00.60' S	33 12.32' W	8.8	208	7.7	217	9.5	229.1	483.6	405.5
23	EDF Energies Nouvelles	AUGEIX David /MARCHAND Nicolas	6 34.56' S	33 26.68' W	8.4	172	7.7	188	8.9	214.8	496	417.8
24	Commerce équitable	CRIQUIOCHE Jean-Edouard/DUC Louis	6 36.96' S	32 52.92' W	7.6	178	7.6	199	9.4	225.6	514.1	435.9
25	Groupe Sefico	REGNIER Lionel/CAVAN Pierre Yves	5 26.96' S	32 39.72' W	9.4	190	10	211	10	240.6	578.1	500
26	Merena	GUILLAUME Alexis/BOON FALLEUR Bernard	3 49.36' S	32 20.96' W	9.2	200	9.1	203	8.8	211.5	672.2	594
27	Grassi Bateaux	GALMARD Eric/GRASSI Olivier	3 33.20' S	31 36.88' W	9.6	223	9.4	216	8.9	214.4	707.8	629.6
28	Gonser Group	LEFEBVRE David/GONSER Florian	1 08.32' N	26 13.72' W	7.6	216	8.2	217	6.6	157.5	1126.7	1048.5
ABD	Fujifilm	BENNETT Alex/PEDLEY Ifor
ABD	Kazimir Partners	VAN DER WEL Lenjohn/VAN DER WEL Peter

In the hours of this morning so Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d'Ali's Telecom Italia crossed the Salvador de Bahia finish line to take Class 40 honours in the Transat Jacques Vabre. The Guillaume Verdier-designed Class 40 (read more about her here) arrived at 02:02:22 GMT this morning having taken 22 days 13 hours 2 minutes and 22 seconds to cover the 4,340 mile course at an average speed of 8.02 knots. She was followed 4 hours and 47 minutes later by the second boat - Dominique Vittet and Thierry Chabagny's Akilaria, ATAO Audio Systems.

In Vittet's word - Telecom Italia sailed a faultless race. The Italian duo - Soldini a veteran of solo round the world races in both Open 50s and 60s, d'Ali an America's Cup turned Figaro sailor - led out of the start, but lost first place rounding the Cherbourg peninsula. Passing through the Chenal Fort they pulled back into the lead again moving into the Bay of Biscay. Off the Portugese coast with a large pack of boats behind them they were smart in their tactics, sticking to the middle-favoured side of the course, slowly extending their lead by the time they shaved the east coast of Madeira. The Canaries proved precarious. They fell into a light patch northwest of the island group and hastily sailed east to cover the boats benefitting from the east side of the course. At the Cape Verdes they took a southerly option, leaving the African island group to starboard and were first into the Doldrums. The only threat to their lead came as they exited the Doldrums where ATAO Audio Systems had a better passage through and emerged 20 miles from the leaders. But on the final stage of the race towards the Brazilian coastline, Telecom Italia was basking in the reaching conditions and managed to maintain her lead over the hungry French.

The upshot of this - aside from a fine return to ocean racing for Italy's top shorthanded sailors - is that Guillaume Verdier is likely to be a very in demand yacht designer...

Next home are the double chined sisterships, Chocolats Monbana and Appart City, the former having regained the lead in this particular match race.

Meanwhile the bulk of the fleet are sailing down the Brazilian coast in an easterly breeze that is slowly backing northeast the further south they sail.

The leading Brit to arrive is expected to be Nick Bubb sailng with Tanguy de laMotte on board Novedia Set Environnement, currently in eighth place.