Fast lane to France soon to open

After a brutal weekend takes its toll on the Transat Ecover BtoB fleet

Sunday December 9th 2007, Author: James Boyd, Location: Transoceanic
Images courtesy of Expedition Navigation Systems and ProGRIB
 
 
Pos
Boat Skipper
Lat
Long
Spd
Crs
DTF
DTL
1
Gitana Eighty Loick Peyron
33 39.52' N
26 59.88' W
13.6
16
1340.6
0
2
Groupe Bel Kito de Pavant
33 07.08' N
27 09.92' W
12.8
17
1370
29.4
3
Safran Marc Guillemot
32 36.44' N
26 52.32' W
11.2
19
1382.6
42
4
Foncia Michel Desjoyeaux
32 47.00' N
27 15.84' W
13.4
15
1388.1
47.5
5
Generali Yann Elies
32 37.84' N
28 03.24' W
13.8
6
1421.9
81.3
6
Cheminées Poujoulat Bernard Stamm
30 17.28' N
27 17.00' W
4.5
12
1502.3
161.7
7
Cervin EnR Yannick Bestaven
28 25.28' N
28 24.00' W
8.6
17
1626.4
285.8
8
Roxy Sam Davies
27 31.92' N
27 39.12' W
9.9
348
1653.4
312.8
9
Maisonneuve Jean Baptiste Dejeanty
26 10.72' N
27 34.88' W
9.4
22
1715.3
374.6
10
Akena Vérandas Arnaud Boissières 
26 23.00' N
27 58.52' W
10.2
36
1718.3
377.6
11
Spirit of Canada Derek Hatfield
24 43.12' N
28 34.20' W
11.3
11
1815.5
474.9
12
Aviva Dee Caffari
24 24.00' N
28 01.84' W
10.2
26
1816.1
475.5
13
Great American III Rich Wilson
24 04.04' N
30 14.28' W
9.4
9
1903.2
562.6
Following the dismasting of BritAir and the retirement of Mike Golding and Ecover III, so 13 boats remain in the Transat Ecover BtoB race. Over the weekend the boats have been forging north in strong northeasterlies that has taken its toll on the fleet, all the boats currently heading in the direction of the Azores.

Now at the latitude of Madeira, Loick Peyron on Gitana Eighty continues to lead with a 30 mile margin from the two Verdier/VPLP designs Kito de Pavant's Groupe Bel and Marc Guillemot's Safran.

Fortunately over the course of today conditions have abated as the frontrunners close on the Azores high pressure system, the centre of which is moving slowly northeast. This movement east will speed up dramatically over the next 24 hours with the onset of a major depression moving in from the west. Thus tomorrow morning the leaders will see the wind veer south and drop off, prior to the arrival of the cold front associated with the depression and strong southwesterlies. The boats furthest to the northwest will be first to benefit from these highly favourable conditions, and this is presumably why Yann Elies on Generali has opted for a more westerly course.

With the southwesterlies filling in, so the boats wil be able to start getting some easting in, as over the weekend they have been diverging from the great circle to Cape Finistere. The tactic is likely to be to stay in this band of southwesterlies at any cost as the high pressure remain in the east and another is forecast to form in the wake of the depression and the cold front, as this 150 mile wind corridor of favourable winds moves east. If the forecast holds true then the southwesterlies could whisk the boats all the way to the Port le Foret finish line.

From on board Generali Yann Elies described his Saturday night: "It was an active night on deck. In the squalls I had anything from 0 to 20 knots so it wasn’t a very good night in terms of making headway and I lost a bit of ground. I have tried to anticipate the high pressure zone and make some westing but in the middle of the night there were squalls and I had to battle to get out of their clutches. Before the Doldrums my genoa was about to split in two and it did just that within the Doldrums. I tried repairing it while I was in there. The solent is in pretty much the same state and it’s not possible to make repairs while the winds are so fickle. As a result I’m currently sailing under small jib, forced to bear away in the high winds in order to roll it in and limit the damage.

"The wind has kicked back in now, we have 14/15 knots of boatspeed and 17/20 knots of wind. It's a bit wet and we're looking forward to turning right. I am fairly sure I’ll make it to the finish. I am an 'Eliès'..!"

On board Foncia, Michel Desjoyeaux, as ever sounded more in control: “There have been copious amounts of rain and we've had a few squalls, which involve a lot of work. Now we’re in the North you can feel it getting colder and the fleeces are out. Conditions now look to be stabilising with 26/27 knots of wind but the high pressure trap still lies ahead. There may be a little way through perhaps but we have to wait for the new grib files to confirm that. I’m downloading 4 files a day so that takes a bit of work!..."

Kito de Pavant on Groupe Bel reported: ! "It’s a cushy Sunday! Some good conditions with 20-25 knots of E’ly wind, two reefs in the mainsail and staysail. I’m making 17 knots of boatspeed… I’ve had some problems with my reefing lines but as the wind is easing this evening or overnight it should be okay. After that we will end up with a SW'ly wind all the way to the finish! Being second is good news but nobody is racing at 100%! I’ve checked my keel for the same problems as Safran’s but all is well. We should finish on either Thursday or Friday."

Sam Davies ( Roxy): “Now it's not so wet on deck I can do a few checks and some odd jobs to get Roxy at 100% for the last week. The piano winch had begun to rotate in both directions so I opened it up to clean it and now it's as good as new! Early this morning when I made some sail changes I was attacked by some flying fish - not just little ones either - these were enormous beasts! I was lucky because one of them flew less than a centimetre from my face (he was lucky too!!) - it's frightening! In the cold light of day I have been cleaning up all the road kill on the deck! Poor fish!”

Marc Guillemot ( Safran): “All's well. We've had a lot of squalls since this morning. It's wet on deck, it's colder and we're being prudent so as not to shake the boat about too much. I'm happy with my position because I expected Foncia and Generali to be ahead of me by now. Currently I’ve got 16 knots of wind, which is set to ease during the course of the day.”

Derek Hatfield ( Spirit of Canada): “Hello from Spirit of Canada. Day four of the heavy upwind work, I must say it’s getting tiring always being over on the side all the time. I keep looking ahead for Dee’s stern light but not yet. She is doing a good job of keeping ahead of me, it should be a great race to the finish for the two of us. Sorry to hear about Safran’s keel problems, I hope he can keep the boat going to the finish line. Take care.”

Rich Wilson ( Great American III): "Had a bit of a fracas yesterday afternoon as the staysail sheet parted, fortuitously, just before dark. Bore off, and rolled the sail up as fast as possible in high gear on the pedestal. Was able to get the good windward one around and re-set, and then put two stronger ones in place. Hopefully didn't do any significant damage to the sail in the few minutes of violent flogging while I rolled it in. Our mid-deck hatch leaks in these conditions, and so have had some use of the bilge pump system there, both electrical and manual, as if I needed the extra exercise!”

Arnaud Boissieres ( Akena Verandas): “I’m making headway again now after a long period where I’d fallen into a zone with little wind. It’s a real joy to be on the water!”

Dee Caffari reports: “Daylight checks left me feeling very frustrated today. I have a long tear in my mainsail and I need to fix it but need the weather to chill out a little. I have a number of checks to do before any more sail is hoisted as these last four days have seen Aviva and I go through some pretty big seas and a lot of water. The mainsail I was being so careful with as I had learnt my lesson on the Fastnet Race. I was emptying the water religiously and even had set it up so that most of it drained, but I had missed a thin line that has now chafed the sail. Bugger!

“I am hoping for some lighter conditions that will allow me to get some jobs done tomorrow. It will be good when this massive swell dissipates too. It is making life very uncomfortable. I have finally broken the 2000 miles to go barrier however I have a feeling that the high pressure may make us sail some extra distance yet before the finish. So I may be slower than usual before hoisting as the breeze drops during the next day as I need to fix and check things so I can get to the finish line. As I need to complete the race to qualify rather than risk not finishing.”
 

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