Race leader retires

Bad news for Thomas Coville on board Sodebo in Route du Rhum - PLUS news from Kingfisher and 1500 positions

The bad news today is that 60ft trimaran leader Thomas Coville on board Sodebo has had to retire with a 50cm hole in his forward crossbeam which is beginning to delaminate. He has known about the problem for 24 hours and thought he could continue, but now he has decided he can't and is heading for Lisbon.

Coville, who is a newcomer to sailing solo in 60ft trimarans - although far from new to singlehanded racing or racing trimarans - put in a remarkable performance leading from the very early stages of the race. This was despite Sodebo being one of the newest 60ft trimarans in the fleet.

Marc Guillemot on Biscuits la Trinitaine (above) and the fearless Steve Ravussin on Technomarine (the old Foncia) are now leading.

Meanwhile..

The wind is now still cranking from the north for the lead monohulls in the Route du Rhum and looks set to stay this way for the next 48 hours. However the north Atlantic high, currently well to the west is slowly moving east and by the weekend will be in its rightful place centred over the Azores. It will therefore be important for the competition to do all they can to race south west to try and get below the high before it blocks their path to the Trades.

Despite a few technical problems on board Kingfisher - there is a problem with her wind instruments - Ellen now seems in a better state than she was earlier in the week.

“Feel much happier this morning, have managed to get a couple of good hours sleep, real recuperative sleep," she commented on board earlier today. "Think it was because I finally managed to get my feet warm - the first time in the race! Feel much better for it, amazing what 2 hours can do... the breeze is really kicking in, its been down at 25 sometimes, but the squalls are really violent, the sea is so white when they hit, and the sea state is very messed up.

"I have no idea how the boat can handle this. Its hard to accept that on the surfs we are touching 20 knots sometimes in these conditions. The boat and I are well though, she’s ok. We got hit be a big squall about 20 minutes ago, just while I had the camera in my hand, we got totally wiped out and laid flat. It’ll make some good images if I ever manage to send them! Not having much luck with satellite connections at the moment, the boat is being thrown around so much its not surprising”

On learning of news of Sill's split mainsail above the third reef when he saw 70+ knots of wind: “Really? oh no. Poor Bilou. It sounded much worse further south. I’m sure he’ll be back with us though....[pause]....the wind is really kicking in....40 knots, jeeze 42....43.....44....46....48....52....gotta go....will call you back."

See page 2 and 3 for some on board photos of Ellen...

Positions 14/11/02 15:00:00 GMT
Pos	Name	Skipper	Lat	Long	Dist	SOG	COG
60ft tris
1	Biscuits La Trinitaine - Ethypharm	Marc Guillemot	40 32.88' N	20 48.80' W	2618	15.4	232
2	TechnoMarine	Steve Ravussin	41 03.78' N	20 21.24' W	2621.7	20.8	213
3	Banque Populaire	Lalou Roucayrol	43 41.80' N	20 02.28' W	2727.5	14.2	227
4	Foncia	Alain Gautier	37 15.28' N	15 44.84' W	2775.7	16.9	199
5	Sodebo	Thomas Coville	39 31.48' N	15 57.00' W	2805	8.5	99
6	Sergio Tacchini	Karine Fauconnier	40 48.20' N	15 54.52' W	2831.5	10.7	208
7	Géant	Michel Desjoyeaux	39 48.48' N	15 19.12' W	2838.4	13.9	185
8	Bonduelle	Jean Le Cam	48 16.68' N	4 35.24' W	3424.9	0	0
9	Belgacom	Jean-Luc Nélias	47 53.88' N	3 58.62' W	3442.9	0	0
10	Bayer CropSciences	Frederic Le Peutrec	47 35.28' N	3 01.32' W	3476.1	0	90
ABD	Groupama	Franck Cammas
ABD	Rexona Men	Yvan Bourgnon
ABD	TIM	Giovanni Soldini
ABD	Gitana X	Lionel Lemonchois
ABD	Sopra Group	Philippe Monnet
ABD	Eure&Loir-Lorénove	Francis Joyon
ABD	Banque Covefi	Bertrand deBroc
ABD	Fujifilm	Loick Peyron
Open 60s
1	Kingfisher	Ellen McArthur	39 02.12' N	21 44.32' W	2543.2	15.1	212
2	Ecover	Mike Golding	38 44.76' N	21 16.48' W	2548.9	15.3	235
3	Arcelor-Dunkerque	Joé Seten	41 52.48' N	19 23.76' W	2708	12.8	208
4	Sill	Roland Jourdain	36 47.32' N	16 02.56' W	2754.4	15.7	171
5	60ème Sud	Didier Munduteguy	41 27.32' N	17 39.40' W	2770.7	10.4	218
6	Un Univers de Services	Miranda Merron	43 00.54' N	16 58.02' W	2817.4	9.9	212
7	L'Heautontimoroumenos	Antoine Koch	41 27.84' N	15 35.04' W	2858.4	10.1	226
8	Garnier Belgium	Patrick De Radiguès	39 50.32' N	12 21.24' W	2959.7	11.1	231
9	Dinan Pays d'Entreprises	Frédéric Lescot	41 20.12' N	12 54.68' W	2970.3	10.1	225
10	Tir Groupé-Montres Yéma	Mike Birch	41 12.76' N	11 12.68' W	3038.3	9.4	212
11	Ciments St Laurent-Ocean	Georges Leblanc	43 21.00' N	9 29.48' W	3149.4	4.2	161
12	Leasecom	Elie Canivenc	42 35.84' N	8 46.28' W	3168.3	0	0
ABD	Virbac	Jean Pierre Dick
ABD	VMI	Sébastien Josse
ABD	La Rage de Vivre	Loïck Pochet
ABD	Temenos	Dominique Wavre
NL	Millimages-Gédéon	Patrick Favre
Class 1 monos
1	Ville de Dinard	Bruno Reibel	45 12.04' N	12 21.16' W	3065.7	6.9	225
ABD	Un Autre Regard Ensemble pour l'UNHCR	Nicolas  Peitrequin
Class 2 monos
1	Ashfield Healthcare	Nick Moloney	43 49.64' N	17 52.60' W	2815.8	11.9	220
2	Florys	Luc Coquelin	43 00.48' N	15 53.76' W	2877.2	11.2	217
3	Branec III	Roger Langevin	46 03.76' N	16 26.08' W	2925.9	8.5	228
4	Mille Visages	Hervé Vachée	42 10.96' N	14 10.64' W	2931.8	8	241
5	Laiterie St Malo	Clément Surtel	45 44.36' N	14 22.28' W	2997.7	9.3	220
6	Adecco Etoile Horizon	Bob Escoffier	42 49.40' N	12 22.36' W	3019.6	9.2	210
7	Défi Vendéen	J. F. Durand	46 30.18' N	1 47.52' W	3511.4	0	34
ABD	Apic A3S	Christophe Huchet
ABD	République Dominicaine	Yannick Bestaven
Class 3 monos
1	Storagetek	Regis Guillemot	43 41.46' N	17 00.60' W	2838.5	10.6	209
2	Grain de Soleil	Etienne Svilarich	47 23.36' N	15 14.12' W	3010	6.8	238
3	Passion Entreprendre	Jérôme Thiriez	45 05.32' N	13 44.16' W	3015	7.1	228
4	Hellomoto	Conrad Humphreys	47 38.22' N	8 23.04' W	3273.3	5.8	56
5	Fantasy-Forest	Alain Grinda	48 48.84' N	4 21.06' W	3442.3	5.3	267
Class 2 multis
1	Crepes Whaou!	F. Y. Escofier	39 41.84' N	19 11.12' W	2667.9	11.6	210
2	Yachting-casino.com	Anne Cazeneuve	41 43.68' N	16 35.28' W	2802	13.3	205
3	Vaincre la mucoviscidose	Hervé Cleris	40 12.96' N	13 14.70' W	2909	13.6	202
4	Archipel Guadeloupe	Claude Thelier	38 28.44' N	12 08.28' W	2959.6	11.1	224
5	Lehning-Lapeyre-Blanchet-Gourbeyre	P.Y. Guennec	43 46.72' N	9 49.68' W	3142.6	8.7	227
ABD	E-Sat Tri Sélectif	Pascal Quintin
ABD	Groupe France Epargne	Patrick Morvan
ABD	Chaleur Fioul Elan	Didier Levillain