Second battering

As Open 60 skippers in Transat Jacques Vabre get second round of gale force winds

Positions at 0900

Pos	Boat	DTF	DTL	VMG	Lat	Long	Spd	Crs	Spd	Crs	Spd	Crs	Spd	Crs
							Inst		1hr av		4hr av		24hr av
	Open 60s
1	ECOVER	3542.6	0.0	5.8	41 21.84' N	14 40.14' W	10.8	196.0	6.7	236.0	10.8	245.0	10.8	259.0
2	VIRBAC	3556.3	13.7	2.7	41 25.24' N	14 16.16' W	7.2	301.0	9.0	278.0	10.2	207.0	10.4	249.2
3	SILL	3599.0	56.4	10.0	42 29.24' N	15 08.96' W	10.0	212.0	10.1	214.0	8.4	236.0	9.5	228.6
4	PRB	3613.1	70.6	7.0	42 08.76' N	13 26.60' W	9.0	256.0	9.5	250.0	10.0	235.0	10.1	241.8
5	TEAM COWES	3654.0	111.4	8.6	42 23.80' N	12 05.28' W	1.9	230.0	9.0	224.0	9.4	222.0	9.5	228.4
6	VMI	3661.6	119.1	8.9	43 14.20' N	11 56.52' W	8.6	215.0	8.9	215.0	9.2	217.0	8.8	210.3
7	CHEMINEES POUJOULAT-ARMOR LUX	3670.8	128.3	4.1	43 43.20' N	14 44.40' W	6.4	226.0	6.5	256.0	10.9	250.0	8.9	212.6
8	CARREFOUR PREVENTION	3679.8	137.2	7.2	43 14.92' N	13 03.24' W	11.0	257.0	9.5	248.0	10.4	239.0	9.4	226.8
9	ARCELOR-DUNKERQUE	3692.6	150.0	9.0	43 07.96' N	12 06.68' W	9.8	236.0	10.0	234.0	10.0	230.0	8.9	213.0
10	GARNIER	3731.4	188.8	7.1	43 10.48' N	10 20.96' W	8.2	232.0	8.4	242.0	9.4	234.0	8.4	200.6
11	60ème SUD	3780.0	237.4	7.5	44 44.04' N	12 00.36' W	9.0	239.0	8.4	233.0	9.2	239.0	7.5	180.9
12	ADECCO	3888.9	346.4	8.9	44 41.84' N	6 58.64' W	9.1	212.0	9.0	222.0	7.0	246.0	8.1	194.4
13	LOIRE ATLANTIQUE	3907.0	364.5	8.1	45 10.16' N	7 04.84' W	8.6	208.0	8.1	219.0	8.7	231.0	8.4	201.9
14	TIR GROUPE	4002.8	460.3	10.0	46 46.16' N	6 23.92' W	7.2	207.0	10.0	213.0	10.0	211.0	7.6	183.3
ABD	CIMENT ST LAURENT
ABD	OBJECTIF 3
ABD	PINDAR
	50ft multis
1	MOLLYMAWK	4215.1	0	12.9	49 23.56' N	4 44.92' W	13	203	13	202	11.6	204	2.5	60.9
ABD	ATLANTIC NATURE
	Open 50s
1	STORAGETEK	3823.3	0	7.7	44 10.36' N	8 30.80' W	8.1	230	8.1	230	7.8	222	7.1	171.1
2	HELLOMOTO	3840.8	17.6	6.5	44 47.88' N	9 11.16' W	7.7	231	8	246	7.4	237	7.4	176.5
3	BRANEC III	3904.6	81.3	7.3	46 46.76' N	11 10.80' W	6.3	228	7.6	222	7.4	223	6.5	155.1
4	DEFI VENDEEN	3976.8	153.6	8.3	46 52.64' N	7 38.56' W	8.3	222	8.6	226	9.5	223	8.1	195.2
ABD	LABESFAL

Overnight the skippers in the Transat Jacques Vabre's Open 60 class have once again been sailing upwind into gale force conditions - 40-50 knots from the south southwest. Once again the crews have resorted to semi-survival mode as they continue to race and nurse their boats until the fronts have passed through. However this blow has been well forecast and the last 24 hours the crews have spent checking their boats ready to batten down hatches.

“There is a huge blow outside and it’s still building,” Jean-Pierre Dick on board Virbac shouted over the sat phone this morning, barely audible with the noise of the waves bashing the hull. “We’re going to get the third reef in the mainsail, there’s 40 knots right now but we expect 50 knots soon. It’s infernal outside, we can hear the wind screaming almost. Right now we’re just existing on board rather than racing, we have to look after the boat. What have we done to deserve these conditions I dread to think!”

Brian Thompson on Ecover echoed the same: “We've got 32 knots of wind from the south, we're reaching. We're doing about 14 knots of boat speed. The seas are quite rough, but not so rough as in the Bay of Biscay because the wind has just increased, and we think the wind will be strong for another 6-7 hours and then we get to a front and a the wind will shift to the west and we think by the afternoon winds could be quite light. It's really, really close racing! I have to say Virbac did catch us in the Bay of Biscay but then when we got together we started sailing a little bit faster, we're quite pleased to be to a little bit faster than they are, but now conditions are very rough, so we're not pushing the boat too hard and just making sure we don't break anything.”

Roland Jourdain on Sill: “It’s like firefighting on the foredeck with 40-50 knots of wind - Sill is turning into a real submarine! It’s hellish out here, just a bit too much really when the wind goes above 45 knots, the worst is that we remain in this system for another 5 hours, which is frustrating for us as the others are going faster. Our option west should pay in a day or two but the others have got west now too.”

Despite a hard challenge from Jean-Pierre Dick and Nicolas Abiven on board Virbac, Mike Golding and Brian Thompson on Ecover still lead the Open 60 class. Virbac appears to be virtually shadowing Ecover, who over night and the course of this morning in the bad conditions have extended their lead to 13.7 miles (although it will be slightly less than this as their positions were polled 14 minutes apart).

Over the course of the last few hours the wind has shifted from the southwest to the south southeast. Bracknell charts shows warm and cold fronts associated with a low pressure centred in the north Bay of Biscay, moving east by midday today. There is also an intensify low to the west (this is due to drop to 968mb by tomorrow morning), although the boats should not feel too much direct effect from this.

The 50ft multihull Mollymawk skippered by British duo Ross Hobson and Andi Newman have re-entered the race. After hitting a UFO off Ushant on Monday, the trimaran limped to Plymouth, and Hobson announced they were abandoning the race. However, as they had not even had the opportunity to send through an official declaration of their abandon, once they reached port, they realised that they might be able to repair and restart before the 60ft multihull start today. The jury finally gave their authorisation for the team to re-enter the race and Ross and Andi were able to restart over night. They are currently rounding Ushant at 11.5 knots boatspeed.

QuikScat wind radar image from 0950GMT



Forecast wind at 0600




Forecast wind at 1200