Pindar pulls out

While Ecover continues to lead the TJV monohulls

This morning there have been two more significant retirements in the Transat Jacques Vabre's Open 60 fleet.

Emma Richards and Mike Sanderson, who have not been performing well since they dramatically port tacked the fleet on the start line. At 0740 this morning Richards reported in to the race committee that they had retired to Brest with "significant problems with their navigation equipment." At present they have 35 knots of wind and were 25 miles from Camaret at the mouth of the Rade de Brest.

At around the same time Spanish former Vendee Globe competitor Javier Sanso on board Objectif 3 announced that they had dismasted, although everything was otherwise okay on board and they have not requested assistance. At the time of the incident the boat (formerly Gartmore/ Pindar) was 5 miles to the north northwest of Ouessant. They have yet to formally retire from the race.

Meanwhile once again overnight Mike Golding and Brian Thompson on board the new Ecover have extended their lead and are back up 20 miles ahead of second-placed Sill, sailed by Roland Jourdain and Alex Thomson. Sill have been pushing hard overnight to recover from fourth place and are currently on a more westerly track than Ecover as they head southeast.

Overnight the front runners have passed Ouessant, a number having to put an extra dog leg out to sea on the unfavoured tack to make it round the island at France's northwestern extremity.

Conditions continue to be fairly evil with boats reporting continued 40 knot winds from the west southwest and large, lumpy seas. This will particularly be the case for the leaders who are currently crossing the Continental shelf in the Bay of Biscay.

Following on from our report yesterday there were some more casualties:

- Antoine Koch and Francois Robert on board Loire Atlantique (the ex- Fila) have put into Cherbourg to repair their ripped mainsail and its broken battens.
- father and son team Mike and Robert Birch on TIR Group are heading for Dartmouth to repair a broken main sail track on the mast.

Among the Open 50s Conrad Humphreys and Paul Larsen have pulled up to second on board Hellomoto. "Conditions are hellish," reported Humphreys yesterday. "At first light, we dropped the main and took an hour to put up the storm trysail. It cost us the lead, which hurts, but it's more important that we keep the boat intact now and play to our downwind strengths later. And considering these conditions favour the heavier Storagetek and Défi Vendéen, we're really pleased to be holding our own so well."

"It's a tough start as we knew it would be - we haven't even found time to eat last
night's pasta yet. But it's just a matter of gritting it out over the next few days and then,
watch out," added Paul Larsen. "At least we won't have to keep looking over our shoulders to see if we're about to get run down by one of the multihulls!" Not today at any least .



Above: Mike Birch

Following their delayed departure yesterday the 60ft trimarans are now set to leave on Wednesday at 1000. Because of this delay they will sail the direct route between Le Havre and Salvador de Bahia and will not have to round the waypoint at the Ascension Islands.

Positions at 0645GMT this morning

Pos	Boat name	Skipper	Lat	Long	DTF	SOG	COG
	Open 60s
1	ECOVER	GOLDING Mike	46 45.72' N	6 06.40' W	4008.6	10	211
2	SILL	JOURDAIN Roland	47 11.52' N	6 13.48' W	4028	11	209
3	VIRBAC	DICK Jean-Pierre	47 15.30' N	5 31.32' W	4032.1	13	192
4	PRB	RIOU Vincent	47 15.64' N	5 15.28' W	4053	10	205
5	VMI	JOSSE Sébastien	47 45.16' N	5 41.88' W	4067.9	9	206
6	TEAM COWES	MOLONEY Nick	47 59.34' N	5 38.22' W	4068.2	11	202
7	CHEMINEES POUJOULAT-ARMOR LUX	STAMM Bernard	47 54.04' N	5 40.96' W	4075.6	9.3	197
8	ARCELOR-DUNKERQUE	SEETEN Joe	47 55.52' N	5 38.48' W	4077.5	10	199
9	CARREFOUR PREVENTION	WAVRE Dominique	48 04.56' N	5 21.36' W	4091.3	8.9	195
10	GARNIER	DE RADIGUES Patrick	48 03.68' N	5 09.64' W	4094.2	6.7	187
11	PINDAR	RICHARDS Emma	48 12.72' N	5 17.00' W	4099.9	6.9	135
12	OBJECTIF 3	HEDRICH Charles	48 34.80' N	5 11.76' W	4120.1	7.3	196
13	60ème SUD	MUNDUTEGUY Didier	48 47.12' N	5 36.96' W	4121.3	9	204
14	ADECCO	ESCOFFIER Bob	48 43.24' N	3 57.92' W	4163.3	0	0
15	TIR GROUPE	BIRCH Mike	50 21.04' N	3 34.64' W	4245	0	270
16	LOIRE ATLANTIQUE	KOCH Antoine	49 38.80' N	1 37.20' W	4269.4	0	0
ABD	CIMENT ST LAURENT	LEBLANC Georges
	50ft multihulls
1	MOLLYMAWK	HOBSON Ross	48 54.84' N	4 29.16' W	4195.5	5.7	303
ABD	ATLANTIC NATURE	CASENEUVE Anne
	Open 50s
1	STORAGETEK	GUILLEMOT Régis	48 36.76' N	5 06.92' W	4124.6	7.5	197
2	HELLOMOTO	HUMPHREYS Conrad	48 52.64' N	4 40.24' W	4147.1	7.3	202
3	BRANEC III	LANGEVIN Roger	49 32.52' N	4 16.88' W	4189.4	7.3	311
4	DEFI VENDEEN	DURAND Jean-François	48 38.88' N	2 01.40' W	4239.4	0	0
5	LABESFAL	DINIZ Ricardo	50 21.08' N	3 34.60' W	4245.1	0	0

Radar wind images (ie 'real' wind on the race course at 0700 this morning)