Team Cowes ties up in Le Harve

News from Offshore Challenges as boats arrive at Transat Jaques Vabre port.

Nick Moloney and Sam Davies have taken advantage of a good weather window to deliver the Open 60 Team Cowes from their base in Cowes to the start port of Le Havre arriving earlier than the arrival deadline of tomorrow.

German weather expert Dr Meeno Schrader is to provide weather routing to Team Cowes. Schrader provided weather routing to Ellen MacArthur's Jules Verne record attempt and is considered to be one of the top sailing weather routers, he will be providing vital weather information to Moloney and Davies as they race from the North Atlantic across the Equator into the South.

Offshore Challenges team mate, Ellen MacArthur, is leaving Lorient today on board the 60-foot multihull Foncia for the delivery to Le Havre.

Nick Moloney describes the trip over to France:
"We have been having consistent strong north/north-easterly conditions in the UK for nearly 10 days which would have made the delivery to Le Havre from Cowes pretty difficult and, obviously, you want to protect your boat as much as possible just before the start of a big race like this. But Meeno saw a 24-hour window on Tuesday when the wind was going to die down and some good weather was going to be around so we went for it... We left early Tuesday morning with some good downwind/reaching conditions of around 12 knots before having to sail upwind in light SE airs into Le Havre arriving around 10.00pm that night."

And from Sam Davies:
"It is good to get Team Cowes here without any major dramas - some of the boats still to arrive in Le Havre will have to deal with some strong breeze compared to what we had. The atmosphere of the race hits you as soon as you arrive in the Paul Vatine basin - the dock was named after sailor Paul Vatine who was lost at sea in the 1999 Transat Jacques Vabre race - so immediately you feel a connection and its a sobering thought as well...going out to race across any ocean is a big undertaking. Over the next week thousands of people are expected to visit the TJV Village in Le Havre to see the boats and the skippers. We have a few vital jobs to do before the start a week on Saturday - loading all the food, studying the weather and navigation, scrutineering by the race organisation and making the vital last-minute checks of Team Cowes. It is really important to just keep checking everything - a loose pin could lose you a rig... But we feel in good shape for the start and I know that come Thursday/Friday, we will just want to get going but between now and then we will be trying to get into a good routine and get some good sleep before the start."