Trying first night

Transat Jacques Vabre sees its first casualties

Last night, the first night at sea for the monohulls and small multihulls racing in the Transat Jacques Vabre, saw relatively little carnage considering the blustery conditions.
At 0500hrs French time, the Race Office were alerted that the alarm on the ARGOS beacon on board the Canadian Open 60 Ciment St Laurent had been set off. Immediately, a helicopter was scrambled and the boat, formerly Steve Pettengill's BOC Challenge steed Hunter's Child, was found upside down 16 miles north of Cherbourg 49deg 55.6N 1deg 37.32W.

The helicopter pilots confirmed that both the safety beacons set off were in the water, but in the dark they could not see either of the two skippers.

The Rescue Services from CROSS Jobourg (the French coastguard) initiated an immediate search of the area despite winds in excess of 30 knots and very rough seas. At dawn one of the crew appeared from the upturned hull and was spotted by the helicopter. Both crew were subsequently airflifted to safety. Gérard Petipas, race organiser and director of the Transat off Jacques Vabre, announced at 0745hrs French time that both skippers, Georges Leblanc & Marc Nadeau, were safe and sound.

The other casualty of the first night was Atlantic Nature, the van Peteghem-Prevost designed 50ft trimaran of Anne Caseneuve and Christophe Houdet.

Atlantic Nature informed the Race Office at 0700hrs French time this morning that they had dismasted in the middle of the Channel at 50deg 04.8N 2deg 46.0W - to the north of Guernsey.

Skipper Anne Caseneuve, a veteran of several shorthanded transatlantic races described the conditions: “the wind was up to 50 knots from the southwest and the mast came down at 0500hrs, breaking at the second spreader”. The crew have not requested assistance and is currently 30 miles off the French coastline as the crew were making arrangement for them to be towed into a French port.

Overnight Mike Golding and Brian Thompson on board the new Ecover have opened up an impressive lead and this morning at 1100 had opened out a 19.4 mile lead over second placed PRB. However this figure is relatively false as Ecover was the first boat to tack south this morning, although this was before the expected shift to the northwest had occurred.

"We're under deep reef and staysail at the moment," said Golding during a radio conversation this morning. "We've just taken the storm staysail off and it is just moderating slightly. We are just gently trogging along [CRASH} to windward - gently being the operative word as you can hear."

Golding said he was impressed by the speed upwind his new Owen Clarke-design had showed, even though the conditions were far from ideal for a boat fresh out of the box with only 2,000 miles on the clock. "We're just trying to take care of the boat," added Golding. There is no other option. It is really painful for the boat. The boat is taking a pounding."

The conditions are still heinous for the skippers. Golding reported that they had seen 42 knots and a terrible sea during the period last night when the wind was against tide sailing up the Channel.

On board third-placed Sill, Roland Jourdain reported that their first night at sea had been all you'd never want from a first night at sea in a yacht race - wind against tide, rough seas, cargo ships everywhere, Alex Thomson cooking dinner...

It is believed that when it was reported that Sill had fluffed a tack at the start, in fact they were inspecting the hull following a mild collision on the start line. At present it is uncertain who the collision was with.

and look set to get worse before they get better. Over the course of this morning the boats have been heading westwards along the English Channel.

Positions at 1100GMT

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Lat	Long	DTF	SOG	COG
	Open 60s
1	ECOVER	GOLDING Mike	49 20.52' N	4 19.40' W	4178.1	9.4	184
2	PRB	RIOU Vincent	49 40.92' N	4 14.32' W	4197.5	8.5	292
3	SILL	JOURDAIN Roland	49 49.16' N	4 35.28' W	4198.2	6.7	273
4	CHEMINEES POUJOULAT-ARMOR LUX	STAMM Bernard	49 37.88' N	3 52.80' W	4202.1	9.3	187
5	CARREFOUR PREVENTION	WAVRE Dominique	49 41.12' N	3 58.68' W	4202.7	6.4	184
6	TEAM COWES	MOLONEY Nick	49 46.60' N	4 07.92' W	4204.5	8.6	293
7	VIRBAC	DICK Jean-Pierre	49 53.60' N	4 25.32' W	4205.2	8.3	297
8	ARCELOR-DUNKERQUE	SEETEN Joe	49 43.60' N	3 53.84' W	4206.5	4.9	209
9	PINDAR	RICHARDS Emma	49 47.16' N	3 52.52' W	4210	3.5	235
10	VMI	JOSSE Sébastien	49 55.32' N	4 14.36' W	4210	8.3	288
11	ADECCO	ESCOFFIER Bob	49 32.40' N	3 16.20' W	4212.4	6.7	270
12	60ème SUD	MUNDUTEGUY Didier	49 46.48' N	3 41.20' W	4213.2	8.1	296
13	OBJECTIF 3	HEDRICH Charles	49 52.36' N	3 47.40' W	4216.2	6.4	292
14	GARNIER	DE RADIGUES Patrick	50 03.96' N	3 51.06' W	4223.1	4	278
15	TIR GROUPE	BIRCH Mike	50 06.04' N	3 04.64' W	4242.7	4.8	314
16	LOIRE ATLANTIQUE	KOCH Antoine	49 46.20' N	2 11.08' W	4257.3	8.1	96
ABD	CIMENT ST LAURENT	LEBLANC Georges
	50ft multihulls
1	MOLLYMAWK	HOBSON Ross	49 16.68' N	2 40.88' W	4265.2	11	140
ABD	ATLANTIC NATURE	CASENEUVE Anne
	Open 50 monohulls
1	STORAGETEK	GUILLEMOT Régis	49 41.28' N	3 32.80' W	4212	4.9	272
2	DEFI VENDEEN	DURAND Jean-François	49 20.80' N	2 49.28' W	4219.6	8.3	152
3	HELLOMOTO	HUMPHREYS Conrad	49 58.12' N	3 22.28' W	4229.7	4.9	316
4	LABESFAL	DINIZ Ricardo	49 57.68' N	2 46.56' W	4243.9	2.2	246
5	BRANEC III	LANGEVIN Roger	50 10.04' N	3 06.12' W	4245.4	5.3	314

QuikScat radar wind image from this morning



Conditions at 1200GMT today



Conditions at 0600GMT Monday