Bostik has arrived in United States

by Clémentine Chaignaud on 22 Jul 2008 Alexia Barrier (France), Phil Paxton (Canada) and Yann Clavier (France) arrived safe and sound onboard Bostik, the first unit of the Veolia Oceans® series for the SolOceans, in the North Cove Marina on the Hudson River, close to Manhattan skyscrapers.

They entered the Ambrose Channel (Long Island SW) today at 10.00am local time (13.00pm UT) after 15 days 30 minutes across the Atlantic Ocean. Bostik left Cherbourg (Normandy - France) on Sunday 6 July at 3.30pm (1.30pm UT) with a breeze force 6 - 7. Those difficult conditions, with head winds and a rough sea, have mistreated the crew with three successive depressions in a row during the beginning of the course of 3.100 nautical miles (5.750 kilometres) on the theoretical direct route - look at the map. No damage is to be noticed.

Comparing to the recent Artemis Transat on a nearly identical theoretical course (Plymouth-Boston), the Veolia Oceans® one-design Bostik (16 meters) has made a performance close to those of the IMOCA 60 prototypes (18.20 meters) with a theoretical average of 8.60 knots (nautical miles / hours) to be compared to the 8.04 knots of Roxy, the 8.32 knots of Safran and the 9.10 knots of Generali skippered by Yann Elies, the big brother of the Veolia Oceans® one-design from Finot-Conq who finished third in the last Artemis Transat.

In comparison with the course really sailed between France and United States (3.595 nautical miles), the real average of Bostik is 9.97 knots. After more than a week dedicated to daily sailing sessions with American media and skippers as well as with VIP guests, Bostik will head towards Cherbourg (Normandy - France) on Wednesday 30 July with a crew composed by Charles Caudrelier and Yann Clavier. The predominance of the bearing winds should allow them to come home quickly.

For all the latest news on the SolOceans, visit our website: www.soloceans.com