Hellomoto finishes fifth in The Transat

by Mary Ambler on 15 Jun 2004 Thirty-one year old British skipper Conrad Humphreys sailed Hellomoto across The Transat finish line under a beautiful orange sunrise in a moderate sou-westerly breeze at 09:24:12 GMT this morning, Monday 14th June, to secure 5th place in the IMOCA Open 60 Class – and his Vendée Globe qualification.

Humphreys took 13 days, 20hrs, 24mins & 12s to cover the 2,800 mile race from his home port of Plymouth to Boston, USA. After docking at Rowes Wharf by the Boston Harbor Hotel, the exhausted but elated skipper sprayed the decks of Hellomoto with a magnum of Moet & Chandon to celebrate his impressive result in his first solo Open 60 race.

Not only did Humphreys come inside the coveted top five out of 15 starters in the class, but he also broke the existing race record of 14 days16 hours (set in 1992), finishing 1 day, 5hrs and 6 mins after race winner and only other British skipper in the race, Mike Golding on Ecover.

Just before finishing, Humphreys emailed his last race journal, and summarised what he set out to achieve with his sponsor Motorola in the four months it took the Motorola Ocean Racing Team to prepare for and execute this project to such a successful outcome: ‘This race has been on my ‘To Do list’ for nearly 15 years since I first saw the departure of the 1988 Transat.

Every four years since that year I have dreamt of taking part in the one FICO-Lacoste World Championship event that starts from my home city of Plymouth. The Transat is a vital milestone in the next stage of our campaign, which is taking on sailing’s toughest and purest sporting event - the non-stop, solo, around the world Vendée Globe yacht race.

My objective for the Transat was to complete my first solo race in the IMOCA Open 60 class as my qualifier for the Vendée Globe. Overall, I was less concerned about the final result and owing to the calibre of the fleet, I set out for a top 10 finish overall.

Today, I am ecstatic that we have more than achieved our objectives by coming in 5th, but more importantly that Hellomoto came through with no major damage, which is a testament to the excellent preparation of the boat by my team.

Our philosophy of ‘keep it simple’ paid off as the boat is so easy and simple to handle, and yet she still has a lot of potential left in her, and we aim to improve on her performance for the Vendée Globe.’

Humphreys’s Transat experience was full of peaks and troughs, beginning with the rather memorable start in Plymouth Sound, where Hellomoto sprung across the line ahead of the fleet, only to find that along with 4 other Open 60’s she was over and incurred a 20 minute penalty off Eddystone Lighthouse.

Right from the start, Humphreys found himself having to overcome a setback to get back into the fray with the leading boats. From his 11th position, Humphreys then decided not to ‘follow the leader’ and chose a different strategy in order to climb up the leader board, by sailing his own race and sticking nearer to the direct route rather than chase the pack North.

Humphreys’ option to remain in the middle of the field and not sail into the teeth of a storm up North, which whipped the fleet with 60 knot winds and boat-breaking seas, reaped dividends by Day 7 as Hellomoto eventually moved up to 4th place in the rankings.

The Transat became a race of attrition as leading boat Virbac and then PRB dismasted, followed by the roll and capsize of Cheminées Poujoulat-Armor Lux. Humphreys himself was balancing on a tightrope between fear and boldness – needing to push hard to stay ahead of VMI and Skandia, but wanting to stay in control of his boat given the punishing conditions.

In second half of the race, Humphreys locked into battle with Skandia for fourth place, and over the next three days the two skippers relentlessly match-raced each other at close quarters off the Grand Banks.

Naturally, both skippers became deprived of sleep, and this proved a real test of Humphreys’ self-management as he tried to keep his own personal routine going and juggle the demands of racing the boat near to 100% so as not to lose precious miles on Skandia.

In the end, the weather proved to be Humphreys’ only downfall, as he made a wrong call on the movement of the high pressure ridge, which left him becalmed for eight hours whilst Moloney on Skandia suddenly jumped 100 miles ahead in a more Northerly position.

This last high pressure system blocking the route into Boston made for a nail-biting conclusion to the race, as Humphreys navigated Hellomoto through the busy waters off Cape Cod, dodging shipping and whales in the dark, whilst trying to cover the two seasoned French skippers on UUDS and Pro-Form coming up to within 30 miles behind him.

The breeze filled in last night to allow Humphreys a favourable reach in to the finish line in beautiful sailing conditions to put his rivals behind him for good and take 5th place overall.

Q&A with Conrad Humphreys on his 5th place result in ‘The Transat’

Q: Has the race met your expectations?

‘I have always felt that this Transat would be my biggest sailing test to date. In this regard, this race was not as tough as I had expected. As my first Open 60 race, the quality of the fleet and tactics was exceptionally high as is the professionalism of the skippers.’

Q Describe the defining moments and why?

‘Waking up on start day for the first time without any nerves, butterflies and being able to enjoy a full breakfast. This was and is exceptionally unusual for me, I normally sleep little the night before a major race and feel nervous pre-start. The reason for not being nervous was down to the team’s preparation of the yacht, logistics, communications etc. We were ready and that made we feel so at ease.’

‘Spending many hours alongside Skandia and Pro-Form in the early stages of the race and not being off the pace. My concerns were that we have no time to enhance HELLOMOTO’s performance pre Transat and therefore we may have been left behind for pace. This increased my confidence in the early stages of the race and allowed me to sustain momentum.’

Having an amazing feeling of ‘complete well-being’ half way through the race. Difficult to describe, but I would say that I was managing my routine (sleep, eating, tactics, repairs etc) far better than I expected. Always an unknown until you have sailed a lot of miles single-handed, but half-way across I felt very alert, fresh and well in control.’

Q: Were there any surprises for you during the race?

‘There were no nasty surprises. I suffered twice from severe sleep deprivation late on in the race after breaking my routine and spending many hours on deck alongside Skandia. The scariest moment of the race was going ‘off watch’ just after putting up the code 5 headsail and falling into a deep sleep and not realizing until the yacht was massively overpowered and in danger of dismasting.’

Q: What do you put your result down to?

‘Having the right team of people, who have a huge amount of experience in this class and take real ownership for their roles and responsibilities.

This has allowed me to be focused on the sailing. Also, setting an achievable and realistic goal and sticking to the game plan in the early stages of the race. Lastly, having the energy from achieving both the previous statements to increase the tempo and pressure at important moments in the race.’

Open 60 Class Finishers on 14/06/04:

1 ECOVER 04:18:08 GMT on 13/06/04 in 12 days, 15hrs, 18 mins, 8s at an average boat speed of 9.23 knots

2 TEMENOS 07:22: 03 GMT on 13/06/04 in 12 days, 18 hrs, 22 mins, 03s at an average boat speed of 9.13 knots – 3hrs, 3mins, 55s behind Ecover

3 PINDAR 09:54:33 GMT on 13/06/04 in 12 days, 20 hrs, 54 mins, 33s at an average boat speed of 9.06 knots – 5hrs 34mins 25s behind Ecover

4 SKANDIA 22:13:19 GMT on 13/06/04 in 13 days, 9 hrs and 13 mins at an average boat speed of 8.72 knots