Sail-World.com : Race is on for Ice Gate Trophy in Artemis Transat
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Race is on for Ice Gate Trophy in Artemis Transat |
The first Artemis Transit boat is expected to cross the Musto race gate off Newfoundland tomorrow and will win the beautiful Musto Newfoundland Trophy. Loick Peyron on Gitana Eighty has so far picked up all the race gate prizes, including an Omega watch at Eddystone and his height in G.H. Mumm champagne at the Lizard – can he get ahead of Vincent Riou to claim the Musto Trophy as well?
It's warm, it will be the warmest ice gate I've ever seen', said Loick Peyron this morning, commenting on the very peculiar weather situation Gitana Eighty had to cope with.
As Jean-Luc Nélias points out in his daily analysis, the effect of the Gulf Stream certainly partly explains these conditions temperature-wise . . . but Loick didn't have time this morning to stay on the phone and discuss the matter over - it was getting lighter and lighter, boat speed was dramatically dropping and something had to be done in order to maximise the gain on Vincent Riou, already stuck in the light winds zone Gitana Eighty was entering when we called.
Aboard Brit Air, Armel Le Cléac'h managed to reduce the gap, before being trapped too - but receiving the 10:00 positions update, Armel certainly made everything he could to avoid the sticky trapped the leading duet fell into.
Stuck in light airs and gradually losing contact with the fleet, Unai Basurko (Pakea Bizkaia 2009) has decided to pull out of the race and announced his decision yesterday evening to the race direction team.
Class 40 - Giovanni Soldini leads
Having lead the fleet since passing Lizard Point on the first night of racing, Giovanni Soldini, skipper of Telecom Italia, shared his secrets this morning:
'To be the first, you need to make less errors. You also need good tactics and good preparation and - of course - you have to make the boat go fast. It's everything together. You will never get everything perfect, but if you get most things better than the others . . . then you're in front. My boat is very fast, but it's not a big difference and it depends on the conditions. In some conditions we are better, but you need everything together. A quick boat is not enough.'
'I'm just doing what the wind wants me to do,' said race leader, Giovanni Soldini this morning. 'The sea is OK and it's raining as there's a front here and although it's not active, it's not blue sky,' he continued, describing the view from Telecom Italia, leading the fleet by a 61 mile margin ahead of Appart' City - a 10 mile gain since dawn this morning.
Soldini is confident that his northerly position within the fleet is a good move with his nex t target sitting 480 miles to the south-west: 'I think I'll arrive at the ice gate with no problems,' he confirmed. Telecom Italia has three French yachts for company at the northern end of the fleet's 142 mile north-south spread; Mistal Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR (3rd place), Appart' City (2nd place) and Groupe Partouche (10th place).
IMOCA 60 - Positions - DTF - DTL at 16:00 hrs GMT 19 May
PRB 1106.9 0.0
Gitana Eighty 1118.8 11.9
Brit Air 1148.5 41.6
Generali 1177.0 70.1
Safran 1329.1 222.1
Roxy 1362.5 255.5
Cervin EnR 1392.6 285.7
Akena Vérandas 1400.4 293.5
Aviva 1454.1 347.1
Spirit of Weymouth 1524.9 417.9
Class 40 - Positions - DTF - DTL at 16:00 hrs GMT 19 May
Telecom Italia 1565.8 0
Appart City 1627.6 61.8
Mistral Loisirs - Pole Santé ELIOR 1627.7 61.9
Beluga Racer 1628.4 62.6
Custo Pol 1636.4 70.6
40 Degrees 1646.5 80.7
Fujifilm 1650.1 84.4
Prévoir Vie 1657.3 91.5
Groupe Partouche 1667.9 102.2
Groupe Royer 1670.1 104.3
Clarke Offshore Racing 1681.1 115.3
by Event media
9:18 PM Mon 19 May 2008 GMT
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