Monohulls ready for strong winds in TJV

by TJV on 8 Nov 2005 Until Monday afternoon Artforms was leading the Transat Jacques Vabre Open 50 monohull fleet by a clear 15 miles from Gryphon Solo. The race organisation received a message from Kip Stone to inform the race committee that they are diverting to Lorient 'to make repairs in the mainsail'.

In a very short email communication, Kp and Merf Owen indicated that despite this problem, 'everything is okay on board.' They are right now 150 miles or so from the French port. Therefore, Gryphon Solo will take over the lead of the seven strong clas at the next position report.

In the Open 60 monohull fleet they are preparing to take on a malicious cold front this evening and tonight, which is predicted to bring winds of over 40 knots, today has been a chance to rest as much as possible and to double check everything on the good ship Ecover.

After a relatively straightforward night which saw the winds drop back to 12-15 knots, the clearer conditions this afternoon saw Ecover, Mike Golding and Dominique Wavre, racing within sight of race leaders Sill et Veolia and Virbac-Paprec.

Mike reported: 'We have Virbac-Paprec to leeward and probably about five miles behind and to windward at the moment we can see Sill et Veoila about three miles away.'

'We have stayed pretty level with them both for the last few hours and so it is pretty exciting,' reported Dominique Wavre this afternoon. 'We are pretty happy with our speed overall and hopefully should do well in the rough upwind stuff tonight.'

Ecover had closed their deficit on Sill et Veolia back to 4.3 miles this afternoon, improving 1.5 miles since this morning.

'We have had to hand steer and do a lot of trimming because the wind has been lighter and the seas have still been quite big and confused and it is more efficient than the pilots,' Dominique said.

During the afternoon Ecover tacked to head west, aiming to reach the front and the stronger winds first, all of the leading boats steering roughly the same compass course. A problem with the engine burning oil has been alleviated for the moment, with Ecover's Graham 'Gringo' Tourell making various calls this morning to oil manufacturers and the engine maker to plan contingencies.

'The engine is only used for battery charging and so it is not critical at the moment. We reckon on having 40 hours of possible use before we would anticipate more serious problems, which should be enough,' Gringo admitted today.

'It has been a good day generally. Over the first day and night we did not get much food and so it was mostly chocolate bars and snacks, today we ate a bit better and so we are feeling ready for the stronger winds,' said Dominique. 'I think Virbac-Paprec may have gained a little by going west early but it is all very even, which is good. Now we just need to have a good night and keep a check on them when it gets rough.'

'We are well into the rhythm and the routine of the race now. The weather ahead looks very bitty and quite rough, so we have tried to prepare ourselves as best as possible. We are happy upwind with the boat's speed so far and so more upwind work in stronger conditions is fine by us,' commented Mike on this morning's radio interview. - Source: www.mikegolding.com

Mono 60 at Monday 18:44hrs :
1 Sill et Veolia
2 Ecover 4.8 DTL
3 Virbac-Paprec 9.2 DTL
4 Bonduelle 18.2 DTL
5 Skandia 37.3 DTL
6 Pro-Form 45.6 DTL
7 Cheminées Poujoulat 47.9 DTL
8 Roxy 60.4 DTL
9 UUDS 65.4 DTL
10 Galileo 71.7 DTL
11 Maisonneuve-Région Basse Normandie 91.6 DTL
12 Mare Verticale 103.6 DTL

Mono 50 Monday at 18:44hrs :
1 Gryphon Solo
2 Artforms 26.8 DTL
3 Vedettes de Bréhat 31.5 DTL
4 Adecco - Etoile Horizon 75.7 DTL
5 Top 50 Guadeloupe 104.4 DTL
6 Polarity Solo 128.6 DTL
7 Défi Vendéen 160.2DTL

Bossard Retired.

Event website: http://www.jacques-vabre.com