Thompson in leading pack of Route du Rhum

by Camilla Green - Pitch PR on 2 Nov 2006 British sailor Brian Thompson remains in the top four boats of the historic Route du Rhum fleet despite not registering any official polling information due to an erratic satellite signal.

With the race favourite Frenchman Vincent Riou heading to land after suffering a broken mast on Monday, the front runners in the race are undergoing a constant battle for the top positions out on the race track. For Brian, onboard his Open 60 ‘Artemis’ which is named after his sponsor, one of the UK’s leading investment companies, the conditions on board have changed dramatically since the start on Sunday. After 2 days and 22 hours at sea, Brian is now averaging 20 knots in fast downwind conditions.

From onboard the boat, Brian sent the latest:

'Bonjour, Brian here. All is good! We are just off the continental shelf now, so we are in the deeper water of the Atlantic. There is now more depth on the depth sounder, which gives me one more data screen in the cockpit to look at! We were starting to head upwind for a while last night, and I had a load of whales and dolphins around the boat, for two hours which was brilliant. I was heading up towards Ireland, because we needed to get west but the wind had shifted, putting us on a better course for Guadeloupe again now which is good news.

I managed to get three half hour sleeps last night which I really needed. Hope to get a bit more today as well if the conditions stay like they are. I have drunk 4-5 litres of water in the last 24 hours which is not always that easy, but essential. There is nothing worse than getting dehydrated out here – it takes so long to shake the headaches. It does take a lot of will power to keep drinking it some times.

I have just restacked all the sails again, and tidied the boat up which makes living a little easier on board! Just spoken to Will Oxley again about our next chunk of weather and it all seems fine, so let’s hope it materialises the way we think it will. I am really enjoying being out here, the boat is great, so that’s all good… Bye for now, and talk to you later… Brian.'

Brian’s position (received directly from the boat) at 10.45 GMT was 44° 54.1192 N 016° 00.0296 W. The Artemis shore team is in contact with the race committee and Brian to establish why the satellite communications device has not been polling correctly since the start.

The Route du Rhum started in St Malo (France) on 29 October, and takes the fleet of 12 Open 60’s on a 3510 mile dash across the Atlantic to Pointe à Pitre, Guadeloupe.

It is one of the most established single-handed transatlantic races in the world, taking place every four years and Thompson is aiming to sail into the record books alongside Dame Ellen MacArthur, who holds the current race record of 13 days, 31 hours and 47 minutes. In setting this record Ellen won the Open 60 class in 2002, but no other British man has even won the race.

Event website : http://www.routedurhum-labanquepostale.com