Route du Rhum- Thrilling slides before the Azores

by Route du Rhum Media on 3 Nov 2006
The skippers in the Route du Rhum have been pushing their boats hard since they touched fresher winds. As usually in those situations, material start to suffer and a few of the pilots had to deal with the betrayal of their pilot, or water ballast pumps, or anything onboard that can break.

And there’s a lot of things that can !

Besides that, there are the floatting items that you cannot see, objects of all sizes and consistence, that force the skippers to dive into the sea, hang themselves out of the boat (the easiest task to complete on a trimaran!), or go back to a safe harbour to assess the repairs and go back into racing… or not.

The skippers have been pushing their boats hard since they touched fresher winds. As is usual in those situations, the material starts to suffer and a few of the pilots had to deal with the betrayal of their pilot, or water ballast pumps, or anything onboard that can break.

When you sail a smaller boat that was launched a few months (or weeks) before the start, you might want to assess how much you can push it – it usually ends up being a bit too far - and you spend hours recovering your sails, undoing the ropes caught around the rudders. Well, you finally climb up the learning curve with your boat, learning how to deal with her, her temper and adjusting your demands in regards to her potentials, and yours..To be continued !

ORMA 60 multihulls
Four men are chasing Lionel Lemonchois dark blue trimaran on the road to the Trade Winds. They all enjoy the thrilling rides down the waves, even if the high speeds are obviously generating more strains on the trimarans and their bodies.

Right on his heels, Pascal Bidégorry (Banque Populaire), Michel Desjoyeaux (Géant), Yvan Bourgnon (Brossard) and on a Northern position Thomas Coville (Sodeb'O) went through the Azores at nice speeds (over 24 knots). Within 152 miles behind the leader, they still represent a potential danger for Lemonchois.

Behind these 5, things are not at their best. Franck Cammas (Groupama 2) was caught in a hole of wind, same situation on Foncia showing a 14 knots average in the last 4 hours (compared to the 25 of L.Lemonchois) and Steve Ravussin (Orange Project) hit a floating container. On Orange Project, the daggerboard has been dammaged and the central the rudder broken. Steve is now sailing towards Horta to check things out to see if he can repair.

IMOCA 60 mohonulls

The battle is raging between the top 3 skippers of the Orma Class, 'Bilou' – Roland Jourdain (Sill et Veolia) maintains a short, but firm lead (some tiny 17 miles), over Jean Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec) and 37 miles over Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux).

Brian Thompson, suffering with problems with the autopilot and steering system for the last 20 hours or so has been battling to repair the damages. His mood seems high though (see website) even if this situation drives him to slow down the boat to avoid any extra damage.

The first boats will be in the Azores tomorrow in the evening and as for the ORMA multihulls, the archipelago winds could redistribute the cards. For now the boats are still reaching up to 22 knots (12:00 PM) but conditions are going to soften once they go through the islands (the most direct route).

40-footer monohulls

The leaders of the class need to position themselves wisely to negociate their passage in the Azores as there’s a high pressure system on their road. In addition, as we can notice in the ORMA fleet, a mistake can get you stuck for hours, causing that your competitors will pass you by.

Phil Sharp (philsharpracing.com) is maintaining his 3rd position. Ian Munslow had a few problems last night, with his spinaker ending up in the sea, and a few ropes wraped around the rudder.

He’s sliding to 8th, and Joe Seeten and Damien Grimont are going back up in the ranking and in the battle.

QUOTES OF THE DAY

Ross Hobson / Ideal Stelrad

After yesterday’s fright I backed off a bit but the sea state has improved now and I am picking up speed again. It is possible to push the boat harder. We are constantly surfing, with surf up to 18 knots. The sea state is not as difficult as it was, the height of the waves is still the same, but the length between them is much longer. It’s easier to surf and less likely to nose dive.

Phil Sharp / philsharpracing.com

I sailed quite hard to catch up with the top guys. I am maybe pushing a bit too hard. Last night I held the spinnaker a bit too long and I was knocked out by a big gust. But we are now back to really good conditions, and we are sailing very fast downwind. While going downwind, it is difficult to sleep because you need to be constantly ready to run on the deck and grab the tiller. I am helming a lot because I do not have too much diesel onboard (to run the engine and get power). I usually sleep at night when it’s very dark. I get up at 4 or 5 a.m. and sail very hard during the day. I keep pushing, because it could be very easy to get lazy.