Route du Rhum - Ross Hobson safe after capsize

by Media on 9 Nov 2006 Some of the skippers still at sea are delivering huge lessons of competitiveness and will. Let’s talk about Ross Hobson (Ideal Stelrad), who capsized overnight, has been collected by the vessel Carmen safe and sound and is now heading for Santander (Spain), where he should arrive on Monday. Called aboard the vessel, he was disappointed not to be able to finish his race - even if very happy to be safe ! – This is even after a few hours spent inside his reversed boat in 4-5 meters waves and gusty winds.

Then Roland Jourdain (Sill et Véolia) who took back the lead of the IMOCA fleet a few days ago after repairing - at sea and alone - his broken boom with all he found onboard.

Servane Escoffier (Vedettes de Bréhat Cap Marine), 25 years old, is sailing a boat 9 years older that Kip Stone’s Artforms,(monohull Class 2) and nibbling at the American skipper’s lead little by little, not giving an inch of pressure on his predecessor.

Phil Sharp (philsharpracing.com) boldly fetched a strong low pressure system and collected the admiration and respect of his competitors for just trying this audacious option –which has paid off for now, even if the loss of his genaker at sea is handicaping him for the days to come.

Those are a few examples which should not overshadow all the individual exploits each of them are accomplishing everyday to keep their boats going. To be continued tomorro.

ORMA 60 multihulls

Alain Gauthier (Foncia) landed 7th on the finish line this morning at 05h 17’40' (1d 22h 55’34' after Lionel Lemonchois (Gitana 11) but nevertheless still ahead by 3 days of Laurent Bourgnon’s time in 1998.


IMOCA 60 mohonulls

Roland Jourdain (Sill et Véolia) installed a confortable lead (113.4 miles) over his opponents as the IMOCA approaches Guadeloupe (627.4 miles to the arrival – 4:00 PM). The news of the day is that 'Bilou' broke his boom while passing the Azores last Thursday. He did not even think about stopping – not talking about dropping off the race – and mended the piece with all that he could find inside the boat. He mentioned that his boom is now a masterpiece that could find a place in a Contemporary Art Museum.

Roland might have been inspired by Aurelia Ditton (Class 3 monohull) who combines her Art profile with her sailing skills. The winds are being forecast steady until the arrival so the rankings in the leading pack could only be shaken up by some incidents onboard or difficulties to round up by Basse Terre Island.

However, with only a 62 miles’ edge over Jean Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec), Jean le Cam (VM Matériaux) needs to have en eye in his back. Following these 2, is Dominique Wavre (Temenos), with a 175.8 miles’ deficit on the leader. In 5th , Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit’Air) is keeping the benefit of his option by increasing progressively the miles separating him from Brian Thompson, (Artemis) now in 6th.

Anne Liardet (Roxy) who has been having to harshly deal with her autopilot since a few days after the start, is keeping a 100 mile gap between herself and Marc Guillemot (Safran). At the tail end of the fleet, Jean Baptiste Dejanty (Maisonneuve Basse-Normandie), has 130 miles deficit over Marc and 400 lead over Philippe Fiston (Adriana Karembeu Paris).

40-footer monohulls

Overnight the conditions have been severe for the 40-footers wherever they found themselves at sea. Gusts, wind shifts, thunderstorms, gales, big seas, not one thing was missing to make their passage in their respective low pressure system a nightmare!

In the North of the fleet, Phil Sharp went through the strongest system with 60 knots of wind. He overcame a capsize and lost his genaker at sea. He did not expect to face these conditions though (see Quotes below) but he definitely regrets the loss of his genaker at sea, - which could handicap him for the remainder of the race – and the 20 miles he lost on Gildas Morvan between 4:00 and 8:00 AM.

He needed to climb up his mast today to sort out his genoa halyard and still heads south to position himself back on the road to Guadeloupe. Behind him, on a northern route, Ian Munslow (Boland Mills) was overly exhausted, after his night. The weather had cleared up this morning making it possible for him to sort out a broken batten in his main. Sleeping was also on his'to do list' as he had barely slept overnight and knew he would touch more winds in the afternoon.

Third Briton to put north in his route, Nick Bubb (Kenmore Homes) broke his boom and is now heading for the Azores for repairs (see report on the website). The conditions were not much nicer for the skippers who stayed on an average route or headed down South. There were gales, shifty winds and harsh seas in the programme.

Gildas Morvan (Oyster funds) recounted surfs at 20 knots with only the mainsail on and one reef. He has now passed the front and is making direct route on to Guadeloupe. More South, the skippers are upwind in choppy seas, trying to reposition themselves. The entire fleet will face a new low-pressure system forecasted for Friday.

Class 2 Multihull

Franck Yves Escoffier (Crêpes Whaou !) who has been prominent since the start in St Malo, should arrive in Pointe à Pitre in front of the IMOCA 60-footer. At 4:00 PM, Franck Yves was 559.6 miles away from Guadeloupe. His 1st pursuer is Trilogic, 386.9 miles behind him.

Class 2 monohull

Servane Escoffier (Vedettes de Bréhat Cap Marine) is definitely pushing hard and taking risks to gain progressively on Kip Stone who had led the class from the start. Servane is now only 60 miles away from Kip who mentioned that the situation is a bit nerve wracking for him (see extract from Kip Skipper log below). Servane is sailing a boat 9 years older that Kip’s.

QUOTES OF THE DAY

Phil Sharp / philsharpracing.com 10:00 AM

Early this morning I was 140 miles ahead of Gildas, but I lost ground (20 miles) because I had a bit of a setback. There was a very big thunderstorm about 3-4 o’clock this morning and 60 knots of wind, obviously I was not expecting that much wind so I had my genaker and 3 reefs in the mainsail. The wind and the seas came up of nowhere, the boat fell over and the genaker was ripped to threads, so now I have no genaker, which leaves me quite handicapped for the rest of the race.

There was a lot of wind very southerly. I was in the screaming eye of the thunderstorm. There was too much wind for me to handle the boat, She finally laid it on her side with the sails flapping. I litteraly lay inside because the cockpit was vertical. Then I was hanging off out of the guardrail trying to get the mainsail down. It is quite difficult to get the sails down when the boat is the wrong way out.

When the wind finished the rain was unbelievable. It hurt to stay outside in the rain. It was actually so painful! It was raining marbles. But the wind was so vicious that you had to stay out under the rain. I am pissed off, because it reduced my performance. I’ll need to climb up the mast today to retrieve the halyard so I can use the genoa instead of the genaker that is in the sea somewhere in many pieces. But I’ll have to wait to climb up the mast because there is still a thunderstorm around me and the wind is very variable. When that has passed, I’ll climb the mast.

My holidays in the Caribbean’s will come a bit later than expected ! The conditions were even colder last night, and not ideal at the moment, especially with the rain. I am trying to get South but I haven’t made much progress last night, we’ll see what happens today. I think my lead is ok, and that’s all that matters.

Ian Munslow / Boland Mills – 10:00AM

I feel like shit. I just broke a batten in the mainsail and I need to fix it up. Overnight ? it was very windy, I had 45 knots and a big sea. I was sailing with 4 reefs in the main and staysail and still surfing at 23- 24 knots. That’s quite