Update - Tour de France a la Voile 2001

by Isabelle Musy on 20 Jul 2001 The offshore race to Bayonne is postponed again until tomorrow morning

The race committee faced a difficult situation today with a hard decision to
make. During the skipper's briefing that was held today at noon, they had
decided to start the 160-mile race to Bayonne at 1800. The wind had shifted
to the west according to the weather forecast and was due to start dropping
in the afternoon. But at 1700, the wind was still very strong. Therefore,
the race committee put the crews on hold for an extra hour. At 1900, the
boats eventually left the docks as after that they would have been locked in
due to the low tide. At 2030, the crews were told to go to La Rochelle where
the race will start tomorrow morning at 0600.


It has been a tough day for René Boulaire, race committee director and
Sylvie Viant, Tour Voile's technical director, who had to decide whether to
start the race or not. The wind, that has shifted to the west but not to the
northwest, was still blowing very strongly tonight and the sea was very
rough. The main concern for the race committee is the confused sea state and
the swell as there is a long sandy coastline between Oléron and Bayonne
without many safe haven. So if a boat gets damaged, it could be easily
washed onto the shore. In order to reduce the risks and take the fleet
further offshore, the race committee had changed the course.

'As long as what Isabelle Autissier says isn't true, it's ok. She says that
the waters here can be so rough that it was good for her footage filming
before the Vendée Globe', said Cameron Appleton of Sun Microsystems Team New Zealand Racing Crew.

His crew mate Adam Beashel added: 'Hopefully, it won't be too demanding and
too much of a survival race'.

Some pros such as the Kiwi skipper Hamish Pepper were a bit concerned about
the risks for some of the boats: 'For us, it's ok. But I'm concerned about
the students and amateurs boats as the waves are still pretty big out there.
It is not an easy decision to take for the race committee whether to send us
out there or not'.

Though the British were eager to race, they were quite aware of the
dangerous circumstances. 'I think the race committee wouldn't send us in a
dangerous situation', said Campbell Field, navigator aboard Simon Shaw's
British University Sailing Team.