Braidwood and Wombat start Transat 6.50

by Tom Braidwood/Transat 6.50 media/Sail-World on 19 Sep 2007 The fleet has now set out on the first leg of the Transat 6.50 Charente Maritime/Bahia.

Route: Fort-Boyard / Funchal (Madera Island - Portugal) / Salvador de Bahia (Brazil)
Number of miles to race: 1,100 miles between Fort-Boyard and Madera and 3,100 miles between Madera and Salvador de Bahia corresponding to 4,200 miles in complete. The Transat 6,50 Charente-Maritime/Bahia is the longest one considering the history of the race
Number of kilometres: 7,800 km

The French website reported that the cold front that causing Sunday's postponement stabilised and the only reported start line incident involved Adria Mobil Too (the Slovenian entry) and a spectator boat.

Extract from Tom Braidwood's website by Tom's wife Belinda:

Well I have never cried when Tommy has left the dock but I have to say this morning I was very close to letting a few tears slip out. Last night at 6pm the fleet where informed that they would start today, Tuesday 18th September at 12.30pm local time. Due to the tides they had to leave the dock at 8am.

The Wombat was last to get going, Tommy had planned it that way, some superstition about the last to leave the dock is the first to return, but was in great shape. I really believe Tom's dad must be looking down on him as he found a major probem with his auto helm on Sunday (the proposed start day) and was lucky enough to get the B&G guy from La Rochelle to come and give him a hand on Monday to sort it. He seemed to think that Tommy would not have had a auto helm if he had set off, how lucky is that?

I guess my emotions were due to a lot of things, this day has been a long time coming for both of us. It has been a lot of hard work and great experiences too. I know Tommy is a safe sailor but you hear stories about the single handed stuff and? I can't help but worry.

But now all is well, the weather looks great, nice winds the whole way, and Tommy was feeling confident about the Wombats chances in leg one.

Thanks to everyone who has got Tommy this far, he was so excited this morning, it was great to see.

Belinda

Tom Braidwood's website: www.tombraidwood.com

Start report from the Transat 6.50 website: http://www.transat650.org/en/

Good start! At 12h38, the race’s committee liberated the 89 protagonists of the Transat 6,50 Charente-Maritime/Bahia facing a North wind (15 knots).

It is with a reef in the main sail that the participants approached the start line - facing the wind – to reach the degagement buoy in the axe of the channel of La Rochelle. A compact fleet rushed at the start line.

Less than 25 minutes later, the young, 23 year old, Adrien Hardy (Brossard) went round the buoy, followed by another youngster Thomas Ruyant (Faber), then Xavier Haize (Fidelia Assistance) and Matthieu Cassanas (Ville de Balaruc les Bains).