La Charente - Maritime/Bahia Transat 6.50 - Ruyant alone

by Sail-World.com amended on 19 Oct 2009
The first competitor in the La Charente - Maritime/Bahia Transat 6.50 after 15 days at sea, crossed the equator at mid-day Sunday.

Thomas Ruyant (Faber France) must feel all alone in the Southern hemisphere after a slow progress through the Doldrums.

His immediate pursuer Henri-Paul Schipman (Maison de l'avenir Urbatys) will soon sail cross the equator too, and along with the knowledge others will soon follow, may play on the nerves of the young Ruyant.

But Ruyant holda a trump card in his hands; he is ideally placed for heading to the archipelago of Fernando da Noronha.

The leaders of The Charente Maritime / Bahia Transat 6.50 are under a blue sky at last, and have a south/south-east wind. The Minis pace is increasingly. HP Schipman, a naval architec, is effective at the moment and significantly and his performance is still improving. The Lombard's student passed Francois Cuinet, who was yesterday in second place. HP is settling the score in a combative way, taking back precious nautical miles from Thomas Ruyant. Bertrand Delesne has not been this fortunate and he is fifth overall, after following the easterly option, which did not pay off for him.

As reported by the escort boats that are carefully sailing on the side of the 79 Minis fleet, the playground of the Atlantic Ocean is offering contrasted faces to the competitors, who are now spread over 650 km. At the head of the race the leader enjoys a nice patch of blue sky, sailing in 15 knot south-south-eastly flow.

In the area of the leading series boat, Francisco Lobato (ROFF TMN), there is over 20 knots of wind. Mid-fleet,it is the begining of the end for monotony. The escort boat 'Solo'confirms she has been sailing since yesterday, with a new team-mate, the unfortunate Antoine Rioux who was forced to abandon his proto 'Nouvelle Calédonie'.

The doldrums, however, have spread over the back of the pack. They are under endless showers and the the hapless sailors are trying to make their way through breeze that changes 360 degrees.
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Ranking at 3 pm, On Sunday the 18th of October

Series
1 - Francisco Lobato (ROFF TMN) 1029.68 miles from the finish
2 - Charlie Dalin (cherche sponsor charliedalin.com) 21.09 miles of the leader
3 - Ricardo Appoloni ( Ma Vie pour Mapei) 29.31 miles of the leader
4 - Fabien Sellier (Surfrider Foundation) 45, 54 miles behind the leader
5 - Antoine Debled (RegionsJob.com) 62, 84 miles behind the leader

Prototypes
1 - Thomas Ruyant (Faber fFance) at 897.49 miles from the finish
2 - Henri-Paul Schipman (Maisons de l'avenir Urbatys)s) 28.85 miles of the leader
3 - François Cuinet (Plan Jardin) 39.44 miles of the leader
4 - Stéphane Le Diraison (Cultisol Marins sans frontière) 67.25 miles of the leader
5 - Bertrand Delesne (Entreprendre Durablement) 69.62 miles behind the leader.

Antoine Rioux forced to abandon his boat!

The New Caledonian Antoine Rioux has had to board the escort boat 'Solo', abandoning his sailboat 'Nouvelle Calédonie', a Proto Martin Fisher 2008.

Antoine has triggered this afternoon the red button of his beacon, indicating the race director that he had serious problems requiring assistance. 'Solo' was immediately called and quickly found the Caledonian.

The failure of a drift caused a major leak. With the help of the crew of 'Solo', some repairs were attempted and Antoine, continued sailing. But some 600 miles from the Archipelago Fernando da Noronha, the prototype filled with water, the repairs not holding. Antoine had no other choice but to get aborad the escort boat that had remained in close contact with him. Hr was forced to abandon the yacht he had built by himself for the Transat 6.50.