Kingfisher and Tiscali Global Challenge lead Rubicon starts

by Mary Ambler on 22 May 2002 The gun finally went off for the second leg of the Regata Rubicon at midday French time today, Tuesday 21st May after delaying the start last night due to strong 50 knot gusts sweeping the harbour entrance. Six Open 60 monohulls headed off the line on the 2,700 mile course from Lanzarote to Sta. Margherita in Italy, where they should finish this weekend.

Antoine Koch, the 23 year old skipper of L’Heautontimoroumenos (ex-FILA) has withdrawn, explaining that he has
completed in Leg 1 all the boat performance checks he wanted to do and is now doing his solo qualification for the Route
Du Rhum back to Lorient instead of competing in leg 2.

Bernard Stamm, Swiss skipper of Bobst Group – Armor Lux, set the tone for all before leaving the dockside: “We’ve got
nothing to lose, we’re third on the podium and 3 points from the leading boat, so there’s everything to play for. Taking into
account of the number of miles we’ve done and the technical problems we’ve had, the playing field is wide open still. It’s
much more comfortable with a crew – I’ve got 10 arms and, more importantly, 5 heads to think over everything!” One
thing is for certain, his team didn’t rest up a great deal for the two days in Lanzarote, as they had to completely strip their
engine after their technical setbacks in Leg 1.

Five of the 6 teams charged over the line close together, under two reefs in the main and Solent and Genoa hoisted in the
25 knot NW winds: Kingfisher, skippered now by Australian Nick Moloney, got the best start just half a boat length in front
of Tiscali Global Challenge (Simone Bianchetti), and in tandem the next boats across were Leg 1 winner Sill Plein Fruit (Roland
Jourdain), Virbac (Jean-Pierre Dick), and Bobst Group – Armor Lux (Bernard Stamm), the latter boasting only 1 reef in her
main.

Temenos (Dominic Wavre) alone had their staysail up, and were hampered in their approach to the line by a problem with
their main sheet, which left them a good two minutes behind the pack. However, the team quickly got back into the fray as
the leading boats slowed up under a lighter patch of wind just a mile off the start.

The genoa sails were then furled away as each team prepared to sail off on their first upwind tack to Papagayo point, 3 miles
away, reaching speeds of 17 – 20 knots already. At this point Kingfisher was still in the lead, followed closely by Virbac, Bobst
Group – Armor Lux, Temenos and Tiscali, with Sill Plein Fruit bringing up the rear.

Coming out of the island, the fleet should encounter a 15 – 25 knot Northerly breeze. The wind shift will come earlier than
expected, as over night it will turn towards the NW. The key passage is the Gibraltar Straits, 600 miles to the North East of
Lanzarote, where the winds could reach up to 40 knots from the West. So an unpleasant upwind stretch is in store for the
crews, in this hugely tactical final leg of the Regata Rubicon. 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' />

Weather Bulletin

The high pressure ridge is still situated between Madeira and Southern Spain. The low system is centred off Southern
Morocco. The 20 – 25 knot NNE breeze is blowing strongly over the leading boats near the island. The wind shift to the
North and then NW will occur throughout the afternoon and see the wind ease off.To the North of 32 degrees North this
evening the wind will freshen to 10 – 15 knots in the North West and the sea will still be fairly choppy.

Wednesday: The ridge is staying put, stretched between Madeira and Southern Spain. The fleet will be cutting through this
all day with a 10 – 15 knot NW to West breeze, and the seas will become calmer. In the Gibraltar Straits the wind will pick up
to 35 – 40 knots or even more.

The most recent positions at 1300hrs GMT show the fleet still battling in close contact with each other as well as with
the weather conditions, and the Italian boat Tiscali Global Challenge taking the edge over Kingfisher and Sill Plein Fruit:


Follow the race: http://www.regataderubicon.com