Transat
Jacques Vabre - Team Cowes Arrives In Le Havre,
Countdown To Start Begins
IN
BRIEF:
*
TEAM COWES ARRIVES IN LE HAVRE in preparation
for the start of the TJV in 9 days time... Nick
Moloney and Sam Davies took advantage of a good
weather window to deliver the Open 60 from their
base in Cowes to the start port of Le Havre arriving
earlier than the arrival deadline of tomorrow.
*
FINAL DAYS REMAINING BEFORE MONOHULL FLEET SET
OFF ON 4,340 MILE two-handed trans-Atlantic race
on Saturday, 1st November. Sam Davies: "The
tension will be building over the next week -
I am feeling both excited and nervous at the prospect
of the start but there are still some vital jobs
to get done..."
*
GERMAN WEATHER EXPERT DR MEENO SCHRADER to provide
weather routing to TEAM COWES... Schrader who
provided weather routing to Ellen MacArthur's
Jules Verne record attempt and considered to be
one of the top sailing weather routers, will be
providing vital weather information to TEAM COWES
as they race from the North Atlantic across the
Equator into the South...
*
OFFSHORE CHALLENGES TEAM MATE, ELLEN MACARTHUR,
LEAVING LORIENT TODAY on board the 60-foot multihull
Foncia for delivery to Le Havre...
MEDIA INFORMATION: TEAM COWES press pack including
race information on all previous top 3 TJV winners,
record holders and average boat speeds...now available
to download from http://www.ocftp.com/tjv03
IMAGES
available to download http://www.ocftp.com/images/5607high_rt.jpg
(Nick & Sam ortrait) http://www.ocftp.com/images/5742high_rt.jpg
(Sailing shot) Further images including start
and onboard webcam images available from this
server AUDIO
FILES will be available to download pre-start
and during the race with Nick Moloney and Sam
Davies in both English and French. Available at
http://www.ocftp.com/audio
Full story and images at http://www.teamcowes.com
FROM
NICK:
"We
have been having consistent strong north/north-easterly
conditions in the UK for nearly 10 days which
would have made the delivery to Le Havre from
Cowes pretty difficult and, obviously, you want
to protect your boat as much as possible just
before the start of a big race like this. But
Meeno saw a 24-hour window on Tuesday when the
wind was going to die down and some good weather
was going to be around so we went for it... We
left early Tuesday morning with some good downwind/reaching
conditions of around 12 knots before
having to sail upwind in light SE airs into Le
Havre arriving around 10.00pm
that night."
FROM SAM:
"It
is good to get Team Cowes here without any major
dramas - some of the boats still to arrive in
Le Havre will have to deal with some strong breeze
compared to what we had. The atmosphere of the
race hits you as soon as you arrive in the Paul
Vatine basin - the dock was named after sailor
Paul Vatine who was lost at sea in the 1999 Transat
Jacques Vabre race - so immediately you feel a
connection and its a sobering thought as well...going
out to race across any ocean is a big undertaking.
Over the next week thousands of people are expected
to visit the TJV Village in Le Havre to see the
boats and the skippers. We have a few vital jobs
to do before the start a week on Saturday - loading
all the food, studying the weather and navigation,
scrutineering by the race organisation and making
the vital last-minute checks of Team Cowes. It
is really important to just keep checking everything
- a loose pin could lose you a rig... But we feel
in good shape for the start and I know that come
Thursday/Friday, we will just want to get going
but between now and then we will be trying to
get into a good routine and get some good sleep
before the start."
For TJV race information go to http://www.jacques-vabre.com
