Transat
Jacques Vabre - Anglosaxons are on top after cracking
Monohull start
The
Transat Jacques Vabre fleet of 17 Open 60 monohulls,
5 Open 50 monohulls and 2 multihulls pointed their
bows towards Salvador da Bahia, 4340 miles away,
at precisely 1500hrs French time (1400hrs GMT).
Two Open 60’s were over the line at the
gun – Loire-Atlantique (Antoine Koch-François
Robert) and 60 Sud (Didier Munduteguy-Juan-Mari
Odriozola), and had to come back around and re-start.
The wind stabilized at 15 – 18 knots from
the North West with scudding clouds shadowing
the start zone, but the conditions seemed a lot
worse as the sea was a churned up turquoise colour
with short choppy waves reaching 1 – 1.5
metres and plenty of white horses. A brave fleet
of spectator boats moored to the left of the start
zone and 3 helicopters buzzing overhead added
the spectacle of the start.
The
majority of the fleet grouped together in the
final minute to the gun just off the cliffs at
La Heve, all under mainsail with one reef and
staysail heading towards the pin end of the line,
marked by a naval ship, on starboard tack. Pindar
(Richards/Sanderson) came in on port tack at the
committee end of the line and at the gun signal,
cleared the start line first and to windward of
the main pack, lead by the first Farr 60 Virbac
(Jean-Pierre Dick-Nicolas Abiven), PRB (Vincent
Riou-Jérémie Beyou), Sill (Roland
Jourdain-Alex Thomson) and Ecover (Mike Golding-Brian
Thompson). Cheminées Poujoulat/Armor Lux
(Bernard Stamm-Christophe Lebas) was the furthest
boat to leeward in this close grouping and accelerating
below PRB at a fair rate. Leading boat Pindar
was the first to tack off a few minutes after
the start as the fleet began their upwind battle
towards the second mark of the course, North cardinal
‘Metzinger’ to the North of the starting
zone. The pack of boats behind spread as they
chose their moment to tack, with Ecover holding
her own on starboard tack pulling ahead of Sill
and PRB.
The
first Open 50 across the line was Storagetek (Régis
Guillemot-Olivier Salnelle), followed by Labesfal
(Ricardo Diniz-Mark Taylor) and Defi Vendéen
(Jean-François Durand-Stéphane Chemin).
The 50’s were taking more strain in these
conditions, healing more despite reefing, and
leading multihull Mollymawk (Ross Hobson/Andi
Newman) bravely manoeuvred upwind in the short
seas with spray flying in her wake.
At
the Metzinger buoy, the last mark of the course
before the finish line in Brazil, Ecover and PRB
were neck and neck rounding the mark, followed
by Cheminées Poujoulat/Armor Lux, Pindar,
Team Cowes (Nick Moloney-Sam Davies) and Sill.
The first official position report at 1600hrs
now reveals the British pairing of Golding and
Thompson is still in the lead on Ecover, followed
by the Swiss Round The World champion Stamm and
co-skipper Lebas on Cheminées Poujoulat/Armor
Lux and second British boat Team Cowes.
So
the Anglo-Saxons are on top at the start of the
6th edition of this classic double-handed Transat
Jacques Vabre from Le Havre, France to Salvador
da Bahia, Brazil, some 4,340 miles down the track.
With a wet and wild night guaranteed ahead thanks
to the low pressure system moving into the English
Channel, all 24 boats and 48 skippers will have
two – three days at least of uncomfortable
upwind boat-bashing racing in the world’s
busiest shipping waters, during which time it
is unlikely that they will get much rest or respite
as they manage the boat round the clock with an
infernal rhythm. It’s going to take some
real guts and perseverance to punch through this
first phase of the race. In brief, it’s
a hard upwind slog all the way to the Canaries,
which in theory should favour the proven yachts
in the fleet but given that Ecover, the latest
Owen-Clarke Open 60 design, is leading the fleet
out of Le Havre, the race from the outset is going
to be unpredictable and eventful.
Multihull
start: The 14 Open 60 multihulls will wait until
1100hrs French time tomorrow to find out when
they will take their start, which was scheduled
for 1500hrs French time Sunday 2nd November. The
extreme conditions predicted tomorrow in the narrow
and busy English Channel led the Race Organisation
to postpone their start until at least Tuesday.
The
Positions will be posted on the race web site
every 2 hours from 1600 hours 1st November 2003,
and the first chat sessions with the monohull
fleet will be held tomorrow between 1030 –
1130hrs French time. The first audio files to
be registered and uploaded onto the web site will
be on Monday 3rd November.
List
of starters at 1500hrs Saturday 1st November 2003:
50
Monohulls :
Branec III (Roger Langevin-Henriette Lemay)
Défi Vendéen (Jean-François
Durand-Stéphane Chemin)
Hellomoto (Conrad Humphreys-Paul Larsen)
Storagetek (Régis Guillemot-Olivier Salnelle)
Labesfal (Ricardo Diniz-Mark Taylor)
60
Monohulls :
Team Cowes (Nick Moloney-Sam Davies)
PRB (Vincent Riou-Jérémie Beyou)
Carrefour Prévention (Dominique Wavre-Michèle
Paret)
Cheminées Poujoulat/Armor Lux (Bernard
Stamm-Christophe Lebas)
60ème Sud (Didier Munduteguy-Juan-Mari
Odriozola)
Adecco (Bob Escoffier-Servane Escoffier)
Virbac (Jean-Pierre Dick-Nicolas Abiven)
VMI (Sébastien Josse-Isabelle Autissier)
Sill (Roland Jourdain-Alex Thomson)
Pindar Emma Richard-Mike Sanderson)
Loire Atlantique (Antoine Koch-François
Robert)
Garnier (Patrick de Radiguès-Elie Canivenc)
Tir Groupé (Mike Birch-Robert Birch)
Ecover (Mike Golding-Brian Thompson)
Arcelor-Dunkerque (Joe Seeten-Eric Dumont)
Objectif 3 (Charles Hedrich-Javier Sanso)
Ciments St Laurent (Georges Leblanc-Marc Nadeau)
50
Multihulls :
Atlantic Nature (Anne Caseneuve-Christophe Houdet)
Mollymawk (Ross Hobson-Andi Newman)
Mary
Ambler
For TJV race information go to http://www.jacques-vabre.com
