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Transat Québec-Saint Malo

Fauconnier and Desjoyeaux lead race to the Fastnet by the North

Cammas and Soldini wish a come back by the South

samedi 17 juillet 2004Redaction SSS [Source RP]

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Unsure last night as to whether or not their northerly option was a good one it was a satisfied Karine Fauconnier at the lunch time radio session. “Our option paid off finally. We thought for a moment that we may have been mistaken in our option but we’re very happy with the latest ranking. We’re making 25 knots virtually on a direct course. We’ve got 20 knots of wind which is more established than before. It’s quite cloudy. We’ve had a north-westerly swell for a moment which is not evident in light winds. Just now we’re surfing well and the swell is helping us now. We’re making the most of having a mixed crew, Irish, English and Breton. It’s good to have their input as we approach their home territories !”

After taking a similar course to Sergio Tacchini, increasing their northing throughout the day, Géant is up to second, the furthest north of the fleet, west of the leader. “Our position is rather satisfying. We regretted last night not having gone south like Sodebo but we’re happy with our option now. It looks like the southerners may get stuck for a while. We’re constantly on the helm and the sheets making good speed at 22...26 knots. It’s quick but not unreasonable ! We’ve got a few more squalls but nothing too nasty and a fairly regular wind. There are a few light drops of rain and a band of cloud. We’re not badly positioned but it will all change when the southerners get free of the system they’re in so it’s likely to regroup round the Fastnet. We’re simply going to take the most intelligent trajectory we can. There’s no fatigue amongst the troops so we’re going to take on the last leg like a Grand Prix - our foot on the accelerator. An ETA within the record Record #sailingrecord time looks a bit tight (Monday afternoon) but why not...?”

Groupama’s escape along a little vein of wind in the south yesterday has seen Franck Cammas get as high as second during the day but he is currently suffering from the lighter conditions situated below the leader, currently in third. “We expected Sergio Tacchini to get away but we still hope to find wind. 3 or 4 knots of extra wind can make all the difference. Of course I’d really like to pull off the same move as last year (making up a 300 mile lead at the Scillies to take the lead just miles off Saint Malo). We’ve got 13 knots of quite close reaching under gennaker with 18 knots of boat speed. The way I see things shaping up is that Sergio Tacchini will continue to open up more of a lead and then it will hit a system in the Irish Sea which may allow us to come back.”

Tim Progetto Italia has wind on the beam and was sailing under gennaker not making great headway with 14.1 knots VMG compared to the leaders’ 22 knots VMG. Around 13 miles behind Sodebo was also stalling slightly. “It wasn’t great to be overtaken by those in the north. Between the squalls there are showers and not much wind so we’re not very well positioned”said Jacques Vincent.

Unable to be contacted at the radio session we do not know at this stage if Foncia managed to change it’s broken starboard yesterday evening but it is clearly suffering 186.6 miles off the pace while it is sharks that seem to be impeding progress aboard Banque Populaire, but spirits remain very high onboard. “We’ve had sharks around the boat and just half an hour ago we unfortunately hit one with the bow and another got stuck on a foil Foil #foil . Obviously things could have gone better - we made a real hash of our navigation a couple of days ago and made our move too soon which is why we’ve suffered in the rankings. We’re sailing really quickly now in our shaker at 22 knots on quite a close point of sail, under mainsail and solent. We can’t really see any signs that indicate that the front of the fleet will hit a buffer zone up front - unless they hit a shark as well !”

Behind them with a lowly 9th and lowly spirits was Banque Covefi, though 10th placed Gitana X was in a positive mode having repaired a broken part of the central rudder that enables it to be adjusted backwards and forwards to adjust the trim. Once again the damage was caused by hitting an object in the water though, a fate that very few of our multihull fleet have escaped. “I think there’s an enormous amount of rubbish in the water” said its gentle skipper Marc Guillemot. “The sea must really be dirty because in all probability our boats shouldn’t be hitting things right in the middle of the Atlantic. People really should be alarmed about this.”

Bringing up the rear of the 60’ multihull fleet Yves Parlier has hit the 700 mile deficit with the first of the 50’ multihulls, Franck-Yves Escoffier (Crêpes Whaou !) just over 200 miles behind him in a rather stormy setting. “We’ve got a small Force 7 on our rear. We had two reefs in earlier with a solent up front and we have just shaken out a reef. It’s pretty animated and we’re making between 18 and 20 knots.”

Head of the monohulls Marina Fort Louis Saint Martin are today 2069 miles from the finish about to pass Cape Race, at risk of running out of time for making Saint Malo, 10 days after the 60 foot multihull winner.

Author : Kate Jennings


Voir en ligne : www.quebecsaintmalo.com


CLASSEMENT DU 17/07/04 13:00:00 GMT

MULTI 60 Open ORMA - Date retenue pour calcul classement estimé : 17/07/04 13:00 GMT

- 1 Sergio Tacchini Karine Fauconnier 53 22.56’ N 18 06.00’ W 657,1 23,30 87
- 2 Géant Michel Desjoyeaux 53 28.76’ N 19 56.72’ W 723,6 23.20 68
- 3 Groupama Franck Cammas 52 10.20’ N 20 31.08’ W 733,6 19,10 77
- 4 Tim Progetto Italia Giovanni Soldini 52 07.00’ N 20 49.28’ W 746,6 14,90 72
- 5 Sodebo Thomas Coville 52 37.36’ N 21 13.88 W 762,1 20,10 60
- 6 Foncia Alain Gauthier 53 16.92’ N 23 23.00’ W 843,7 17,70 77
- 7 Banque Populaire Lalou Roucayrol 52 54.00’ N 24 07.00’ W 863,3 20,80 75
- 8 Sopra Group Philippe Monnet 51 53.72’ N 25 42.84’ W 925 19,10 90
- 9 Banque Covefi Stève Ravussin 52 26.56’ N 29 32.36’ W 1070 8,10 50
- 10 Gitana X Marc Guillemot 51 29.12’ N 30 49.68’ W 1121,1 10,50 69
- 11 Médiatis Région Aquitaine Yves Parlier 49 37.68’ N 36 34.40’ W 1357,1 14,60 98
- ABD Gitana XI Frederic Lepeutrec

MULTI 50 - Date retenue pour calcul classement estimé : 17/07/04 13:00 GMT

- 1 Crêpes Whaou ! Franck-Yves Escoffier 49 36.20’ N 42 24.36’ W 1557,8 19,40 92
- 2 Bonjour Québec Mike Birch 48 42.12’ N 44 46.64’ W 1662,6 16,90 75
- 3 Jean Stalaven Pascal Quintin 48 07.12’ N 47 25.80’ W 1725,8 16,20 73
- 4 GIFI Dominique Demachy 46 47.32’ N 50 54.84’ W 1937,8 9,40 70

MONOCOQUES - Date retenue pour calcul classement estimé : 17/07/04 13:00 GMT

- 1 Marina Fort Louis de saint Martin Luc Coquelin 46 30.60’ N 54 01.80’ W 2069 4,30 96
- 2 Branec III Roger langevin 46 27.20’ N 54 13.40’ W 2074,6 9,50 103
- 3 Ciment St-Laurent Georges Leblanc 46 35.96’ N 54 26.32’ W 2085,4 5,90 98



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