Ecover au départ du Havre • Golding’s new Open 60 at the start from Le Havre

Photo : J.Vapillon / Pixsail.com

However, one consistent fact throughout the unfolding dramas of the last night is that British duo Mike Golding and Brian Thompson on their brand new Owen-Clarke design ’Ecover’ have held a strong lead from the start and now broken away from the chasing pack as the fleet head out into the North Atlantic. Canadians Georges Leblanc &Marc Nadeau were air-lifted off their Open 60 Ciments Saint-Laurent-Océan by a helicopter at 0730hrs this morning. The boat lost its keel last night offshore 16m to the North of Cherbourg where the winds were in excess of 30 knots and the seas very rough. Gérard Petipas, race organizer and director of the Transat Jacques Vabre Transat Jacques Vabre #TJV2015 , announced at 0745hrs French time that both skippers, Georges Leblanc &Marc Nadeau, were safe and sound.

The other casualty of the first 24 hours was Atlantic Nature the trimaran of Anne Caseneuve and Christophe Houdet, which dismasted at 0700hrs in 50 knot headwinds, but the skippers have since reported in to be 27 miles from Cherbourg, where they should dock at the end of today. Cherbourg also welcomed two French skippers Antoine Koch and François Robert, who arrived there too at 1405hrs French time today in order to make a pit stop to change the mainsail. The Open 60 monohull Loire Atlantique suffered a ripped mainsail and broken battens, so they hope to change the mainsail rapidly in order to rejoin the race as soon as possible. Lastly, the father and son duo, Canadian Mike and Robert Birch on Open 60 TIR Groupe informed the Race Office that their mast track has broken and so they are heading at 7 knots boatspeed towards Dartmouth under storm sail alone. Meanwhile, back at the front of the fleet, positions have for the most part been changing every two hours as the fleet zig zag out of the English Channel in horrendous conditions thanks to the passing of a cold front which has generated headwinds of 50 knots and horrible seas. As French skipper Roland Jourdain (Sill) summed up on the satellite phone this morning : "Everything you would not wish for on your first night at sea has happened to us already !"

From the 14:00 GMT positions, Ecover has put in another tack, after tacking before the front earlier this morning. Golding is nevertheless leading the dance and the new Open 60 coming through her fiery baptism unscathed : "The first night was pretty rough, we’ve seen the wind reach 42 knots but the seas have been nasty so it’s been painful for the boat, lots of banging and crashing. Now is the time to find out though, and in these kind of conditions, if you’re going to have a problem with the boat - and there have been no problems so far. We know she’s not slow upwind !"

Sill are on their tail 16m behind but the Anglo-British duo of Jourdain and Thomson decided to tack originally after the front passed and are looking good so far. Thomson said on the sat phone today : "We’ll have to see by the end of the day if the wind shifts round anymore, which it shouldn’t, and then who has had to tack or not to get round Ushant but we are making it now and feel pretty confident of our decision."

The conditions have been manageable for these experienced skippers, but in the world’s busiest shipping channels, it is not so much their experience that counts, as Thomson added that they not only were hit at the start by 60 Sud (Munduteguy/Odriozola), but also had to take evasive action when a cargo ship passed under 2 boat lengths by them despite Sill having active echo, navigation lights and radar on.

After these two leading boats, the others in the top ten are yo-yoing up and down the rankings as they aim more to position themselves for their passage out and down the North Atlantic given the relentless headwinds which will not ease below 25 knots for at least another 3 days. After their impressive start, Pindar have not fared so well in this morning’s rankings but according to Emma Richards and Mike Sanderson, they are where they planned to be and in view of the conditions prefer to manage the boat safely and get through this initial stage intact. Likewise, Team Cowes’ pair Nick Moloney and Sam Davies has been in survival mode, proven by the lack of communication Communication #Communication coming from their boat as they battle with the elements constantly.

• OPEN 60 MULTIHULL START UPDATE

The Open 60 trimaran start will be at 1000hrs French time from Le Havre on Wednesday 5th November. The weather forecast looks to be considerably better with moderate winds of 15 - 20 knots from South West - South, and wave heights only at 2 metres. A briefing is scheduled for Tuesday at 1700hrs French time for a final weather check before the 14 trimarans leave through the Paul Vatine basin from 0730hrs French time on Wednesday morning. This restart means that the route now is direct to Salvador, and the boats will not have to pass the Ascension Islands as a mark of the course. So the Multihulls now have the same mileage and course as the monohulls, that is 4340 miles.

• POSITIONS at 13:45 hrs GMT 02/11/03
 Open 60s’ map : http://voile.esrifrance.fr/default_...

MONOHULL OPEN 60 Pos. / Boat / Name / Latitude / Longitude / Speed / Hdg / DTF / DFL
 1 ECOVER 49 11.80’ N 4 43.28’ W 9.4k 280 4162.8m
 2 SILL 49 22.24’ N 4 38.20’ W 9.1k 189 4173.5m 10.7m
 3 PRB 49 36.40’ N 4 43.96’ W 7.5k 198 4184.2m 21.4m

OPEN 50 MULTIHULLS
 1 MOLLYMAWK 49 24.12’ N 3 08.88’ W 8.4k 306 4253.4m
 1 STORAGETEK 49 20.88’ N 3 31.92’ W 5.1k 193 4197.1m
 2 HELLOMOTO 49 44.68’ N 3 22.20’ W 7.7k 170 4216.1m 19.0m
 3 DEFI VENDEEN 49 08.88’ N 2 42.20’ W 4.0k 313 4218.6m 21.5m

Mike Golding (Ecover) : "The first night has been pretty rough, we’ve seen the wind reach 42 knots but the seas have been nasty so it’s been painful for the boat, lots of banging and crashing but now is the time to find out, and in these kind of conditions, if you’re going to have a problem with the boat - and there have been no problems so far. Right now there is no real option but to sail the boat through these conditions, take care of her. We haven’t had the close match-racing match-racing #MatchRacing experience we’d hoped for but the start was interesting as we saw we had pretty good boat speed and that we’re not slow upwind !"

Alex Thomson (Sill) : "We got hit going over the line so I started the race hanging over the side filling in a tennis ball sized hole with sikaflex ! We’ve been racing hard all night, at midnight both of us were on the foredeck ready for a sail change, but the wind built suddenly to about 39 knots, we were both washed right down the deck. Conditions have been manageable rather than survival, and we have a great routine on board - we both stay on deck and get smashed up and down, then one of us goes and lies down for a bit, then we come back up and do it all over again ! Right now there are blue skies, we’ve got 2 reefs in the main and the ORC jib up, the wind is at 35 - 40 knots from the SW. I’m having such a great time, I love being on the foredeck in 40 knots and it’s a pleasure to be racing with someone who only has one mood - happy !"

Mary Ambler