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TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE

Multihull podium filled, with Fujifilm finishing in third

Sill all set to finish tonight

lundi 19 novembre 2001 – Information Transat Jacques Vabre

After the arrival of winner Groupama (Camma/S.Ravussin) at 2053hrs GMT on Sunday 18th November, 3 hours and 32 minutes later battle-weary Kingfisher-Foncia (Gautier/MacArthur), arrived at 1225hrs GMT in the port of Bahia, Brazil. They had raced the 5188.6m course from Le Havre, France in 14 days, 12 hrs, 25 mins & 10 seconds.


image 300 x 158

Groupama. Photo : G.Martin-Raget / Royale Production

Ellen said happily 10 minutes after crossing the line : "I’m relieved that we’re here, that we’ve arrived after last night’s problems, it’s great to see so many people, for sure we’re both a bit disappointed to finish 2nd when we’d been leading for a big part of the race. The sailing was fantastic, Alain was fantastic, the race was fantastic !"

Kingfisher-Foncia had held the lead for several days until a broken bowsprit, hydraulic problems and blown out gennaker slowed them up sufficiently for Groupama to steal victory in the final 24 hours of the race. Kingfisher-Foncia’s average speed on the official course of 5188.6m was 14.88 knots, but as they sailed a total of 6,096 miles their average speed was 17.48 knots.

The third multihull, Fujifilm, skippered by Loick’s Peyron and Le Mignon, crossed the finish line at 1001hrs GMT, Monday 19th November. They took 14 days 22 hours, 11 minutes and 35 seconds to complete the 5,188.6m transatlantic race, with an average speed of 14.48 knots. As their actual distance covered was 6,041 miles, their real average speed was 16.86 knots.

Loick Peyron commented on their race : "It’s been a good chance for us to compare our performance with Belgacom, my assessment is that our ‘engines’ are the same, our podium finish has been more the result of where we went on the course. We messed up at the Canaries, which lead us to go on the inside
track through the Doldrums. When you are behind you change your tactics. The boat is in perfect condition because we broke all we could before we even started this race !"

A plea for encouragement came from the Pindar girls Emma Richards & Miki Von Koskull this morning, as 3 boats ahead of them have already abandoned the harsh South Atlantic ocean and Nautica reports finding damage to their central hull. Despite the carbon cracking, twisting and banging over each wave, the acoustic reverberations accentuating each noise, Emma’s true grit pulls her through : "It’s been a motivational struggle and character destroying experience with little reward now our sparring partners have retired. We have decided not to think of the week’s struggle ahead, live every hour by hour and sail to that finish line."

Monohull Fleet

The SE Trades are well established off the Brazilian shores, and Sill Plein Fruit (Jourdain/Le Cleac’h), the first monohull, should arrive this evening at around 2100hrs GMT. Their sole problem will be to tackle light thermal breezes in the final miles, however they will not need to look over their shoulder at this late stage. The boys reported that they were more concerned to look respectable for their welcome in Brazil and are shaving.

In the battle for 2nd place, however, the thermal sea breezes could play a significant part in discerning which boat will finish first, between Ecover (Golding/Hutchinson) or Casto-Darty-But (Moloney/Turner), as both are due to cross in the early hours of tomorrow morning. Ecover made a "sneaky move deep inshore" last night after the last polling, as Moloney described it, when still behind by a mile. They managed to get the Code 0 gennaker up and then put up bigger sails as the wind rose inshore. Pulling back to align themselves on C-D-B’s axe this morning, they found themselves ahead by 3 miles.

The tone of Marcus’ voice couldn’t have sounded more excited when he explained that from here "we aim to stay between our friends and the line especially in view of the light airs at the finish. Anyhow we’re in a nice situation as it’s spinnaker sailing and Ecover excels in these conditions. We shall have to negotiate the sea breezes at some stage before the finish, we’ve got spotters on the ground, and will just use our common sense after the 8 o’clock positions ‘black out’ tonight. Right now, Ecover are maintaining an average speed 1 knot higher than Casto-Darty-But.

– Multihull Positions at 1445hrs GMT – DTF (nm)

– 1st GROUPAMA (Cammas/S. Ravussin) 18/11/01 at 2053hrs GMT
Time of reference : 14 days, 9 hours, 3 minutes, 25 seconds

– 2nd KINGFISHER-FONCIA (Gautier/MacArthur) 19/11/01 at 1225hrs GMT
Time of reference : 14 days 12 hrs 35 minutes & 10 seconds

– 3rd FUJIFILM (L. Peyron/Le Mignon) 19/11/01 at 1001hrs GMT
Time of reference : 14 days,22 hours, 11 minutes, 35 seconds

– Postn Boat Latitude Longitude Speed Hdg DTF DFL

– 4 Bonduelle 12 59.52’ S 36 45.60’ W 20.1 282 106.8
– 5 Belgacom 13 43.68’ S 34 48.24’ W 19.4 301 225.0 118.1
– 6 Banque Populaire 13 45.88’ S 33 03.36’ W 14.2 295 325.9 219.0

– Open 60 Monohull Positions at 1445hrs GMT – DTF (nm)

– 1 Sill Plein Fruit 12 10.64’ S 37 02.04’ W 12.6 222 105.0
– 2 Ecover 11 16.44’ S 36 04.32’ W 14.1 225 182.0 77.0
– 3 Casto - Darty - But 11 12.24’ S 36 02.36’ W 13.1 225 186.6 81.6
– 4 Sme Negoceane 10 26.72’ S 35 33.72’ W 12.6 220 231.4 126.4
– 5 Fila 10 31.16’ S 35 21.56’ W 12.8 215 243.6 138.6

– Open 50 Monohull Positions at 1445hrs GMT – DTF (nm)

– 1 One Dream : One Mission 4 42.72’ S 31 47.52’ W 10.2 210 644.3
– 2 Saving 3 33.36’ S 32 53.36’ W 11.2 208 671.0 26.6

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