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COSTA RICA |
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Transat Jacques Vabre: Coffee Route With A
Kick
By Régis Lerat, BYM Sailing
On a race which has a recent history of
dealing close, tight finishes, the final
miles of the Transat Jacques Vabre can be
the most nerve racking. The finish line is
all but in sight, the miles counting down
with a pleasing whirr, but for Safran's Marc
Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier - who are
seeking to convert the lead they have held
for nine days - they still have no shortage
of pressure, and it is likely to stay heaped
upon them until the end.
And with less than 450 miles to go in this
ninth edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre,
the gap back from Safran to Kito de Pavant
and François Gabart on Groupe Bel is just
over 70 miles. In 2007 the Safran duo missed
out, taking second just 54 minutes behind
Michel Desjoyeaux and Manu Le Borgnan on the
course from Le Havre to Salvador de Bahia,
Brazil. In 2005 the winning margin of
Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron was just
35 minutes over Roland Jourdain and Ellen
MacArthur. This new coffee route course to
Costa Rica may yet brew up an equally close
finish.
Groupe Bel are an ever present threat, as
they have been to Safran since they eased
past Mike Golding Yacht Racing a week ago,
Saturday night 14th, to install themselves
in second place. A relatively stationary
little low pressure trough has installed
itself over the Gulf of Panama. That has
contributed to some spicy squall activity
for the two leaders today but so there is
the distinct threat that the final miles in
to the finish line off Costa Rica's Puerto
Limon will not be easy. This morning, in a
blustery 30 knots, Safran's co-skipper
Guillemot sounded slightly slightly harassed
and was certainly too busy to speak for more
than a few snatched seconds.
Groupe Bel are but one gybe behind, but how
much compression there will be in the
variable, fluky winds which are predicted
for the finish tomorrow (Tues) late
afternoon or evening, no one is prepared to
guess.
Safran crossed the longitude of Cartagena
(Colombia) which was the finish for the
Transat Jacques Vabre from 1993 to 1999,
with a time of 13 days and 22 hours of
sailing.
Underlining the evolution of the class ten
years ago, the winner of the IMOCA Open 60
division took 19 days and 17 hours over the
same course.
By comparison with the course record to
Salvador de Bahia, JP Dick and Loick
Peyron's 13.51 knots in 2005 compares with
the course average so far of Safran at 13.26
knots.
Safran had done 375 miles over the 24 hours
to 1100hrs today.
While Mike Golding Yacht Racing and Foncia
seem assured of third and fourth, the race
for sixth to eighth remains the closest
group of the IMOCA Open 60. While Pepe Ribes
and Alex Pella now hold sixth place on
W-Hotels, Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson
were breaking away from eighth and the heat
of battle to effect a rapid pit stop to
collect a replacement generator control
panel at a rendezvous off St Lucia. The
British duo were just two miles short of
Veolia Environnment's seventh when they
diverged north.
Golding confirmed to this morning's radio
vacs with Puerto Limon, Costa Rica that he
feels sure that the leaders will squeeze up
in the lighter, variable airs expected, but
– he said – it would be unlikely to be
enough for he and his Spanish co-skipper
Javier Sanso to make any impact on the two
leaders who are head by more than half of
the remaining race track. Plagued by
electrical problems, he is still on target
for his fourth Transat Jacques Vabre podium
finish in the six times he has raced in this
Autumn classic.
Quotes:
Charles Caudrelier, (FRA) Safran:
“It has calmed a little since last night. It
is calmer but no holidays. It is very
demanding just now. We have so much to do,
there is just one thing after another. I
helm in shorts which is quite pleasant but
you are soaked most of the time with water
coming over the deck. We take turns doing
things, I don't mind from time to time being
at the chart table.
It feels like we are getting near the end.
You sleep little and make lost of moves..
Stealth mode? I don't know if that is
supposed to be funny, but for you it would
not be funny now not to know who was leading
now....!!”
Dee Caffari, (GBR), Aviva:
“It is all set up and we are now just trying
to sail to St Lucia as fast as possible,
these are great conditions to be sailing in
and so we can't complain too much and it
should not cost us too much time, which is
good because our competition is tough.
It was an incredible night to drive in, I
kind of struggled. I kind of thought we
would have lost a lot, and when we got our
position reports it was one of our better
nights....
It is full of surprises, but it just goes to
show how hard we are all working. It is
closer and closer.
We are trying to organize so it will be as
swift as possible and not let us lose too
much, especially in terms of our focus. We
are so just trying to concentrate on boat
speed all the time and the generator is just
background.”
Mike Golding, (GBR) Mike Golding Yacht
Racing:
“The gybes are quite interesting with a
short sea, and quite a lot of wind. We are
making good progress. We are still having to
do quite a lot of hand steering which is
quite tiring. At the one time we are
massively overpowered and at the other we
are hardly moving at all, so that is the
only way to do it with no wind on the
pilots.
We run trust watch system with no fixed
timings, so we work as long as we feel we
are alert and try and give the other person
as much respect as possible, sometimes one
guy is pretty tired then the other will know
that and be feeling up for it and so give
the other a bit more time lying down, and
then when conditions get tough like just now
then we are hand steering a lot then we
maybe try and do three hour stints, but we
have no precise watch system.
There will be a close up towards the end, as
inevitably it will get lighter towards the
finish, and that may well make for an
exciting finish, certainly for the first two
boats, and we might see some significant
compression, right now with the conditions
but with a large gap ahead of us and a
similarly large gap behind us, then we are
straight lining and trying not to break
anything unecessarily.”
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