While the co-skippers of the IMOCA Open 60 fleet in the Transat Jacques Vabre race from Le Havre to Costa Rica were today taking the chance to build up their reserves of energy and rest in anticipation of a very active low pressure system which was set to test the fleet through Sunday night and Monday, with winds widely expected to top 50knots, in turn Class 40 competitors had tough conditions of their own and were also setting up for a wild night.
So far the big, often confused seas have been the cause for more concern than sheer windstrength and they have taken their toll on the race fleet. The latest to retire with damage this afternoon was the Class 40 Initiatives-Alex Olivier.
At a little after midday today! , Sunday, French duo Tanguy de Lamotte and Eric Péron reported that they had suddenly lost the keel of their Class 40 Initiatives-Alex Olivier. They were sailing at 12-14kts in 25 to 30kts of wind with well formed seas when they heard a quiet, popping sound. The boat became uncontrollable quickly and the pair dropped the Solent and Mainsail, stacked all the heavy gear and unused sails low in the middle of the boat and filled the water ballast tanks to their maximum 750 litres, and set a storm jib.
Positioned some 450 miles to the west of La Coruna, Spain and 490 miles approximately NE of the Azores, the duo were making steady progress to the NE in the southerly winds. Both have on life jackets and have their all their safe! ty and survival equipment immediately at hand. Skipper Tanguy de Lamotte was keen to stress that the crew of Initiatives – Alex Olivier are not in distress and have not requested assistance. De Lamotte, who trained as a yacht designer in Southampton and co-designed his Class 40, reported almost immediately on a radio vacation with Paris Race HQ:
“Things happened quickly with no noise. I was inside, Eric on watch but the boat was under pilot because the boat it was too wet. We were on port tack on a reach making about 12-14kts with one reef and the Solent. We heard a popping sound, nothing loud. The pilot pulled the helm hard to the corner but the boat became unsteerable. The boat went in to a broach. It was Eric who said he thought we had lost the keel. I looked to see if there was somethi! ng orange under the boat (the keel is painted fluorescent orange) and I could see nothing. We dropped the mainsail, dropped the Solent and set the storm jobs and filled the ballast tanks. The helm did not feel right at all. We stacked all the gear in the middle of the boat and gybed on to starboard gybe.”
In the IMOCA Open 60 Class Alex Thomson and Guillermo Altadil have topped the leaderboard since the morning the sixth duo to do so from a fleet of 12 still racing. While the British skipper was keen not to take any great store from their position he did say that they were entering the next period of stormy conditions with a certain apprehension given that two years ago the same type of conditions put paid to his race, and that of the boat they are racing. Thomson recalled:
&ldquo! ;Two years ago we were in a similar situation with another storm, knocked the boat down and damaged the hull. Obviously the boat we are sailing on now in the same storm the coach roof was smashed in and the boat pretty much sank. So there is a kind of apprehension going in to the storm. It is approaching a lot quicker. We are expecting a much smaller sea state and not as much wind as well. So there is a bit of apprehension. But we are just preparing the boat, trying to get across the front and get south.”
Thomson, whose best finish in this race was second in 2003 with Roland Jourdain, played down their lead, remarking that their gains in the north and west of the leading pack are as much because they have moved progressively closer to the rhumb line course, cautioning that it is the situation in a week’s time which could be the deciding factor in the IMOCA Open 60 race.
“ It is nice to see us at the top of the rankings for sure, but we should not be getting carried away with it. The reason we are at the top of the rankings is because we have chosen a different strategy than the other people. We have struck off to the west and going west is the closest to the rhumb line to the mark. That is why we are closest to the front. Let’s see if it proves to be faster to be to the south then we will lose first position but if we manage to get across this front and south enough, quick enough then maybe we can hold on to first for a while.”
With more than 160 miles of lateral separation between Hugo Boss and Virbac-Paprec 3 in the NW and Macif in the SE, the next two low pressure systems will be critical, but –as Thomson warned – with a light winds zone in to the Caribbean and barely established trade winds, th! is is increasingly proving a tactical race rather than a boat speed test.
Hugo Boss lead Jean-Pierre Dick and Jérémie Beyou on Virbac-Paprec 3 by 13 miles.
In Class 40 the two leading boats Aquarelle.com and Concise 2 were still just eight miles apart in terms of the distance to finish, with eRDF – Des Pieds et Des Mains some 85 miles behind now in third and Hannah Jenner and Jesse Naimark-Rowse on 40 Degrees up to fourth place. Four of the 16 Class 40’s have retired from the race.