För er som inte följer Barcelona World Race, så kan jag meddela att det har varit mycket spännande ett tag. Foncia och Virbac Paprec 3 tvingades göra pitstop och blev efter, men sedan har väst lönat sig så mycket så att de är tillbaks i topp.
Min initiala gissning om vilka som skulle vara i topp verkar stämma ganska bra så här långt.
Virbac Paprec 3, currently lying second in the Barcelona World Race has sailed 516 nautical miles over the past 24 hours, potentially establishing a new speed record for the IMOCA 60 class.
The total of 516.37 miles was calculated as the distance covered by Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA) and Loick Peyron (FRA) by Barcelona World Race tracking between 0900h (UTC) on January 21 and 0900h today, January 22 2011. This equates to an average speed of 21.51 knots
The distance is subject to ratification by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WRSSC), but if confirmed will set a new 60ft monohull 24-hour speed, which was set by Hugo Boss in the previous edition of the Barcelona World Race in 2007 when Alex Thomson (GBR) and Andrew Cape (AUS) covered 501.3 miles at an average speed of 20.88 knots. That edition of the race was won by Jean-Pierre Dick, then sailing with Damian Foxall (IRE).
Virbac Paprec 3is currently in second place behind Foncia, sailed by Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA) and Francois Gabart (FRA), racing in the South Atlantic on their way to Gough Island, a waypoint of the course south-west of the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.
Klockan 11 startar Banque Populaire sitt rekordförsök runt jorden. Med ombord är Brian Thompson som man följer på Facebook eller Twitter @briansailing.
Skall vi ha ha en liten tävling om när (datum/tid) när de passerar ledaren i Barcelona World Race? Hur lång tid tar det runt jorden. Gissa nedan!
Som vanligt vinner man något fint. Kanske ett par Dirty Dog-brillor?
The boat and the crew have been set for weeks. They set off this morning from the Port du Chateau in Brest and crossed the start line off Ushant at 11h11m45sec (UTC) for the Maxi Trimaran Banque Populaire’s first attempt on the Jules Verne Trophy. Pascal Bidegorry and his 13 crew have to be back in less than 48 days, 7 hours, 44 minutes and 52 seconds in order to beat the record time established by Groupama 3 in March 2010.
A tricky window
It was just before 9 am this morning when the Maxi Trimaran left the dock, in the Port du Chateau in Brest. Between the excitement of leaving and the emotion of leaving families, the moment was really intense for the 14 crew.
Extremely focused on attacking this first attempt, the skipper Pascal Bidegorry is happy about leaving today, even though the weather conditions are not that clear: «we will be leaving downwind and sailing around a depression. Below this depression, we cannot hide from the fact that the forecast is not straight forward. However, we have been waiting for this moment for a long time and we cannot let this opportunity go. I am really excited to be going to sea and I really think that we deserve it. I am looking forward to tomorrow morning, tomorrow night or in two days time and realising: “that’s it ! We’re there!”. These stand-by periods are somewhat painful and I am really looking forward to saying that we are in the Jules Verne Trophy, the objective of the past four years. This is a great moment in my life. ”
The Canaries, a central concern
Indeed, the weather situation is not that clear over the Atlantic, as Brian Thompson explained just before leaving the dock: “We are confronted by two different weather models: the European and the American ones. They are showing us different things so we decided to go for the pessimistic one, the European, in order to avoid falling in light winds. In fact, there is a low pressure off the Canaries which is going to kill the trade winds a little bit and then another massive low crossing the Atlantic. As this latter comes closer, it might completely kill the trade winds. We are just trying to sneak pass a little low over the Canaries, turn round that and get down to the South before the big depression comes over.”
It will be no mean feat for the Skipper, Pascal Bidegorry and his 13 crew onboard Banque Populaire V, and for them the 10th March will be highlighted in their diaries as the date to aim for as they attempt to sail into the record books.
Maxi Banque Populaire V’s crew list
Off Watch :
Pascal Bidégorry : skipper
Juan Vila : navigator
Watch n°1
Yvan Ravussin : Watch leader, in charge of video and composite
Brian Thompson : Helmsman / Trimmer
Thierry Chabagny : Helmsman / Trimmer
Pierre-Yves Moreau : Bowman, in charge of fittings and composite
Watch n°2
Fred Le Peutrec : Watch leader
Emmanuel Le Borgne : Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of medics
Erwan Tabarly : Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of electonics
Ronan Lucas : Bowman, in charge of security
Watch n°3
Jérémie Beyou : Watch leader
Kevin Escoffier: Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of video
Xavier Revil : Helmsman / Trimmer, in charge of food
Florent Chastel : Bowman, in charge of medics and rigging
Vår utsände, Stefan Blom, jobbar hårt på att vi skall vara först med det senaste från Düsseldorf:
Nere på mässgolvet såg det ut som själva sjöslaget. Att mässan välkomna besökare imorgon klockan 10 är inget som tyder på när man strövar omkring bland de många utställarna. Träbåtspersoner stod och slipade för att lägga på ytterligare ett lager fernissa och Elan gänget målade sina kölar i traditionell orange färg. Våra egna utställare med Najad och Hallberg Rassy var dock mer klara. Den tyska perfektionismen verkar ha smittats av sej på de svenska aktörerna medan de själva har totalt lämnat den bakom sej eller är det så att tyskarna är betydligt bättre på detta och att allt är noga uträknat och perfekt tajmat inför morgondagen.
Båtar med SRS på 1.22 seglar ju också om West Side Cup som innehåller Stora Oset Race, Pater Noster Race, Hermanö Runt, Tjörn Runt (20 aug) och Sista Chansen,
Nu är 300 platser fyllda på Fastnet 2011. På en vecka fick man in 250 anmälningar och ett par dagar senare så är det fullt. Anmäler man sig nu hamnar man på väntelistan. Inte illa!
RORC confirms huge interest in The Rolex Fastnet Race, one of the world’s iconic races
250 entries within a week brings race close to limit
Entry for one of the world’s most popular yacht races opened at midnight on Sunday 9 January and by midday Monday, nearly 100 entries had signed up, with an unprecedented number doing so in the early hours of the morning. The trend continued over the next couple of days when the halfway mark of 150 boats was reached for the race which has a maximum entry of 300 boats. Within a week, 250 boats had entered!
“We expected an initial rush of interest because people were registering the details about their boat on our REMUS on-line entry system over Christmas,” commented the RORC Racing Manager Ian Loffhagen. “However nothing had prepared us for this unprecedented amount of interest in the race. We are obviously delighted at how popular the race has become with entries from all over the world.”
Officially the first boat to enter was Fred Mundle’s X332 Mardy Gras, only 50 seconds after entry opened. Another notable early entry is Ondeck’s Farr 65 which will be chartered by the British Limbless Ex Service Men’s Association (BLESMA).
Of the high profile race boats entered, the two canting keel 100 footers, ICAP Leopard and Rambler 100 will be the ones battling to take line honours in the Race. Mike Slade’s ICAP Leopard and George David’s previous Rambler had a huge fight in the 2007 Rolex Fastnet Race, with Leopard taking the silverware. However, this year, George David has chartered the Juan K designed Speedboat, re-named Rambler 100, which will put Mike Slade under a lot of pressure.
“The Rolex Fastnet is an iconic race,” said Slade. “We would not miss it for the world and we are pleased to see our American friend George David coming back with a new boat. It will make for a terribly exciting race.”
Also entered is the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race winner, Niklas Zennström’s J.V. 72, Rán, hoping to make it two in a row, but he will have strong competition from RORC Caribbean 600 Race winner, Hong Kong’s Karl Kwok in his Farr 80, Beau Geste; 2009 Rolex Middle Sea Race winner, Andre Soriano in his Mills 68 Alegre, as well as a group of very competitive 52′ grand prix racers.
Leading this 50 footer pack is the 2010 Rolex Middle Sea Race winner, the TP52 Lucky, owned by Breyon Ehrhart from the USA and four boats from Germany who are making a serious attempt to win the race this year: Uwe Leben’s RP57, Scho-Ka-Kola; the SKWB’s J.V.53 Bank von Bremen and Haspa Hamburg and Norddeutsche Vermögen, both from Hamburgischer Verein Seefahrt.
There are 15 Class 40’s entered so far and the next biggest classes are the Sigma 38 and First 40.7s, with 14 boats each and so far, 14 different countries will be represented in the 2011 Rolex Fastnet Race.
