Sea, Sail & Surf newsRoute du Rhum
Battle rages on between Ellen and Mike
dimanche 17 novembre 2002 –
After almost 2000 miles of racing, the two Brits are locked together in front of the fleet. The rubber band has extended but will not snap. In the last days the two rivals have been crossing each others paths several times hunting down the best option towards the West Indies. The young female skipper is fighting it out "a donf" and the former fireman of the "Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service" is used to not giving in. Mike Golding had not slept at all last night and this morning Ellen MacArthur pointed out the intensity : "it’s true combat !" Ellen did try to get some rest to be prepared for the intense conditions to come : "have practically slept ALL night in 30 minute clusters - just knew if I didn’t do it now I wouldn’t get the chance..."
Roland Jordain on Sill is plunging even further south and catching up at full speed. He has had an extraordinary come back since the pit stop in Madeira. In 45 hours he has climbed the ranking charts from 8th to 7th to 6th and at 1500 GMT he was only 8 miles behind L’Heautontimoroumenos in 5th position. Sill was the fastest monohull in the last 24 hours, covering 263.5 miles with an average speed of 11 knots. His very particular course deep- south could be a wild card and the French skipper has nothing to lose.
The boats behind the leading pack are struggling harder with the anticyclone, as it has moved closer on the fleet. Nick Moloney’s position remains intact ; he is still leading his class, 50 miles ahead of Luc Coquelin on Florys, but was at 1500 GMT crawling at 2 knots of speed ! The trailing fleet will not encounter the pleasure of the stronger trade winds until sometime tomorrow.
The three leading 60-foot trimarans are on completely different courses and their progress these coming days will be interesting to follow. Stève Ravussin on his older generation trimaran TechnoMarine (Alain Gautier’s old Foncia from1997) is charging away at around 20 knots in reaching conditions, and the future looks bright. Lalou Roucayrol, Banque Populaire, is on his own, skirting the Azores High from the North. This risky option has not been as bad as it first seemed to be. Roucayrol has managed to glide out of the light winds and is starting to accelerate in close hauled conditions, but still more than 300 miles behind his Swiss rival. Mark Guillemot on Biscuits La Trinitaine - Ethypharm is having less luck. He will leave Sao Miguel in the Azores this evening, the anticyclone is all around him, and the skipper will have to endure very fluky conditions. Géant, to the south, was the fastest boat with 14 knots in average speed in the last 24 hours. The Vendée Globe 2000 winner "Mich’ Désj’" is catching up at high speeds in stable trade wind conditions.
Ravussin has, with a tight budget, worked hard to get his boat in shape, and is truly enjoying his success in the great conditions. This morning Ernesto Bertarelli, head of the Alinghi Challenge (the Swiss America’s Cup America's Cup #AmericasCup team), called his fellow country man Ravussin to complement him on his success in the Route du Rhum Route du Rhum #RouteDuRhum . At the daily chat session today Ravussin commented on why a Swiss can be so successful in this gruelling French solo race : "I am sure that the grandfathers in Brittany say to their grandchildren ’be careful with the ocean’. Well in Switzerland, nobody talks about the ocean…"
TechnoMarine is expected to arrive in Pointe à Pitre in Guadeloupe on Thursday, 21 November.
Another milder night in the light of a bright full moon is ahead for the competitors in the Route du Rhum Route du Rhum #RouteDuRhum .
Positions 17/11/02 15:00:00 GMT
Multihull 60’ ORMA
1-TechnoMarine-Steve Ravussin-1637 miles to finish
2-Banque Populaire-Lalou Roucayrol-1951
3-Géant-Michel Desjoyeaux-2320
4-Biscuits La Trinitaine - Ethypharm-Marc Guillemot-2343
5-Bonduelle-Jean Le Cam-3120
Monohull 60’ IMOCA
1-Kingfisher-Ellen McArthur-1700 miles to finish
2-Ecover-Mike Golding-1723
3-Arcelor-Dunkerque-Joé Seten-2044
4-60e Sud-Didier Munduteguy-2147
5-L’Heautontimoroumenos-Antoine Koch-2197
6-Sill-Roland Jourdain-2205
7-Un Univers de Services-Miranda Merron-2281
8-Garnier Belgium-Patrick De Radiguès-2290
9-Millimages-Gédéon-Patrick Favre-2337
10-Tir Groupé-Montres Yéma-Mike Birch-2445
11-Dinan Pays d’Entreprises-Frédéric Lescot-2558
12-Ciments St Laurent-Ocean-Georges Leblanc-2677
Leasecom-Elie Canivenc-
Monohull Class 1
1-Ville de Dinard-Bruno Reibel-2636 miles to finish
Monohull Class 3
1-Ashfield Healthcare-Nick Moloney-2252 miles to finish
2-Florys-Luc Coquelin-2305
3-Mille Visages-Hervé Vachée-2332
4-Branec III-Roger Langevin-2352
5-Laiterie St Malo-Clément Surtel-2459
6-Adecco Etoile Horizon-Bob Escoffier-2665
7-Défi Vendéen-J. F. Durand-3154
Monohull Class 3
1-Storagetek-Regis Guillemot-2336 miles to finish
2-Passion Entreprendre-Jérôme Thiriez-2527
3-Grain de Soleil-Etienne Svilarich-2611
4-Fantasy-Forest-Alain Grinda-3441
Multihull Class 2
1-Crepes Whaou !-F. Y. Escofier-1897 miles to finish
2-Yachting-casino.com-Anne Cazeneuve-2085
3-Vaincre la mucoviscidose-Hervé Cleris-2424
4-Archipel Guadeloupe-Claude Thelier-2440
5-Lehning-Lapeyre-Blanchet-Gourbeyre-P.Y. Guennec-2676
Dans la même rubrique
Route du Rhum : Only 5 out of 18 of the ORMA trimarans still in the race
Route du Rhum : Ellen MacArthur leads the monohull fleet
Route du Rhum : Extreme Conditions Strike Hard on the Fleet
Route du Rhum : The Brits are chasing down Bilou the Frenchman in monohull division
