Sea, Sail & Surf newsRoute du Rhum
Joé Seeten was the latest to cross the finish line
lundi 25 novembre 2002 –
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Currently their reward is surfing in the warm winds of the trades, but there is still a struggle with difficult squalls. Joé Seeten aboard Arcelor Dunquerque was the latest to cross the finish line, at 1336:51 GMT today, finishing a well deserved third in the 60-foot monohull class, sharing the podium with Ellen MacArthur and Mike Golding. Lalou Roucayrol on Banque Populaire completed the ORMA Podium and crossed the finish line with a beautiful show of 25 knots slaloming between all the spectator boats at 19:46:01 GMT yesterday.
Since 14 November, Joé Seeten held onto third position in the IMOCA Imoca #IMOCA monohull class. He pushed hard to keep Roland Jourdain’s Sill behind him right up to the finish line in Point à Pitre. This third place is his best in ocean racing, and a great reward in his first participation in the Route du Rhum Route du Rhum #RouteDuRhum . Far from the leading duo Ellen MacArthur and Mike Golding, Seeten couldn’t have hoped for better. Roland Jourdain missed out on the battle for first, when he had to carry out a pit stop in Madeira to repair a tear in the mainsail, but stormed the rankings after leaving Madeira in eighth position. The popular top French skipper should finish fourth at around 1730 GMT today (22.7 nautical miles from the finish line at the 1500 GMT). Jourdain will secure the victory of the annual IMOCA Imoca #IMOCA 60 Championship, after a successful year 2002, winning every entered race before the Route du Rhum Route du Rhum #RouteDuRhum (1st Grand Prix de Larmor Plage, 1st Regata Rubicon, 1st Grand Prix Crudeli de Marseille).
Miranda Merron from Hamble, UK, is putting on an impressive performance in her first solo race. She has been keeping up with the pace of the monohull 60’ pack on her older generation 60-foot monohull UUDS, launched in 1992. The British skipper has encountered a few nasty clouds, slowing her down in the anticyclone zone and later on forcing her to reduce sails in the vicious squalls of the trade winds. Life is not always that easy sailing solo across the Atlantic : "Yesterday, was a super day for the small gennaker with the type of wind I had...I got out the small gennaker, and there I discovered that one part hadn’t been sewn back together during a repair some months ago. As a result I spent a good part of the afternoon sewing ! Finally everything was ready, I hoisted it... and the wind dropped. At sunset, I gybed, and the gennaker, furled for the gybe, began to balloon out at the top so I had to dump it quickly. And just to round off the ’entertainment’ for the day, the gennaker halyard got stuck towards the top. I’m now keeping an eye out for squalls. There is one sole cumulus monster here, and it has us in its sights. I have just emptied the swimming pool at the stern of the boat again - the water is coming in through one of the rudders. Other than that, we have less than 1000 nautical miles to the finish, good news, even if at this speed it may well take a bit of time."
Nick Moloney, leading the class 2 monohulls on Ashfield Healthcare (50-foot) had 597 miles to go at 1500 GMT and is ahead of six bigger 60-foot monohulls ! He is expected to finish late Wednesday or Thursday.
Franck Yves Escoffier aboard Crepes Whaou !, is currently 60 nautical miles from Guadeloupe, and set to win the class 2 multihull category hands down with over 300 miles on current second place Anne Caseneuve on Yachting-casino.com.
CLASSEMENT 25/11/02 15:00:00 GMT
Multicoques 60 ORMA
1 Michel Desjoyeaux Géant 13j 07h 53’ 11,10 nœuds
2 Marc Guillemot La Trinitaine 13j 19h 36’ 18’’ à 0j 11h 32’ 42’’ du premier 10, 71 nœuds
3 Lalou Roucayrol Banque Populaire 14j 07h 01’ 00’’ à 0j 23h 8’ du premier…10,35 noeuds
Monocoques 60 IMOCA
1 Ellen macArthur Kingfisher 13j 13h 31’ 47’’.... 10,91 nœuds
2 Mike Golding Ecover 13j 22h 49’ 35’’ à 0j 09h 17’ 48’’ du premier 10,61 nœuds
3 Joé Seeten Arcelor Dunkerque 16 j 00h 51’ 51’’ 2j 11h 9,23 nœuds
4-Sill-Roland Jourdain- 22.7
5-L’Heautontimoroumenos-Antoine Koch-350.4
6-Garnier Belgium-Patrick De Radiguès-412.0
7-60e Sud-Didier Munduteguy-723.9
8-Un Univers de Services-Miranda Merron-881.2
9-Tir Groupé-Montres Yéma-Mike Birch-1024.8
10-Millimages-Gédéon-Patrick Favre-1153.0
11-Dinan Pays d’Entreprises-Frédéric Lescot-1290.8
12-Ciments St Laurent-Ocean-Georges Leblanc-1445.5
Monocoques Classe 1
1-Ville de Dinard-Bruno Reibel-1711.0
Monocoques Classe 2
1-Ashfield Healthcare-Nick Moloney-596.6
2-Florys-Luc Coquelin- 784.8
3-Branec III-Roger Langevin-926.3
4-Mille Visages-Hervé Vachée-1106.0
5-Laiterie St Malo-Clément Surtel-1128.9
6-Adecco Etoile Horizon-Bob Escoffier-1657.9
Monocoques Classe 3
1-Storagetek-Regis Guillemot- 903.4
2-Passion Entreprendre-Jérôme Thiriez-1570.8
3-Grain de Soleil-Etienne Svilarich-1810.4
Multicoques Classe 2
1-Crepes Whaou !-F. Y. Escofier—60.8
2-Yachting-casino.com-Anne Cazeneuve-374.4
3-Vaincre la mucoviscidose-Hervé Cleris-634.0
4-Archipel Guadeloupe-Claude Thelier-678.4
5-Lehning-Lapeyre-Blanchet-Gourbeyre-P.Y. Guennec-1385.7
Dans la même rubrique
Route du Rhum : The Pressure is on for the Final Shoot Out
Route du Rhum : The Coconut Aromas of Victory
Route du Rhum : Stay Sharp on the Trade Wind Highway
Route du Rhum : Battle rages on between Ellen and Mike
