Sea, Sail & Surf newsTransat 650 • Leg 2
Jonathan McKee takes the Hot Seat
mardi 30 septembre 2003 –
- Pierre Rolland, ici au départ de La Rochelle, préfère quand il y a du vent ! Et qu’il peut barrer en ciré jaune façon pêcheur… Ce matin, il est 4e à 30 milles de Tripon.
- Photo : Ch.Guigueno / Pipof.com/voile
This Tuesday afternoon Jonathan Mc Kee (247 - Team Mc Lube) took control of the race with a five-mile lead on Armel Tripon (151 - Moulin Roty) and 30 miles on François Cuinet (136-Réglisse). Samuel Manuard (431- Tip Top Too ˆ Le Grau du Roi ˆ Port Camargue) has slipped back to 4th place, 36 miles from the American at the end of a calmer day, despite a good north north-easterly of between 15 and 19 knots.
Gaspard Franeau (109- Avocats sans Frontières) has made it known that he had automatic pilot problems that he hopes to sort out himself. Cécile Poujol (345- Informatique et Statistiques) has recovered from food poisoning but has now lost a spinnaker while Arsène Ledertheil (333- La Cigogne de l‚Océan) is focussing on the students from classes in Alsace that are following his progress.
The sailors have different goals. Some are managing to hang on to the leading pack with less powerful or older boats while others aren‚t doing quite so well as in the first leg. David Sineau (428- France Fermetures), Michel Mirabel (421- Gwalarn IV) or Jean-Pierre Balmès (330-Cecim) in the Series fleet, and Pia l‚Obry (316-Expatria.fr), Richard Mérigeaux (260- Bon Pied Bon oeil) or Donald Wright (227- Russe Noir) in the Protos are the most notable.
Currently they are all roaming between 18th and 36th place, with Tripon 78 miles from Sineau and 118 miles from Balmès. There are two possible explanations for their relatively lowly positions. Either they have suffered a few setbacks on the way which they are loathe to reveal or it is down to the weather conditions between the first stretch from La Rochelle to Lanzarote and those that they are experiencing at the moment being completely different. The crossing of the Bay of Biscay was close-hauled as far as Cape Finisterre. Then there was the descent down past Portugal with light winds and even calm at times. When the wind joined in it was downwind, a point of sail where the swinging keels of the protos are at their best. For this leg, the wind came in straightaway. There were built-up seas, a swell with cross seas forcing at least two gybes during the day and over all else... there was the fear of breakage. There were numerous incidents scattered across the fleet in the first few days and perhaps skippers like Swede, Pia l‚Obry, and Frenchman Richard Mérigeaux have eased off the pace to calmly await their turn, like Jonathan McKee (8th on Sunday evening, leader on Tuesday) and Samuel Manuard, 12th on Monday, now 4th.
Now, at the head of the fleet, the frontrunners have sprinted off for a marathon of 2900 miles and at least a 20-day crossing. It remains to be seen if they can maintain the pace as far as Brazil, or if man or machine (or both) is going to beg for mercy at a given time. The current sailing conditions mean that autopilot management is a deciding factor. In these heavy seas, they work more, tire quicker and use up more energy. Now, over three weeks they are vital. The road to Salvador is a long one and the leaders of the first leg will not necessarily be those elected in Brazil.
Translation Kate Jennings
• Positions : 30 septembre 15:00 (TU)
Pos Voile Skipper Bateau Type Lat Long Dist. à l’arrivée
1 247 Jonathan Mc Kee TEAM MC LUBE proto N193158 W0203000 2234.5
2 151 Armel Tripon MOULIN ROTY proto N200048 W0211916 2239.5
3 139 François Cuinet REGLISSE proto N202243 W0210633 2264.5
4 431 Samuel Manuard TIP TOP TOO - LE GRAU DU ROI PORT CAMARGUE proto N202408 W0205436 2270.9
5 347 Pierre Rolland EXTRADO proto N204068 W0211871 2276.0
6 385 Jaume Mumbru PORT DE BARCELONA proto N200100 W0193930 2283.0
7 426 Erwan Tymen POGO 2 NAVY LEST serie N203638 W0204660 2285.1
8 354 Bruno Garcia SALADINO proto N204056 W0204571 2289.3
9 240 Alex Pella AQUATEC - SANTIVERI - TEXKNIT proto N212911 W0224103 2290.0
10 353 Willy Garcia CEYLAN DIAMANTES proto N204191 W0204346 2291.4
11 346 Sébastien Roubinet ADRENALINE proto N210451 W0213131 2292.8
12 440 David Raison RAYON LIQUIDE serie N202293 W0195571 2294.9
13 250 Brieuc Maisoneuve PAYS GRANVILLAIS serie N203723 W0201908 2297.5
14 167 Manuel Castilla VISION ORIGINALE serie N203871 W0200575 2304.5
15 121 David Lancry MENSURA FROST proto N204405 W0201551 2305.0
16 269 Lionel Rubio de Teran GROUPE CIBF serie N204071 W0200365 2307.2
17 245 Patrick Bot FINIST’MER ECOLE NAVALE serie N210353 W0204460 2310.4
18 428 David Sineau FRANCE FERMETURES serie N205135 W0201298 2312.6
19 303 Enrico Podesta DIABOLO-SLAM proto N202993 W0192976 2312.7
20 322 Gilles Guillerm BLUE BOSSA serie N203361 W0193570 2313.2
20 393 Cian Mc Carthy THE TOM CREAN proto N210383 W0203820 2313.2
22 312 Pascal Doin ASNQ proto N210308 W0203331 2314.6
23 421 Michel Mirabel GWALARN IV serie N204939 W0195280 2319.6
24 316 Pia L’Obry EXPATRIA.FR proto N205298 W0195485 2321.9
25 209 Bertrand Lecharpentier NEC HONFLEUR serie N203193 W0191243 2322.3
26 260 Richard Mérigeaux BON PIED BON OEIL proto N211293 W0203146 2324.2
27 227 Donald Wright RUSSE NOIR proto N212376 W0204118 2330.0
28 282 Erwan Abalain MARION NOEL CONSEILS serie N205738 W0193970 2332.4
29 168 Fabrice Guillerm RAULT LE SERVICE ALIMENTAIRE serie N204823 W0191846 2333.8
30 318 Yann Riou THRANE & THRANE serie N205896 W0192981 2338.1
31 352 Luis Irisarri DEVIAJE.COM proto N213318 W0203353 2341.5
32 326 Ian Munslow ISHTAR proto N211853 W0195508 2344.4
33 258 Marc Gascons TIP-TOP proto N212551 W0200026 2348.4
34 381 Gonzalo Botin DON VITO serie N211980 W0194308 2350.7
35 138 Eric Defert AMIRAL DE BRETAGNE proto N212189 W0194580 2351.4
36 330 Jean-Pierre Balmes CECIM serie N213443 W0200923 2352.6
37 444 Isabelle Magois EDEN PARK proto N210566 W0190793 2353.8
38 36 Peter de Smedt HUYSMAN proto N212163 W0192963 2358.2
39 321 Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty ARTECH - CAEN LA MER proto N211976 W0192376 2359.1
40 371 Juan Carlos Sanchis Mari SPASMOS serie N214596 W0200021 2366.7
41 345 Cécile Poujol INFORMATIQUE ET STATISTIQUES serie N212111 W0185703 2372.2
42 135 Stéphane Ayrault WYETH proto N215790 W0201213 2372.5
43 109 Gaspard Franeau AVOCATS SANS FRONTIERES proto N212123 W0185630 2372.7
44 416 Daniel Schaffer SENSIL proto N214351 W0193275 2376.2
45 388 Yves Niort DEMI-CLE SHIPCHANDLER serie N213083 W0183535 2390.6
46 342 Alessandro Zamagna ARKE proto N220091 W0193151 2392.1
47 373 Christophe Dary SAGA MERCEDES BENZ serie N215341 W0191438 2392.9
48 175 Adam Seamans SPIRIT OF AMERICA serie N220518 W0193330 2395.2
49 295 David Sautret MIKALOU SAILING serie N221798 W0193861 2404.3
50 262 Eric Schmitt LA LIMULE serie N221288 W0192201 2406.8
51 185 Thomas Valentin THOMAS HAWK proto N222338 W0193721 2409.7
52 29 Arthur Barret UBAYE proto N221016 W0190461 2411.9
53 329 Laurent Jaunin TERRE-ET-FAUNE.ORG serie N221795 W0191161 2415.8
54 333 Arsène Ledertheil LA CIGOGNE DE L’OCEAN proto N220105 W0181938 2424.2
55 56 James Bird ATOMIC proto N221373 W0183760 2427.0
56 360 Henri Gourmelon TOBABOOTS serie N230393 W0190855 2457.9
57 89 Rémy Malburet SOEUR MARIE THERESE DES BATIGNOLLES serie N230520 W0185855 2463.2
58 277 François-Jacques Jauffrineau VENDEE PRISMA proto N224166 W0180941 2464.1
59 34 Gustavo Pacheco EPSILON proto N233821 W0193684 2476.9
60 47 Bernard Morin JOGGING INTERNATIONAL serie N225961 W0180210 2483.0
61 335 Barnabé Chivot FTH THIRARD proto N233011 W0182226 2500.8
62 273 Vincent Volk Leonovitch GOUDURIX 2 serie N244356 W0163921 2610.9
63 340 Rémi Beauvais SPI CALL CENTER serie N260635 W0163733 2683.6
64 265 Frédéric Duthil ALL MER proto N274688 W0154261 2795.2
65 102 Ghislain Gendron VILLE DE BANDOL proto N280761 W0152550 2820.7
65 355 Jacques Valente ACTION INNOCENCE serie N280761 W0152548 2820.7
65 404 Francis Hueber SHAITAN ENSIETA ECOLE D’INGENIEURS BRESTOISE serie N280761 W0152548 2820.7
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