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Transat 650 • Leg 2

Pierre Rolland takes the lead in the west of Mc Kee

mardi 7 octobre 2003Information Transat 650

After a long wait, the full effects of the doldrums are gradually coming into play with a fair few of the controls changing hands. Though David Raison (440 - Rayon Liquide) remains the games master amongst the Series fleet, it is now Pierre Rolland (247 - Extrado) in the lead in the Proto fleet.

Pierre et son ciré à La Rochelle
Photo CG/PIPOF.com

Rolland hung onto his westerly option (293 degrees longitude), even in the vast calms of the doldrums and is now reaping the benefits. In so doing the naval architect has overtaken Jonathan Mc Kee (247- Team Mc Lube) who has been in the lead since the start in Puerto Calero and is currently at 263 degrees longitude.

At the ranking on Tuesday morning, Rolland had a 25 mile lead on the American and 51 miles on Alex Pella (240 - Aquatec - Santiveri Texknit). The Spaniard has finally been rewarded for his obstinate westerly option and subsequent threading back towards the bulk of the pack, while remaining a little off centre.

The loser in the night’s proceedings is Armel Tripon (151 - Moulin Roty) at 255 degrees longitude. Second since Lanzarote and stuck to Mc Kee like glue, he has been hanging further out to the east than the rest of the leading pack. As a result he covered just 45 miles in 24 hours and has slipped back to 6th in the ranking, 53 miles astray from the new leader.

He is undoubtedly trying to escape the doldrums in more unrestrained wind in place of the closer wind that is likely to affect his rivals and, in so doing, compensate for his static keel in relation to the latest generation Protos. Evidently, the speeds recorded are more modest but Rolland owes his success to the 110 miles he‚s managed to swallow up in the past 24 hours, in contrast to Pella‚s 107, 94 from Bruno Garcia (354 - Saladino) now in 4th, 93 to Willy, the brother (353 - Ceylan Diamantes) in 5th, 86 to Samuel Manuard (431 - Tip Top Too - Le Grau du Roi - Port Camargue) in 7th and above all the lowly 63 miles to Jonathan Mc Kee.

Of course the doldrums vary in thickness depending on the longitude and currently resemble a potato that swells in size as it leaves the bay of Guinea, likely to push and pull those still left in its clutches. In this game of cat and mouse, it is the doldrums that decide who to release first. Whoever it is will be taking a big step in the right direction even if Salvador de Bahia is still a long way off.

The Series fleet is suffering the same effects and the same consequences. Though Raison is holding onto his lead, he is witness to the worrying comeback of David Sineau (428 - Pogo 2 Navy Lest). The latter is 280 degrees west and Raison 272 degrees. These 8° make all the difference and have seen Sineau close in from 36 to 19 miles in the past 24 hours. Though the others are gradually nibbling away at the leader, the greatest leap has been made by Patrick Bot (245 - Finis’Mer - Ecole Navale). He has gone from 11th into 5th place after shooting up from 62 to 36 miles from the head of the fleet.

However, nobody is managing to escape the entirety of the big calm. « Dadjo Dilo » in the centre of the leading group admitted : « We have three knots of wind ». This explains why Thomas Valentin (185 - Thomas Hawk) was making a frustrating 0.5 knots, while Gilles Guillerm (322- Blue Bossa) and Mc Kee were making around a knot.

Irishman Cian McCarthy was up into a glorious 8th position, while Brits Ian Munslow and James Bird were down into 14th and up into 47th respectively.

Translation Kate Jennings


• Positions : 07 octobre 07:00 (TU)

Pos Voile Skipper Bateau Type Lat Long Dist. à l’arrivée
- 1 347 Pierre Rolland EXTRADO proto N070126 W0293338 1340.6
- 2 247 Jonathan Mc Kee TEAM MC LUBE proto N062458 W0265061 1365.7
- 3 240 Alex Pella AQUATEC - SANTIVERI - TEXKNIT proto N072601 W0280456 1391.0
- 4 354 Bruno Garcia SALADINO proto N071540 W0273626 1391.7
- 5 353 Willy Garcia CEYLAN DIAMANTES proto N071573 W0273473 1392.6
- 6 151 Armel Tripon MOULIN ROTY proto N062343 W0255341 1393.4
- 7 431 Samuel Manuard TIP TOP TOO - LE GRAU DU ROI PORT CAMARGUE proto N072045 W0273601 1396.5
- 8 393 Cian Mc Carthy THE TOM CREAN proto N074660 W0275453 1413.8
- 9 312 Pascal Doin ASNQ proto N074491 W0274735 1414.8
- 10 260 Richard Mérigeaux BON PIED BON OEIL proto N073026 W0264608 1426.1
- 11 346 Sébastien Roubinet ADRENALINE proto N072041 W0261155 1433.3
- 12 385 Jaume Mumbru PORT DE BARCELONA proto N074755 W0265598 1437.4
- 13 139 François Cuinet REGLISSE proto N073020 W0261763 1439.0
- 14 326 Ian Munslow ISHTAR proto N081991 W0281126 1439.4
- 15 440 David Raison RAYON LIQUIDE serie N080591 W0272763 1441.6
- 16 303 Enrico Podesta DIABOLO-SLAM proto N082731 W0275266 1452.6
- 17 428 David Sineau FRANCE FERMETURES serie N084090 W0280816 1460.3
- 18 138 Eric Defert AMIRAL DE BRETAGNE proto N083008 W0271761 1467.7
- 19 269 Lionel Rubio de Teran GROUPE CIBF serie N084150 W0273650 1471.5
- 20 167 Manuel Castilla VISION ORIGINALE serie N084465 W0273926 1473.4
- 21 245 Patrick Bot FINIST’MER ECOLE NAVALE serie N085083 W0274308 1477.9
- 22 168 Fabrice Guillerm RAULT LE SERVICE ALIMENTAIRE serie N090461 W0281110 1481.9
- 23 318 Yann Riou THRANE & THRANE serie N085643 W0274523 1482.5
- 24 421 Michel Mirabel GWALARN IV serie N082626 W0262390 1486.1
- 25 227 Donald Wright RUSSE NOIR proto N082643 W0262158 1487.2
- 26 426 Erwan Tymen POGO 2 NAVY LEST serie N083661 W0263943 1488.8
- 27 330 Jean-Pierre Balmes CECIM serie N083121 W0262460 1490.2
- 28 258 Marc Gascons TIP-TOP proto N083678 W0262975 1493.0
- 29 322 Gilles Guillerm BLUE BOSSA serie N091768 W0280436 1496.4
- 30 352 Luis Irisarri DEVIAJE.COM proto N090516 W0271751 1500.3
- 31 250 Brieuc Maisoneuve PAYS GRANVILLAIS serie N083166 W0255878 1502.1
- 32 282 Erwan Abalain MARION NOEL CONSEILS serie N090490 W0262836 1519.1
- 33 185 Thomas Valentin THOMAS HAWK proto N093015 W0265491 1531.8
- 34 175 Adam Seamans SPIRIT OF AMERICA serie N094833 W0273180 1535.8
- 35 295 David Sautret MIKALOU SAILING serie N094371 W0262256 1556.8
- 36 316 Pia L’Obry EXPATRIA.FR proto N093338 W0255443 1559.1
- 37 209 Bertrand Lecharpentier NEC HONFLEUR serie N093650 W0255888 1560.0
- 38 36 Peter de Smedt HUYSMAN proto N093440 W0255033 1561.8
- 39 345 Cécile Poujol INFORMATIQUE ET STATISTIQUES serie N100305 W0264518 1565.9
- 40 444 Isabelle Magois EDEN PARK proto N101653 W0270796 1570.3
- 41 373 Christophe Dary SAGA MERCEDES BENZ serie N102926 W0271716 1579.2
- 42 388 Yves Niort DEMI-CLE SHIPCHANDLER serie N102208 W0262668 1590.4
- 43 262 Eric Schmitt LA LIMULE serie N103731 W0265338 1594.8
- 44 381 Gonzalo Botin DON VITO serie N094883 W0245473 1599.9
- 45 333 Arsène Ledertheil LA CIGOGNE DE L’OCEAN proto N105565 W0265368 1611.9
- 46 416 Daniel Schaffer SENSIL proto N095938 W0244816 1612.3
- 47 56 James Bird ATOMIC proto N101830 W0250843 1619.6
- 48 321 Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty ARTECH - CAEN LA MER proto N105781 W0262253 1625.0
- 49 34 Gustavo Pacheco EPSILON proto N110531 W0264170 1625.1
- 50 277 François-Jacques Jauffrineau VENDEE PRISMA proto N105236 W0260788 1625.5
- 51 135 Stéphane Ayrault WYETH proto N105946 W0262490 1625.7
- 52 329 Laurent Jaunin TERRE-ET-FAUNE.ORG serie N105671 W0261653 1626.2
- 53 89 Rémy Malburet SOEUR MARIE THERESE DES BATIGNOLLES serie N120773 W0285935 1646.7
- 54 335 Barnabé Chivot FTH THIRARD proto N110083 W0252993 1648.5
- 55 340 Rémi Beauvais SPI CALL CENTER serie N115220 W0270501 1661.4
- 56 360 Henri Gourmelon TOBABOOTS serie N111491 W0252148 1664.7
- 57 342 Alessandro Zamagna ARKE proto N120348 W0262416 1685.5
- 58 29 Arthur Barret UBAYE proto N120583 W0260026 1696.2
- 59 47 Bernard Morin JOGGING INTERNATIONAL serie N121627 W0261204 1701.7
- 60 371 Juan Carlos Sanchis Mari SPASMOS serie N122301 W0262146 1704.8
- 61 109 Gaspard Franeau AVOCATS SANS FRONTIERES proto N140088 W0254841 1807.7
- 62 273 Vincent Volk Leonovitch GOUDURIX 2 serie N145473 W0233006 1909.8
- 63 355 Jacques Valente ACTION INNOCENCE serie N211883 W0201643 2335.7
- NC 121 David Lancry MENSURA FROST proto - -


Dans la même rubrique

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Transat 650 • Leg 2 : Jonathan McKee takes the Hot Seat

Transat 650 • 1re étape • Pirate : Chris Sayer second in Lanzarote 20 minutes behind Manuard

Mini 650 : US go mini !


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