Panerai Transat Classique-IN THE CLASSROOM -

Each crew taking part in the Panerai Transat Classique 2012 is sharing its experience of the race with a class of schoolchildren in Barbados. The kids are loving the excitement of a transatlantic race full of twists and turns.

What enthusiasm! The operation to involve school kids from Cascais and Barbados in the race has been a resounding success. In Portugal about 80 children came down to the marina to meet the sailors in the Panerai Transat Classique 2012 and were given the opportunity of visiting Gimcrack, Marie des Isles and The Blue Peter. Since the start the crews have been exchanging numerous messages with primary schools in the Caribbean. For example the crew of White Dolphin has been corresponding with girls and boys aged between 9 and 10 years old:“My name is Rachad Griffiths and I’m 9.I live on Liverpool Road in Britton’s Hill, St. Michael, and I’m very excited about your boat” – “My name is Gabriele and I am 10 years old. We’ve been following you on the chart and you’re second.Your boat was built a year after my country, Barbados, became independent. Wow!” – “I’m Pascal, White Dolphin is my boat. Thanks for your lovely messages.All of us on board read them and your encouragements help to keep us motivated. We’ve got a good boat, a good captain, Yann, and a good crew, but above all, we’ve got THE BEST TEAM OF SUPPORTERS IN BARBADOS.Thanks kids!” And Pascal could also say that he knows their island by heart because he lived there for twenty-three years.

Changing positions

They had lots of questions for Gimcrack. “How big is the crew?How long is the boat? How fast does she go?Where do you sleep?What do you eat? Have you tried eating flying-fish?Are you scared?” And some important information: “Barbados is a magnificent island paradise! St. Stephen’s is the best school in the world!The children love you!” How comforting for the sailors, and all the boats are getting similar heart-warming messages, especially Croix des Gardes, Red Hackle and Cipango. But that doesn’t mean they are forgetting for the slightest moment that they’re in a race and that speed is everything. The Canaries are turning out to be an extremely tactical passage. Gweneven and Artaius have opted for the shorter route in the north, closer to the Savage Islands, and for the moment their choice is paying off in corrected time. To the south of the Canaries, White Dolphin has been doing well in real time by sailing around the archipelago and has overtaken The Blue Peter which sailed between Tenerife and Gran Canaria. These two leaders have now fallen in with more wind, which has allowed them to increase the gap between them and Corto and Persephone who have lost an extra 70 nautical miles in the last twenty-four hours. In between these two groups is Red Hackle which had to stop in Grana Caria to take on water because her water maker has broken down.Behind her, the battle is raging between Gimcrack, Valteam, Croix des Gardes and Cipango which are all within twenty miles of each other. As for Marie des Isles, she has been completely outdistanced by the rest of the fleet, lagging some 450 miles behind the leaders.But everything is left to play for, both in real and corrected times, and the crews are not putting their feet up just yet.

“The sea is flatter than the Orwell River, where we come from.There isn’t any swell either.However the wind isn’t strong enough for us to reach our hull speed and the smaller vessels are going to increase their lead. We are hoping to catch up with Cipango when the wind freshens and we can put a greater waterline length to good use.[…] We are close to having a tea crisis. We’re using nearly forty bags a day and have been obliged to start rationing them or we’ll run out half way through the race. That would be a real disaster for the British contingent!”

White Dolphin

“This morning Pascal asked me [Jordan] to set a course for the sun. It’s getting easier and easiernow that the clouds are dissipating. On White Dolphin we’ve pulled off our waterproofs, fleeces and even our T-shirts. The sunglasses are out and we’re putting on sun cream. Pretty good for 7 December!On deck some are taking a nap, others are stretching, reading a good book or listening to music. Today Fred banned work, except for fishing.But we’re going too fast for that so… he’s gone to sleep!

Yesterday Pascal climbed up the mast to change the bulb of our masthead light. Fred and Yann were up there too a couple of days ago: it’s becoming a habit.Who’s going to be next? In any case, it’s a good vantage point for watching the dolphins which were following us as we sailed along the cost of Fuerteventura.The Canary Islands were a spectacular sight. We’ll have to come back some day.”

Artaius

“On the fifth day, Artaius is…5^th. But the crew aren’t celebrating just yet. And they don’t get down when bad luck strikes, either.Anything can happen from here to the waypoint.Anticyclones are hanging about. We’re sure that it’s the number one topic of conversation on Pierre Bleu[The Blue Peter in French] and Cross Guards [Croix des Gardes in English]. We’re thinking about them.For us the doldrums were the day before yesterday. Let’s hope that on the twelfth day,Artaius isn’t 12^th. We’re now focusing on being consistent, something our new friend Flemming [the autopilot] seems to be giving us. We haven’t trimmed the sails in the last twenty-four hours. The results speak for themselves: 145 nautical miles run in one day. That’s an average of 6.05 knots. It’s a shame that Flemming can’t do the washing up and make us hot drinks at the change of watch in the middle of night!”

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Panerai Transat Classique-IN THE CLASSROOM

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