With the Canaries left in their wake, the yachts of the Panerai Transat Classique 2012 are now looking forward to falling in with the trade winds and setting a course for Barbados. While speed is of the essence, packs are forming in the fleet and these are giving rise to some ferocious sailing battles.
What a tussle! Positions are changing almost by the hour in the Panerai Transat Classique 2012.Battling it out since the start, The Blue Peter and White Dolphin continue to dominate the race and this morning it is the elder of the two which has the advantage. But White Dolphin has no intention of giving up without a fight because, even though the road is long to the finishing line, in corrected time she’s barely an hour behind. Both boats are enjoying the benefits of the trade winds and have logged a healthy average of 7.5 knots over the last twenty-four hours.Of those following, Croix des Gardes has had a magnificent run and is threatening Persephone andCorto which, in corrected time, are five hours and one hour behind respectively. The excitement is mounting because all three are eyeing the third place currently held by Gweneven. Passing close to the Savage Islands, the Swan 38 has for the last few days been making the most of her direct route to get her foot on the lowest step of the podium but the situation looks set to change since she ran into an area of weak winds. It would be a brave man to pick, out of these four formidable sailing thoroughbreds, a winner just yet.
Falling in with the trade winds
And what news of the confrontation between Cipango, Artaius and Gimcrack?After an extremely tactical passage through the Canary Islands archipelago, they hope to fall in with the trade winds that will blow them all the way to the Caribbean. Gérald on Gimcrack described the situation perfectly to some Barbados school kids earlier in the day: “We’re in direct competition with Cipango, the yacht owned by my good friend Maurice, Croix des Gardes, Valteam and Artaius.Last night the wind was steady and we did a fine run in the dark, between 7.5 and 8 knots, which is good for Gimcrack. I hope we’ll be able to sail at 8.5 knots in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.” As for the big sailer Valteam, she’s trying her best to get back into the race but she really does need a fresher breeze than she’s getting at the moment. And finally Marie des Islesiscontinuing to bring up the rear. For all the latest information on this fabulous race, go towww.transatclassique.com.
Messages from the race
The Blue Peter
“The sun has just come up on what looks set to be a promising day. Today’s programmeincludes getting round the little area of high pressure by the north. We also hope to catch some fish. This morning when I took my watch [Manu the navigator] with Paola, we received the visit of a school of very excited dolphins. They were jumping 5 or 6 metres out of the sea. I’d never seen anything like it!In short, life’s hard when you’re already in swimming trunks at nine in the morning.How are we going to cope?”
Red Hackle
“We’re progressing, but not too fast, the trade winds are making us wait as the weather system gets itself back in order.Aboard, one problem leads to another. First it was our water maker and now it’s the extra diesel we took on in Las Palmas which is giving us a headache. We’ve probably got water in the fuel tank. The generator and the engine won’t run. So we’re going to have to keep energy consumption to a minimum while we carry out repairs. Nothing could be less sure but we’re going to have to do our best if we want to be in with a chance… Don’t be surprised if we keep quiet over the next few days. We’ll be using the least amount of energy as possible until we find a way of charging the batteries. […] Apart from that, we’re bowling along under our pink kite. And we’re trying not to get caught up in the anticyclone which lies ahead, slightly to the west. […] The weather is fair, we’re making progress, eating well and heading for Barbados. No worries for the ‘Reds’, we’re happy.”
White Dolphin
“Today we’re going to talk about fish… Before leaving we were lured by the presence of whales around the Canary Islands. We paid great attention, sometimes forgetting to trim our sails as we fixed our gaze on some dark spot on the horizon… But to no avail. Nothing. Not the slightest hint of a whale on the horizon. Fred thinks, and I quote, ‘the whales are all dead!’And what are we to make of the total lack of flying fish? Who’ll be the first to feel one slap in his face, when he’s least expecting it, the helm held firmly in his hands, his eyes fixed on the angle of the apparent wind (or perhaps still searching desperately for whales…)? […] Other than that, we’re playing ‘Do you know where we’re going ?’ an amusing game which consists of zooming out on the tablet computer to see which country we’d end up in if we kept on the same heading. We’ve aimed at everything from Nigeria to Newfoundland, including the Cape of Good Hope, Tierra del Fuego and sometimes… Barbados.Pascal loves it. Nico has another pastime: he loves distracting his watch mates by reading out loud choice snippets from his joke book. He has everyone in stitches, and the helmsman steering all over the place.”
Croix des Gardes
“We made some good tactical choices going through the Canaries archipelago, which allowed us to move up the rankings. We kept the spinnaker up as long as possible to make good speed, hoping to beat our colleagues who chose the southerly route. By sunset, the boat was pounding under the pressure and James didn’t like it at all.None of us wanted to reduce sail and lose speed, but reason won out. We’ve only got one chute and if we rip it, we might well find ourselves later in some light airs with just a genoa to work with. […] The bilge pump is also giving us some trouble. James discovered that it could have set the boat alight.Everything is back in order. […] Not much wildlife to report. Dave saw a black fin off Fuerteventura and we sailed through a small school of basking sharks, one of the largest creatures living in the sea.
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