10:55 PM Sun 15 Nov 2009 GMT
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'Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy cross the Solidaire du Chocolat finish line - Photo Bruno Bouvry'
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During the fourth week of racing for La Solidaire du Chocolat fleet, the 15 remaining boats encountered volatile conditions as the Caribbean delivered a new dimension to the race. Squalls, tropical storms, dead calm and weather information that rarely reflected reality turned the final 1,500 miles to the finish line into a contest where maximising boatspeed by just a fraction of a knot could mean crucial gains for the boats in close contact.
Over the weekend of 7th-8th November, three Class40s in La Solidaire du Chocolat fleet passed through the mandatory race gate off St. Barts in the Leeward Islands, making a total of seven boats racing through the Caribbean to Progreso on the northern tip of the Yucat?n Peninsular in Mexico. At 2230 GMT on Saturday night, Tim Wright and Nicko Brennan leading the second wave of Class40s on Sail4Cancer in 5th place crossed the gate, followed by the Chilean duo of Felipe Cubillos and Daniel Bravo Silva on Desafio Cabo de Hornos, swooping down from the northeast on port gybe and moving up to 6th place shortly before reaching St. Barts at 0844 GMT on Sunday morning. Just two and-a-half hours behind Cubillos and Bravo Silva, the British duo of Peter Harding and Miranda Merron on 40 Degrees crossed the gate at 1114 GMT.
Meanwhile, at the head of the fleet and leading by 113 miles at 0800 GMT on the morning of Monday 9th November, Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia sailed close to Cape Beata - the southernmost tip of the Dominican Republic on Sunday - while Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm on Chemin?es Poujoulat moved up to second place overtaking Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d'Ali on Telecom Italia with the two boats approaching the cape on Monday morning, separated by just two miles with Jourdren and Stamm making 14 knots - one knot faster than the Italian duo - while the race leaders on Initiatives-Novedia slowed to under nine knots. At 1916 GMT on Monday, the eighth boat in La Solidaire du Chocolat fleet entered the Caribbean through the race gate of St. Barts as Class40 Association President, Jacques Fournier, and his co-skipper, Jean-Edouard Criquioche, the Class40 Treasurer, took Groupe Picoty out of the North Atlantic.
By the morning of Tuesday 10th November, ahead of Fournier and Criquioche by 180 miles, a close-quarters battle was underway south of Puerto Rico with Peter Harding and Miranda Merron moving up to 6th on 40 Degrees with under a mile separating the British duo from the Chilean team of Felipe Cubillos and Daniel Bravo Silva on Desafio Cabo de Hornos in 7th as both boats remained stuck in light airs making under five knots. Further west, south of the Dominican Republic, Tim Wright and Nicko Brennan were locked into a band of stronger, north-easterly breeze on Sail4Cancer in 5th delivering the highest speed in the fleet at 13.5 knots, increasing their lead over 40 Degrees and Desafio Cabo de Hornos by 50 miles in 24 hours to 158 miles as the easterly pair of Class40s remained trapped in light breeze.
Meanwhile, in the North Atlantic, Axa Atout Coeur Pour Aides with Erik Nigon and Marc Jouany in 8th place were lining up to pass through the St. Barts gate with the French duo moving up to 9th place on Monday afternoon as they headed down towards the island, overtaking Denis Lazat and Fr?d?ric Nouel on PLAN. The following pack were led by Stephen Card and Shaun Murphy on ORBIS, trailing PLAN by 87 miles, and followed by three boats - David Consorte and Aubry Arnaud's Adriatech in 12th; Mike West and Paul Worswick on Keysource in 13th and Cr?dit Maritime of Patrice Carpentier and Victor Maldonado in 14th - separated by just 28 miles, with the fleet's backmarker, Vale Inco Nouvelle Cal?donie of Yves Eclaret and Lionel Regnier a further 183 miles behind Carpentier and Maldonado.
By Wednesday morning, there were 522 miles remaining to the finish line off Progreso for race leaders, Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia as the French duo won back the miles lost to Telecom Italia and Chemin?es Poujoulat on Monday and Tuesday with Lamotte and Hardy returning to a 111 mile lead over the chasing pair of boats. Just west of Cape Cruz, the southern tip of Cuba, Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d'Ali in 2nd place on Telecom Italia held a seven mile lead over Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm on Chemin?es Poujoulat in 3rd and while all three leading boats had generally slowed, the two trailing Class40s were making higher averages than Initiatives-Novedia at eight knots.
On the Morning of Thursday 12th November, just west of St. Barts, the Caribbean was becoming crowded with five boats separated by just 38 miles. Leading the pack, Denis Lazat and Fr?d?ric Nouel on PLAN had made a pit stop in Port Gustavia, St. Barts, on Wednesday for sail repairs and a resupply of diesel. Loaded with fresh vegetables, PLAN was towed out of the harbour and restarted sailing at 1401 GMT later the same day just as Stephen Card and Shaun Murphy on ORBIS crossed the gate and a little over an hour before David Consorte and Aubry Arnaud on Adriatech crossed the gate in 12th place, quickly followed by Patrice Carpentier and Victor Maldonado on Cr?dit Maritime and Mike West and Paul Worswick on Keysource in 13th and 14th place. With the group of five boats south of St. Croix on Thursday morning in around 12 knots of south-easterly breeze and with speed averages of between six to eight knots, the two closest boats, PLAN in 10th place and Stephen Card and Shaun Murphy on ORBIS in 11th were separated by only four miles. The one remaining boat in the Atlantic, Vale Inco Nouvelle Cal?donie of Yves Eclaret and Lionel Regnier, had scheduled a stop in St. Barts for repairs to her tattered and torn sails, although Eclaret later decided to abandon the race and head for the island of St. Martin.
By the morning of Friday 13th November, the race leaders, Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia, were off Cape Catoche, the eastern tip of the Yucat?n Peninsula, with 152 miles of sailing along the coast remaining to the finish line off Progreso. Over the preceding 24 hours, Lamotte and Hardy managed to extend their lead over Telecom Italia and Chemin?es Poujoulat, but the chasing pair of boats found a stronger band of northerly breeze on Friday morning off the western tip of Cuba and with around 12-13 knots of wind speed, both boats were averaging nine knots while the race leader, 117 miles ahead, was polling six knots on a starboard reach in around eight knots of breeze.
However, later on Friday, the final stretch to the finish for the race leaders, Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy, turned into an inshore drift overnight. Speeds for Lamotte and Hardy began to drop after 1600 GMT and by midnight, the French duo were making between two and three knots in a barely perceptible easterly breeze as they slowly worked their way along the northern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula towards the finish line off Progresso. Eventually, at 0825 GMT on Saturday morning, Initiatives-Novedia finished La Solidaire du Chocolat taking first place in Class40's inaugural transatlantic race after 26 days, 16 hours and 35 minutes.
On Sunday morning, Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d' Ali, on Telecom Italia crossed the finish line in 2nd place at 05:25:20 GMT with a 7.59 knot average speed after 5,000 miles and just 19 hours and 20 seconds behind the Initiatives-Novedia. Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm, on board Chemin?es Poujoulat took 3rd place at 05:44:04 GMT with only 18 minutes and 44 seconds separating the two Class40s.
Damien Seguin (skipper Cargill-MTTM):
'We're off! Since 0500, stable wind has arrived from a good direction. I'll give you the numbers from the readouts in front of me: windspeed 29 knots; boatspeed 18.75 knots! We don't spend more than one hour on the helm before swapping as the level of concentration and the strain on our arms is just too great. The boat is safe and the sailing is fantastic with the wind between 25-32 knots which has given us a speed of 16.78 knots in the past hour! For the second day only since the start, we are really sailing the boat at its strongest point and to its full potential!'
Daniel Bravo Silva (co-skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos):
'I feel happy and fortunate to be here and although both Felipe and I are longing for a shower, a soft bed and some decent rest, we wouldn't be anywhere else. My skipper has crossed the Atlantic five times in the last two years and I'm lucky to have his advice and guidance as I have just crossed the Atlantic for the first time in my life as the youngest - and most inexperienced - sailor in the fleet. I'm now where I dreamt I would be all those years ago when I first went model boat yachting with my father, or first rented a pedalo on a beach. This is what I dreamt of when my grandfather enrolled me in an Optimist course at the local yacht club. This experience has been fantastic and now it slowly begins to end. We will continue trying to catch-up with the boats in front, but I've learnt the important thing in this type of race is to look after your two only allies. That is to say, take care of your boat and to take care of your companion.'
Bernard Stamm (co-skipper Chemin?es Poujoulat):
'The sun is coming up and we've just passed the island south of the Dominican Republic. One and a half miles off but as it was night time, we didn't see it. There were dolphins around last night. We didn't see them but we could hear them. Gybing is on the agenda. Since leaving Saint Nazaire, there have been very few occasions to sail a direct course, tacking or gybing all the time! We helm all the time and so are exposed to the sun when it is at its height, a real barbecue! Our match race with the Italians is fun. Now you see them, now you don't. It's stressful, but cannot keep on like that for ever. At worst, we'll do a quick starboard to them on the finishing line!'
Tanguy de Lamotte (skipper Initiatives-Novedia):
'What a hard race it was! Winning in Mexico, for the first time that the country has hosted an ocean yacht race, we are privileged to be among its pioneers. The boat suffered. We actually worked out the number of impacts she was subject to in the waves and the series of six low pressure systems, and it came to something around 40,000 impacts! Adrien and I got along really well. Being young probably helped us keep on top of things all the time. All of the decisions were made together and now we are going to celebrate our victory together.'
www.lasolidaireduchocolat.com/
by Oliver Dewar
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Valentine, Lake Macquarie, NSW
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