TRANSAT 650 RACE PREVIOUS UPDATES

For the latest on Gale's position, see Latest on Race

AS OF TUESDAY, 10/30/01, 09:57:00 GMT

Gale's position at this morning's roll call was 2 deg 49 min S latitude, 30 deg 36 min W longitude, 778.6 nautical miles from the finish line. Sailing in 24th place, she is well into the tradewinds, experiencing ESE breezes of 15-20 knots, and should be sailing quite well through the 3-4 seas. The weather pattern is predicted to be stable, but closer to the coast the land thermals will come into play.

PROTOTYPE CLASS WINNER FINISHES AT 04:32 GMT TUESDAY MORNING

Yannick Bestaven of the French florist's Aquarelle.com team erased Brian Thompson's lead during the night and finished 27 minutes ahead of the big Irishman aboard Lighthouse Light Foundation. The Frenchman did not know he won until the gun went off at the finish, saying later, "I was convinced that Brian had already finished!" His strategy of hugging the coast paid off as Thompson took a more southerly route hoping to avoid the nighttime calms. But when the wind came up yesterday, Bestaven had a better reaching angle to the finish and was able to average 9-10 knots to snatch the lead from Thompson.

Thompson said he was satisfied with his boat's performance on the second leg, commenting that "gambling on the wind is part of the sailboat racing game." Once on shore, the former Playstation watch captain, caipirinha cocktail in hand, congratulated the victor who set a record for the race by winning both legs of the transatlantic competition. Bestaven completed the second leg in 18 days, 14 hours, 30 minutes, averaging 6.6 knots, for a total time for both legs of 29 days, 21 hours, 27 minutes. His 22-hour advantage over Thompson in the first leg was key to his victory as the race is scored on the total combined time for both legs.

Bestaven admitted that the last week was somewhat monotonous, sailing on one tack the entire time until he reached the coast of Northern Brazil.

Ronan Guerin sailed L'Artinisat over the line 4 hours, 47 minutes after Bestaven to take third for the leg. He noted the challenges of the solitary race on the Mini: Off Cape Verde, having to climb the mast to repair a broken halyard in the early morning hours; losing both his GPS and charging system due to the wet conditions, having to tie the rudders to steer once he lost the power for the autopilot, and the excessive heat. He also commented that with no information as the the relative postions of the other competitors it was difficult to formulate a strategy. With much success in the popular French Figaro single-handed series, Guerin's next goal in short handed competition is the 2004 Vendee Globe race around the world.

Crossing fourth was Yves Le Blévec sailing Actual Interim who finished at 11:02 GMT, six and a half hours behind the leader; taking 18 days, 23 hours, and 22 minutes for the 3,200 mile leg. Eight miles out at this morning's check-in, Englishman Simon Curwen on QDS is expected to be the next finisher today. The next group of racers have 40 miles to go and are likely to finish this evening.

SERIES ONE DESIGN LEADER EXPECTED TO FINISH WEDNESDAY

Olivier Desport on the Pogo, My Workplace, leads the Series one design class with 163 miles to the finish while the next five boats, over 60 miles behind Desport, are separated by less than 40 miles and are battling for places on the podium. Thirty-seven year-old Desport won the second leg in the 99 Transat and finished 3rd overall in class for 99. This year, he claimed 1st in the Mini Pavois and took 3rd in both the Mini Fastnet and the Transgascogne races.

INFORMATION ABOUT SALVADOR DA BAHIA RENDEZVOUS FOR MINIs

While in Salvador, the Mini raceboats will be berthed at:

CENAB - CENTRO NÁUTICO DA BAHIA
Avenida da França, s/n, Commércio
CEP: 40.010-000
Salvador, BA, Brasil

This is a public marina and boatyard supported by the government of Bahia. The website, www.cenab.com.br, has English translation. The contact information is:

Tel: +55 71 326-3434 / 326-0387
E-mail: cenab@svn.com.br

The city of Salvador da Bahia is the colonial capital of Brazil and the official website has English translation:

http://www.emtursa.com.br/default_i.htm

All for now.

Kathy Weber, Project Manager
Gale Browning Ocean Racing
Team US Challenge
kathy@2001minitransat.com

AS OF FRIDAY, 10/26/01, 13:34:00 GMT

Gale's position is 3°48.91' N latitude, 28°09.31' W longitude with 1195 miles to the finish in Salvador, Brazil. She is in an unfortunate group above 1 deg N trapped in the light variable SSW breezes of the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone, commonly know as the "Doldrums," while the leaders romp towards the Brazilian coast averaging 7 knots in the southeasterly tradewinds. Typical ITCZ: calm, calm, calm, except in the 35-40 kt squall winds! Gale has only made 102 miles to the good since Wednesday. The leaders, over 600 miles to the southwest, have been making 170 miles per day.

Because of the great distance between the front and back of the fleet, over 700 miles, the patrol boats have decided to split up in order to be able to maintain VHF commmunication with the entire fleet. On the Thursday chat with patrol boat Notre Dame de Flotte, Gale reported low batteries because cloudy conditions kept the solar charging system from functioning at peak efficiency, a complaint heard from the several other Mini sailors. And while there were no reports from the Mini sailors in the vicinity of Notre Dame de Flotte this morning, Friday dawned sunny and the boats should be able to get a good charge for the battery banks. Earlier this week, Pedro de la Cruz (Jazz Magazine) reported he broke his mast shortly after leaving the Cape Verde Islands but is continuing under jury rig using a 12-ft. section of the broken spar. Antoine Cornic (Oceanic) has broken his forestay but made another one with a piece of kevlar rope.

Brian Thompson (Lighthouse Life Foundation), maintaining his 40-mile lead over Yannick Bestaven (Aquarelle.com), is approaching the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha. Owned by Brazil, this isolated group of volcanic islands is located in the South Equatorial Atlantic at 03° 51' S and 32° 25' W, approximately 215 miles from Cape São Roque in the state of Rio Grande do Norte and 340 miles from Recife, Pernambuco. Consisting of 21 islands, islets and rocks, the archipelago is the visible parts of a range of submerged mountains. Ronin Guerin (l'Artinisat) in 3rd, Simon Curwen (QDS), another Brit currently 4th, and Arnaud Boissieres (Aquarelle.com) round out the leaderboard in the Prototype class.

In the Series one design class, Olivier Desport (My Workplace) leads Canadian Jean Rheault (Openmobiledata.com) by 35 miles followed by Frederic Duval (Sojasun), Frederic Danjon (Semelle de Vent), and Bruno Stephane (Etude Maillard/Ordirope).

Once past the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, the contestants will face the winds and currents of the Brazilian coast. The tradewinds will weaken towards the coast and it is likely that the thermal effect of the land mass will be felt. Ronin Guerin, known for his success in the Figaro single-handed race, is anticipating to show off his light air skills. Additionally, near the coastline, the sailors must be ever alert for freighters and fishing boats. While offshore, it is safe to sleep 2 or 3 hours at a stretch, but inshore the skippers must remain on deck to keepwatch.

With 550 miles to the finish line, the first boat may cross as early as Monday afternoon assuming wind and sea conditions continue as they are. Irishman Brian Thompson must play his cards right to get the gold!

All for now.

Kathy Weber, Project Manager
Gale Browning Ocean Racing
Team US Challenge
kathy@2001minitransat.com

AS OF WEDNESDAY, 10/17/01, 13:39:00 GMT

Gale's position is 19 deg 43.08 min N latitude, 23 deg 44.2 min W longitude, putting her 2,170,5 nautical miles from the finish in Brazil and slightly more than 200 miles behind the leader, Yves Le Blevec (Actual Interim).

After a slow start in light breezes on Thursday, some competitors took a flyer toward the African coast and lucked out when the wind filled in from the east leaving those that went west, including Gale, behind. Then as the leaders got into the trades, those behind fell further behind as they were trapped in a weather pattern featuring light and variable winds.

The lead in the Prototype class has passed back and forth the past few days, with Le Blevec taking first from former Playstation crew member, Irishman Brian Thompson (Lighthouse Life Foundation), during Tuesday night. Thompson, in second place, is followed by Yannick Bestaven (Aquarelle.com), winnner of the first leg, who trails the leader by five miles. The three leaders rounded the Cape Verde "turning mark," passing between the islands of São Antão and São Vincente this morning about 06:00 GMT. A fight between the leading women is going on with Jeanne Gregoire (Aquarelle.com) in eighth and Sam Davies (Aberdeen Asset Management) in ninth.

The remainder of the fleet should round within the next 40 hours and set off for the Southern Hemisphere and the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), commonly known as the "Doldrums" in English and "Pot au Noir" in French.

The ITCZ, where the opposing trade wind patterns of the Northern & Southern hemispheres come together, contains stultifying calms and intense squalls. The location varies during the year depending on the relationship of the Sun's position to the Earth's declination. Skippers must have the navigational and weather forecasting skill to predict the quickest "gate" through the ITCZ into the southeasterly trades of the Southern Hemisphere.

This is a satellite photo of the central Atlantic for this afternoon. Note the low pressure system over Mauretania. Click on the image for a larger view.

The Meteo Consult weather report for the fleet today: Northeasterly breeze of 10 knots is slightly less than yesterday and the fleet is averaging 5-6 knots.

The Meteo Consult forecast for the Cape Verde Island area is for NE, Beaufort Force 3-5 (see explantion below) increasing to Force 4-5 with choppy seas and occasional downpours.

Between 15 and 10 North latitude and 22 to 40 West longitude, the Minis should find easterly breezes changing to light northeasterlies in the morning. The ITCZ location plot for today passes through 6N 11W, 4N 21W, 11N 33W, 10N 40W, and 12N 62W.

The patrol boats report the following news from the competitors: Several boats will be stopping at the port of Mindelo on the Cape Verde island of São Vincente for repairs. These include Antoine Cornic (Oceanic) who has a broken forestay and Pedro de la Cruz (Jazz Magazine), a Cape Verdian who finished last in the first leg. De la Cruz chose to depart Lanzarote under jury rig and limp to his homeland to try and fix his broken rudder and damaged sail. Jeanne Gregoire (Aquarelle.com) is still having problems with the articulated bowsprit pole and is considering stopping for repairs. Gael Bigot (Team 117), currently 7th in this leg, is likely to make a stop to sort out problems with his water ballast (and maybe clean out a boat full of accidentally rehydrated food). Bad luck for Bigot who broke his boom and had to stop in Leg One. Eric de Froidmont (Pogolou) also has a broken boom but it is not clear if he will stop for repairs or continue under jury rig. Christian Saury (Intentia) is having problems with the VHF and autopilot.

Eric Vassard (Macon Lugny), who suffered a blow to the head when he broke his boom, has retired to Tenerife, Canary Islands, and is reported to be under observation in the hospital with plans to fly him back to France this evening. Armel Tripon (2001 Sourires) had an autopilot failure which forced him to abandon the race and is en route back to Gran Canaria.

And poor Gregoire Comby on on the patrol boat Calle Ocho Coffee Cubano: Attacked during the night by a flying fish!! Hit squarely in the head!!

All for now.

Kathy Weber, Project Manager
Gale Browning Ocean Racing
Team US Challenge
kathy@2001minitransat.com

Gale arrived in Puerto Calero on Saturday, having lost ground after deciding to take the windward side of the island of Lanzerote in her approach to the finish. Tired from the 14-day, 20-hour 45-minute marathon, she spent the night in the luxury of a hotel room. After a real meal and a good night's sleep, it was time to regroup and begin preparations for the start of the second leg. Her average speed for the unusually slow first leg was 3.6 knots; the first place finisher only managed 4.8.

In order to give to the last finishers of the first leg time to rest & prepare their boats for second leg, the Race Director, Denis Hugues, has decided to postpone the start of the second leg of the Transat 650 by 24 hours to Thursday, Oct. 11, at 12:02.

In Lanzarote, the the light breezes that slowed so many racers that finished last week have departed. As of Monday, northeasterlies of 20/25 knots indicate that the trades are becoming established although the cloud patterns do not yet confirm this observation. This promises good conditions for the re-start on Thursday.

For those who get these pictures with the email updates (sorry AOLers), here's a satelite infrared photo of the Eastern Atlantic region. The little islands at the top right are the Canaries, the land to the right is Africa, the land at lower left is South America. The latitude line at the bottom is the Equator. Click here for a larger view of this image.

MINI TRANSAT Report from Grand Prix Sailor, 10/9

Leader's Boat Damaged
By Bob Fisher

LANZAROTTE, Canary Islands—During a race to introduce beginners to the Mini class boats, the 3.5-meter spinnaker pole/bowsprit of Yannic Bestaven's Aquarelle.com was broken into three pieces. Bestaven, who built the boat himself with the aid of second placed Arnaud Boissieres, will have until Thursday morning to repair or replace the carbon fiber pole.

The extra day is fortuitous for Bestaven—the second leg of the Mini-Transat Race was originally to restart for the 3,500 miles to Salvador Bahia in Brazil on Wednesday. The race committee decided to give extra time to those competitors who were dismasted on the first night at sea and who went ashore, replaced the spars, and rejoined the race.

They include Ronan Guerin in Artisanat, one of the pre-race favorites, and Paul Peggs of Britain in a Mark Mills design. They are now in Lanzarotte, but can usefully put the extra day that they have been granted to improve preparation. The Race Committee's act is generally well received and is based on its desire to give the competitors what they want and have paid for. After all, the 55 boats in this race have been through an extensive qualification of 2,000 miles, of which 1,000 have been in racing conditions.

Here's an excerpt from a Dan Dickison SailNet.com feature about Gale, on the internet comparing the Open 6.5 to a Melges 24:

American sailors rarely get a chance to observe 6.5 Meter sailboats in action, but these comparatively miniscule speedsters are all about performance. From their enormous rigs to their twin rudders, spartan interiors, and water-ballast systems, these craft are the diminutive cousins of Open 60s like Kingfisher and Gartmore, and their capabilities would surprise even the most jaded racer.

Consider that the typical Prototype class 6.5 Meter has a sail plan that measures 460 square feet (upwind; downwind is roughly 1,000) and a displacement that's roughly 2,100 pounds. Contrast that with, say, a Melges 24 (380 square feet of upwind sail area and roughly 1,000 downwind, and 1,750 pounds of displacement). If you've ever sailed a Melges 24, then you can imagine the performance potential of a 6.5 Meter, but with longer [Ed--9 ft bowsprit] bowsprits and enormous roach on the mainsail, think Melges 24 in overdrive.

I am hoping to hear from Gale before the restart and will provide a full report then. Otherwise, next update will be Thursday after the re-start.

Kathy Weber, Project Manager
Gale Browning Ocean Racing
Team US Challenge
kathy@2001minitransat.com

AS OF FRIDAY, 10/5/2001

Gale's Immarsat D+ transponder appears to continue to malfunction as no position reports have been posted for her. Last posting, on Tuesday, placed her in a group consisting of Michael Inglis, Samantha Davies, Francois Lucas, and Ian Munslow. Assuming she has paced along with this group, the distance to finish is probably between 25 to 100 miles and she should cross the finish line sometime today or tonight. Weather reports from Puerto Calero, Lanzarote, indicate a southeast breeze of 10 knots, temperature of 80 deg F, and barometric pressure, 30.03.

Keeping race committee up all night, 23 tired and hungry Transat 650 competitors had crossed the finish line off Lanzarote by 12:30 local time today (GMT + 3). As expected, the Aquarelle.com team finished first, Yannick Bestaven and second, Arnaud Boissières—both sailing Magnen designs—in the Proto class.

Said Yannick, "Right up to the end I was sure I would be caught by Arnaud. This pushed me on to stretch myself for the finish. I spent a lot of time listening to RF1 for the news of the race positions."

Simon Curwen of Great Britain sailing QDS finished 4th following Samual Manuard, an early leader. Curwen admitted that there are worse ways to spend a few days than slipping along with the dolphins. He said, "The only real problem aboard was the risk of injury from the 'stupid' flying fish that began to throw themselves at the boats towards the end of the leg." Curwen may be wearing a crash helmet during leg two.

inside Curwen's boat

Another early leader, Yves LeBlevec, finished 5th followed by the first female finisher, Jeanne Gregoire, also on the Aquarelle.com team. Gregoire stated that she sailed to save the boat and did not push as hard as she could have so she was overjoyed with her sixth as the last she had heard was that she was in 9th position.

Ireland's Brian Thompson, former watch captain on the maxi catamaran Playstation, finished 7th, acknowledging that he was disappointed not to have finished in the top three. Brian's Rogers-designed mini, Lighthouse Life Foundation, has an experimental keel that cants and slides forward and aft.

The second woman, French sailor Karen Leibovici at the helm of Magnen-designed Radicalboats.com finished in 12th. The rest of the fleet, with the exception of the boats that had to stop for repairs, should finish by Saturday.

In the one design Series class, Michael Marabel sailed his Pogo design, Discount Marine, to victory. Loic Le Bras, sailing Pour les Enfants 2000, finished 2nd, three minutes ahead of Olivier Desport aboard My Workplace, after a hard fought duel for the last day. The Mini Transat is won based on the cumulative time of this first leg and the second leg to Bahia da Salvador, Brazil, so finish times can be critical in determining the overall finish. These racers, sailing the slower, and less expensive, Series one designs were very pleased to finish ahead of 2/3 of the faster Proto fleet.

Taking 11 days for the first leg from La Rochelle to Lanzerote, the fleet only managed an average speed of 4.8 knots although Le Blevec's Finot design, Actual Interim, the early leader, averaged 10 knots the first day for a 240-mile day in the Bay of Biscay. Most of the sailors had expected an eight-day passage and some had to ration water & food although 4th place finisher, Brit Simon Curwen, had prepared for a leg taking even longer, saying, "With freeze dried food, another few days food doesn't weigh very much, there's very little penalty in taking it." The class rules insist that each skipper takes three liters of potable water per 100 miles of the course—about five liters per day—but Curwen ended up dumping his excess water. French sailor Desport lost his stove the first night and with no means to boil water was forced to reconstitute his freeze dried food with cold water. Proto winner Besthaven not only grew low on provisions but he lost his bowl and had to eat the freeze dried glop from his bailer!

This French-organized race, whose second leg of 3,000 miles is to Salvador, Brazil, was originally conceived by Britain's Bob Salmon and is one which solo sailors use to make their mark in the sport. It was in the Mini Transat that Ellen MacArthur made her first competitive step towards the Vendee Globe solo round the world race as did Michel Desjoyeaux, who beat her in that race. Other well-known skippers who have taken part include world 24-hour record holder, Bernard Stamm, Yvon and Laurent Bourgnon, and Yves Parlier. American Norton Smith won in 1979 and Gale is the first US competitor since 1982.

All for now. We'll have a report from Gale when she arrives at Puerto Calero.

Kathy Weber, Project Manager
Gale Browning Ocean Racing
Team US Challenge
kathy@2001minitransat.com

AS OF WEDNESDAY, 10/3/2001, 09:00 GMT

Gale's position is 34 deg 17.0 N latitude, 11 deg 23.05 W longitude, about 356 nautical miles from the finish in Lanzarote. She lies in 17th place in the Proto class in a pack with Samantha Davis, Michael Ingles, Ian Munslow (all Brits) and Francois Lucas, a French naval architect.

Concerned that no position was given yesterday for Gale on the official race site, we contacted the race director, Denis Hugues by email asking for information on her circumstances. His email reply, "Hey, don't panic. The location beacon (a satellite GPS transponder) broke down. We have her position from the boats around her."

Currently holding first in the Proto class, Yannick Bestaven of the Aquarelle.com team was 75 miles from Puerto Calero at 6:00 GMT, sailing 190° at 5 knots of average speed. To the west is another Aquarelle.com Proto sailed by Arnaud Boissières who was maintaining 7 knots on a course of 177.

The leaders are less than 5 miles apart and expected to finish on Thursday GMT. Aquarelle.com is the French equivalent of 1-800-Flowers and, in addition to the two leaders, is sponsoring Jeanne Gregoire. Gregoire, in 6th place with 189 miles to go, is the first woman in the Proto fleet.

First time Transat competitor Simon Curwen sailing QDS is the first non-French boat approaching the finish. Simon, in 4th place has 133 miles to the finish while the next non-French boat, Lighthouse Light Foundation skippered by professional navigator Brian Thompson is in 7th with 200 miles to Puerto Callero.

The Mini racers are having a tough time with the light air conditions. Although the NE direction is good, the velocity is light, a fluky 5 to 7 knots, and the boats are just creeping along under spinnakers. The former advantage gained by going east now negated by the less advantageous jibe angle to the finish.

And the prediction for the final approach to Puerto Callero is depressing: a dying northerly. Local reports indicate that the breeze dies out completely about sunset and doesn't start to come in again until 10AM local time (GMT +3).

The heat & light breezes of the last few days have to be tough physically on all the Mini racers. Decisions regarding amounts of food & water to put on board in La Rochelle may become critical. All have to be suffering from fatigue & lack of sleep, but the single-handed navigators must keep an alert lookout coming into Lanzerote to negotiate its tricky currents, unlighted fishing fleet, & commercial traffic.

Another response from our email inquiry as to Gale's conditions was from Leo Voorneveld, a Dutch photographer/journalist who is aboard Iris, the Affaires Maritimes patrol boat. Below is the photo he sent and his email comments dated 10/3, 7:56 AM--I assume he spoke to her on VHF radio. Did Gale take a Chesapeake Bay July day to the Canaries??!

Hi, Sorry for the bad quality as I did use a for me strange camera. Gale confirmed that everything was Ok and the only wish at the moment was to get ashore, she expects to be there in three days. I guess she hates the windlessness now. Cheers, Leo ab Iris

Woods Communications, the folks who are filming the documentary about Gale's Transat experiences are taking a crew to Lanzarote & will function as shore crew in addition to doing their filming. Anyone else who can take a jaunt to Puero Callero would be welcome as family problems have scuttled the plans of the team member who originally planned to be there. It is surprising how the repairs, prep, & provisioning work stack up and an extra hand is always welcome.

All for now. Another update on Friday.

Kathy Weber, Project Manager
Gale Browning Ocean Racing
Team US Challenge
kathy@2001minitransat.com