Transat Lead Up
IN BRIEF:
* OPEN 60 SKIPPER JEAN LE CAM ALSO ANNOUNCES WITHDRAWAL OF BONDUELLE…
* FINAL ON-WATER TESTING FOR RACE FLEET AS DEADLINE FOR SAIL TESTING LOOMS…
* TRANSAT RACE VILLAGE PREPARES TO WELCOME TWO HISTORIC BOATS…TABARLY’S PEN DUICK II AND VI…
See the official Omega countdown clock counting down to the 1400hrs start at http://www.thetransat.com
IN DETAIL:
Another sunny day in the Plymouth has seen some of the boats taking part in The Transat head out to sea this afternoon for their final checks. Under race rules 1800hrs today is the final occasion prior to Monday’s start that the boats are allowed to leave the dock.
However, the main news is again focussed on the IMOCA Open 60 Class. Following the withdrawal from The Transat yesterday of Roland Jourdain’s brand new Open 60 Sill, so this afternoon her sistership Bonduelle has also been forced to pull out.
While the withdrawal of Sill was disappointing for Jourdain, the decision for Bonduelle skipper Jean le Cam has been more traumatic still. Sill was forced to pull out of The Transat after experiencing severe cavitation problems with her keel, that the fitting of a newly cast keel bulb last week failed to solve. In contrast Bonduelle has retired despite to date having experienced no keel issues.
“We never had a problem with Bonduelle, but exactly the same boat did have a problem, so we don’t want to take the risk,” commented designer Marc Lombard. “It is something that is very nasty and which never happens on sailing boats. It is something you find on aircraft bombers and is called ‘fluttering’. But we are not even sure it is exactly this problem because it is very difficult to analyse.”
With uncertainty over their boat’s reliability, Jean le Cam in conjunction with his sponsor Bonduelle have announced their retirement from the Transat in order to allow them time to find a solution without endangering skipper and boat and to focus on their primary objective – November’s Vendée Globe.
Their decision comes despite Bonduelle winning her first ever race, the 1000 Milles de Calais, just three weeks ago. The team point out that this race was held in light conditions and Bonduelle has yet to sail in the heavier conditions in which Sill experienced the severe vibration. Lombard says on Sill the vibration in the keel occurred when the boat was sailing in excess of 20 knots.
Aside from the technical issues competing in The Transat was thought to be essential if le Cam was to comply with the qualification requirements for the Vendée Globe. Denis Horeau, the new Race Director of the Vendée Globe says that a new Notice of Race for the non-stop single-handed round the world race will be published this coming Tuesday and will include details of the qualification procedure for his race. There is a possibility this will allow Sill and Bonduelle to qualify by sailing their own ‘race’ as was allowed for Javier Sanso and Bernard Stamm prior to the Vendée Globe four years ago.
Fifteen IMOCA Open 60 boats will now take to the start line of The Transat on Monday, 31st May starting at 1400hrs amongst a fleet of 37 boats in total.
The Transat race this year is the 40th anniversary of the late Eric Tabarly winning the second OSTAR. Tabarly won not only the 1964 event but subsequently was the first person to win it for a second time when he competed on board his maxi Pen Duick VI in 1976. Tabarly single-handedly was responsible for the generating interest in the sport of single-handed offshore racing in France and is the reason why France is the dominant force in this sport and 26 of the 38 entries in The Transat are French.
To celebrate the great man and his historic victories this both Pen Duick II, his 1964 winner and the Pen Duick VI will be arriving in Plymouth tomorrow and will be present at the start of The Transat. Pen Duick II, is normally based at the French Ecole Nationale de Voiles in Quiberon, while Tabarly’s famous maxi is based in Lorient and is part of the Pen Duick Academie, a charitable association that aims to preserve the history and philosophy of Tabarly.
The 44ft ketch Pen Duick II was the first purpose-built boat to win the OSTAR (as The Transat was known) and included unusual features such as an internal steering position and a ‘fishbowl’ in the deck through which to see. However, Pen Duick VI was not designed to be sailed single-handed. Prior to the 1976 OSTAR Tabarly had raced his maxi around the world with a crew of 18 in the Whitbread Round the World Race. To handle a boat of this size single-handed, let alone win the OSTAR, was a superhuman feat.
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