Around The World Of Sailing

The Transat: Several OCS

AN ADRENALIN-PUMPING TRANSAT START FOR THE 37 SKIPPERS IN LIVELY CONDITIONS...

* NUMBER OF BOATS OVER THE LINE AT THE START RESULTING IN TIME PENALTIES...

* YVES PARLIER'S RADICAL CATAMARAN A LATE STARTER ALONG WITH ALAIN GAUTIER'S FONCIA...

* MICHEL DESJOYEAUX (GEANT) AND MIKE GOLDING (ECOVER) REACH EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE FIRST IN THEIR CLASSES TO CLAIM OMEGA SEAMASTER PRIZE...

* 'BREAKING NEWS' NOW LIVE FOLLOW THE ENTIRE RACE VIA THIS POP-UP WINDOW THAT UPDATES AUTOMATICALLY...

* FLEET APPROACHING LIZARD (SEE IMAGE DOWNLOAD) BEFORE HEADING OUT INTO NORTH ATLANTIC AND 2800 MILE RACE TO BOSTON...

See the official Omega clock showing race time http://www.thetransat.com

IN DETAIL:

Grey skies, rain that varied from drizzle to torrential and a brisk 20 knot wind were the conditions the 37 competitors taking part in The Transat enjoyed as the historical single-handed race the 'wrong way' across the North Atlantic got underway at 1400BST today from Plymouth Sound.

The first casualty prior to the start was Yves Parlier's new catamaran Médiatis Région Aquitaine who returned to port at 1230 her skipper reporting that there was a problem with his boat's autopilot system. Some water had seeped into the electrics, but after 20 minutes of intense work by Parlier's shore team, the radical catamaran was heading out to the race course again.

Also before the start Alain Gautier's Foncia was forced to return to Plymouth Yacht Haven with a broken fitting in her rudder system. This was rapidly fixed by her shore team who sent her on her way at 1640.

Watched by a sizeable spectator fleet braving the bleak conditions, the fleet started simultaneously, but on a line divided in three with the ORMA 60 multihulls the furthest east, the IMOCA Open 60 monohulls in the middle and the 50s westernmost, close to Penlee Point. Marking the divide between ORMA and IMOCA fleets was the Committee Boat, the Royal Navy's HMS Tyne. From on board here the start gun was fired by Omega ambassador, Anna Kournikova accompanied by the 2000 monohull winner Ellen MacArthur who had taken the Russian tennis star and sailing earlier this morning.

Hot competition in the monohull fleet saw five boats over the line prior to the start including Conrad Humphreys on Hellomoto and Nick Moloney on Skandia. The first non-premature starter was Swiss Around Alone race winner Bernard Stamm sailing Cheminees Poujoulat-Armor Lux.

Meanwhile on the multihull start line Marc Guillemot's Gitana X was penalised for a start line infringement and the first boats legally across were race favourites Franck Cammas' Groupama and Vendée Globe winner Michel Desjoyeaux on Geant.

The first mark of the course was the Eddystone Light eight miles south of the start line. Despite a lightning performance by Marc Guillemot's Gitana X she was beaten to the Eddystone by Michel Desjoyeaux's Geant. Gitana X was forced to stop off the Eddystone for 40 minutes as penalty for her premature start.

Among the Open 60 monohulls there was a breakneck fight between New Zealand skipper Mike Sanderson on Pindar AlphaGraphics and Mike Golding's Ecover. In the end Golding edged ahead by a nose and was first round. Like Desjoyeaux, Golding wins an Omega Seamaster watch for arriving first in his class. Omega will be awarding watches to the skipper who sets the 24-hour record and to each class winner on arrival in Boston.

Since the start race veteran Mike Birch has chosen to bring his boat back into Plymouth to make repairs to his autopilot. The sistership to his trimaran Nootka, Great American II of Boston-based skipper Rich Wilson has also returned with a broken main halyard.

The latest positions show Michel Desjoyeaux's Geant leading the multihulls and Mike Sanderson on Pindar AlphaGraphics first in the monohulls.

Hellomoto OCS

At 1400 hrs BST today under Bank Holiday heavy rain and overcast skies, HELLOMOTO took pole position amongst the 15 strong fleet of Open 60 monohulls at start of the 2,800 mile Transat race. With 2 reefs in the mainsail and staysail set in a gusty 22 knot south westerly, skipper Conrad Humphreys drove HELLOMOTO upwind through the 4 metre swell to cross at the pin end of the line ahead of all his rivals in a fighting manoeuvre to win the start.

Conrad remained in the top 5 of the pack as they headed out towards Eddystone Lighthouse 9 miles offshore, however, moments later the Race Organisation declared that HELLOMOTO was one of 5 Open 60’s which were in fact declared over the line (OCS) at the start. Along with Skandia (Moloney), Pro-Form (Thiercelin), UUDS (Laurent) and PRB (Riou), HELLOMOTO incurred a 20 minute penalty and had to remain stationary for this penalty time in a ‘box’ area off the Lighthouse. It was Mike Golding in Ecover who rounded the Eddystone first, followed closely by Mike Sanderson on Pindar.

Talking just after the start at 1545 hrs GMT, Conrad was frustrated but still really positive. “I thought I might have been early but PRB & Pro-From were on the pace so I hauled in the sails to get up speed for the line. I must have been a fraction over as I thought it looked okay on the line. It’s all very well being a glory boy for one second but this OCE cost me more than 20 minutes as the wind shifted an hour after the start and so the boats up front got a jump down the course. The wind has veered to the West, we’re hard on the wind towards Falmouth and I’ll tack soon to lay The Lizard, which is 25m away.”

Conrad will now be heading upwind in increasingly heavier squalls and big seas to a waypoint position approximately 5 miles off The Lizard before heading out into the North Atlantic. Conrad expects a very tactical 72 hours of racing after the start with plenty of sail changes and is concentrating on staying awake in the busy shipping lanes and remaining on the right side of any wind shifts. The first day or two will be raced in classic Transat conditions and Conrad will be analysing closely the complex weather pattern which is forecast in order to plot the best route.

Positions at 1500 GMT

1 Pindar – 2721m DTF
2 Skandia – 0.9m behind leader
3 PRB – 1.4m behind leader
11 HELLOMOTO – 7 miles behind leader

HELLOMOTO positions will be posted on the new Race Console section launched from the homepage from tomorrow morning Tuesday 1st June.

This morning at Plymouth Yacht Haven, Conrad was in a very confident and relaxed mood, going around all the Open 60 boats to wish the other skippers a safe race and give them a miniature bottle of Plymouth Gin to sustain them on their voyage to Boston. At 1000 hrs sharp, he said his final farewells after completing last minute interviews with television crews, and slipped the docklines first of all the boats. Out on the water 150 boats watched the race start itself, and many were supporting our local skipper as he left his home port on his first solo Open 60 race.

“I am really looking forward to getting out there and racing, the last few months have been incredibly busy in preparing HELLOMOTO and myself for this race, and we've been successful in our mission to be on this start line ready and prepared. So thank you to everyone, especially my shore team, for all the hard work.”

WEATHER POINT – see The Transat web site for more details

The south west to westerly winds this afternoon and overnight will create difficult and slow progress upwind for their first night at sea. Wind speeds of up to 18 to 24 knots are expected ahead of the rain, although they should ease off to between 12 and 16 knots as the wind veers to the south west in the afternoon. The good news is that winds shall continue to veer overnight, as a ridge of high pressure builds behind the front and pushes the low to the east of the UK. West to north westerly winds of 14 to 20 knots can be expected by the early hours of Tuesday morning. The boats shall use the WNW wind to make ground to the west, to reach the south westerly winds on the western side of the ridge.

The Transat: Pre Start Report

IN BRIEF:

* CAUTION AT THE START FOR THE 37 SKIPPERS FACING A LARGE SPECTATOR FLEET AND DIFFICULT WEATHER CONDITIONS...

* OMEGA AMBASSADOR ANNA KOURNIKOVA TO OFFICIALLY START THE TRANSAT AT 1400 BST...

* 'BREAKING NEWS' GOES LIVE TOMORROW AT 1200 FOLLOW THE START AND ENTIRE RACE VIA THIS POP-UP WINDOW THAT UPDATES AUTOMATICALLY...

See the official Omega countdown clock counting down to the 1400hrs start at http://www.thetransat.com

IN DETAIL:

CAUTION AT THE START:
With under twenty-four hours to the start of The Transat 2004 race, all 37 competitors are studying weather formations on the American coast in an attempt to maximise their use of the low pressure systems rolling eastwards across the North Atlantic - a scenario that Mike Golding, skipper of Open 60 Ecover described as: "Not uninspiringly nasty." The analysis of various weather models will influence any early tactics and the projected course of the yachts and Golding remarked that the current weather "presents the fleet with lots of options...a perfect platform for the start of The Transat."

Will the skippers head north after clearing Lands End - the western extremity of mainland Britain - and benefit from the easterly winds spinning anti-clockwise around the upper edge of the depression, or will any decisions be moderated by the likely area of tricky and variable conditions found between Monday's low pressure system and the next depression? Conrad Humphreys, skipper on 60ft monohull, Hellomoto, expects a very tactical, initial 72 hours of racing: "I'm concentrating on staying awake and remaining on the right side of any [wind] shifts."

The semi-static, mid-Atlantic 'Azores High' system is predicted to influence any conditions between the low pressure systems and is expected to bring NW winds, backing to SW, from 3-15 knots and a successful interpretation of the additional affects of this ridge of high pressure will be vital to all skippers. Nick Moloney, Australian skipper of 60ft monohull Skandia, expects to meet the ridge early on Wednesday morning: "The ridge is a major focus for me. The conditions are going to be fresh, but not out-of-control fresh." Although the start conditions off Plymouth are of immediate importance and a predicted southwest breeze of 15-20 knots seems almost definite Moloney is cautious about the start: "A collision at the start would be really demoralising and sustaining damage early on would be devastating," adding "I'll be more than happy when we open-up and start to divide."

There will be a large number of vessels present near the start line between Penlee Point and Stadden Heights at 1400 BST tomorrow to watch the fleet begin their transatlantic challenge and Moloney is wise to be cautious; in the 1980 edition of this race (then called the OSTAR), American competitor Tom Grossman on 56ft trimaran Kriter VII, left the helm and went below to fetch his stop-watch minutes before the start and collided with a Spanish yacht entered in the race. Grossman returned to Plymouth and - after some hasty fibreglass repairs - restarted the race and finished 10th overall.

OMEGA AMBASSADOR ANNA KOURNIKOVA TO START RACE:
As one of the official calendar events of the Entente Cordiale's 100th anniversary, The Transat start line will be marked by the Royal Navy's HMS Tyne and her counterpart from the French Navy. There is just one start line for the the entire fleet divided into three zones for the ORMA 60 class, IMOCA Open 60 class and the 50ft class. Omega ambassador and tennis star, Anna Kournikova, will officially start The Transat at 1400 BST from the HMS Tyne to send the 37 skippers off on their 2800 mile solo race to Boston. The fleet will cross the start line and pass the Eddystone Lighthouse to starboard (the first skipper to pass the Eddystone Lighthouse will be rewarded with an Omega Seamaster watch) and then head west to a waypoint position approximately five miles off The Lizard before heading out into the North Atlantic bound for Boston. If any of the boats incur any damage, the skippers are permitted to return to Plymouth for up to three days after the start to make repairs.

Bostonian ready for lone Atlantic voyage home

The Wells Fargo - American Pioneer yacht will hoist its sails and take off on the grueling 3,000-mile Transat race today when the fleet of 37 high-tech racing yachts are signaled by tennis ace Anna Kournikova at 14:00 local time. Today’s launch marks the first time in history that this classic transatlantic solo yacht race will land in Boston, Massachusetts, making it particularly significant for American Joe Harris as he will be racing home. It will also mark Harris’ very first attempt at a solo transoceanic voyage.

The Transat’s international fleet of solo sailors will begin their grueling journey from England to America in the waters directly off the Plymouth breakwater, crossing an invisible line marked by the HMS Tyne from the British Royal Navy and a French Royal Navy ship. The sailors will head west to the Eddystone Lighthouse, which must be kept to starboard, and then on to round a mandatory waypoint five miles off The Lizard, the most southerly point on mainland Britain. From there they head directly into the vast and challenging North Atlantic.

Joe Harris will skipper the 50-foot Wells Fargo – American Pioneer yacht through its rigors of crossing the fierce North Atlantic. He has created quite a partnership with the vessel, having lived and slept aboard her for 22 of the last 60 days. Wells Fargo-American Pioneer is designed for fast, rough, hard sailing. It is the most powerful open-class yacht ever designed by famed French naval architect, Jean-Marie Finot. The yacht has reached speeds of more than 30 knots and covered 345 miles in a 24-hour solo run, the fastest ever aboard a 50-foot monohull.

“I am preparing for the task at hand and it is easy to get psyched out,” said Joe Harris as he made final preparations to the boat in Plymouth. “I am trying to stay focused on weather and routing strategy. My family has been here for the last few days and their support has been wonderful. From here on out systems are a go.”

Joe Harris is married to portfolio manager and working mom Kimberley and has two young sons, Griffin, 6, and Emmett, 8 months, who reside in Hamilton, Massachusetts. As Harris races across the Atlantic to the finish line, he finds comfort in knowing that his family, friends and colleagues will be there in Boston Harbor to greet him after 3,000 miles alone.

This year’s Transat event is the largest professional fleet of racers that the race has ever seen. Divided into classes based on boat configuration, the race includes the radical ORMA 60s (trimarans), IMOCA 60s (monohulls) and 50-foot class (both monohulls and multihulls). Harris is competing in the 50-foot monohull class and faces tough competition from fellow American Kip Stone. Sailing a brand new Open-50 racing yacht called Artforms, Stone has just completed a rigorous training schedule sailing her nearly half-way around the globe to the start line. Like Harris, Stone has been largely working in an office for the last dozen years and this race marks his first foray into the pro racing environment. The competition is certain to be fierce amongst these two characters – Harris with an older proven steed and Stone on a brand new thoroughbred.

The Transat race began in 1960 and is held every four years. This year’s race marks the 41st anniversary of what has become the largest and oldest of extreme solo sailing competitions, attracting some of the most well-known, highly regarded sailors.

To follow Joe across the Atlantic and to get daily updates from the Wells Fargo-American Pioneer yacht, please visit www.gryphonsolo.com. Joe will be feeding the site with diary entries and photos taken aboard the yacht. Graphic depictions and footage of Joe and his adventures at sea are available upon request.

The Transat: 37 Starters

IN BRIEF:

* SAFETY CHECKS OF TRANSAT RACE FLEET COMPLETED AT 1800 YESTERDAY...ALL 37 BOATS CLEARED FOR RACE START ON MONDAY, 31ST AT 1400HRS

* FINAL CHECKS TO CLS ARGOS BEACONS THAT WILL PROVIDE TRACKING DATA THROUGHOUT THE RACE...

* CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION AS CONRAD HUMPHREY'S HELLOMOTO IS CHRISTENED...

* NICK MOLONEY & MIKE SANDERSON BRING AN 'ANTIPODEAN' ELEMENT TO A RACE PREDOMINANTLY DOMINATED BY EUROPEAN SAILORS...

* SEE THE DAILY SAIL'S FORM GUIDE FOR THE OPEN 60 CLASS PUTTING MIKE GOLDING ON ECOVER IN POLE POSITION
http://www.thedailysail.com

See the official Omega countdown clock counting down to the 1400hrs start at http://www.thetransat.com

IN DETAIL:

At this morning's 07:30 UTC race organisation meeting, the head of the team from UNCL, Sylvie Viant, confirmed that she is entirely satisfied with the yachts entered in The Transat and has declared all multihulls and monohulls fit to race. In compliance with the race organisation's rigid safety standards, all yachts activated their CLS Argos MAR YX beacons yesterday afternoon and checks to ensure that the satellite tracking system is operative will continue today. UNCL are currently testing all the competitor's Iridium satellite telephones to test the network's effectiveness and ensure that all 37 competitors entered in The Transat are able to communicate with the race office.

All the yachts entered in the race are now restricted to the marina at Plymouth Yacht Haven and any further test sailing is now forbidden. As all the yachts are now static, the marina's staff had a busy day on the pontoons as spectators and visitors flock to witness this extraordinary collection of high powered race boats. The christening of Conrad Humphrey's Motorola-backed Open 60 Hellomoto this afternoon provided a spectacle for spectators. Denied any opportunity for test sailing, all the competitors attended a skippers briefing at 08:30 UTC - possibly the last time they will assemble en-masse until the yachts meet on the start line at 14:00 UTC on Bank Holiday Monday.

THE ANTIPODEANS:

They may both be two of only four countries ever to have won the America's Cup over its 153 year history, but historically New Zealand and Australia have generated precious few top single-handed ocean racers.

This looks set to change through the participation of Nick Moloney and Mike Sanderson in the Open 60 class in The Transat. While the traditional French route into the ultimate solo sailing class is graduating up through smaller boats like the Figaro and Mini, both Moloney and Sanderson both have backgrounds in the elite realms of fully crewed racing - offshore in the Volvo Ocean Race and inshore in the America's Cup.

Sanderson in particular has excelled in both disciplines, winning the 1993/4 round the world race as part of Grant Dalton's New Zealand Endeavour crew and coming second with Dalton four years later. During the last America's Cup he held the responsible position of mainsheet trimmer on Oracle BMW Racing making it to the final of the Challenger series. However, while he is one of the world's top sailors when it comes to fully crewed racing, single-handing a boat of a size that he is more used to sailing with a crew of 13 presents an entirely new challenge.

In fully crewed racing each person on board has a specific role and their skills compliment others in the crew to form a team. Single-handing, the skipper is the team and must perform all the roles - steering, trim, manoeuvring the boat, navigating, doing the met, while at the same time finding time to sleep, eat and drink.

Sleep deprivation is usually the principle concern of those tackling solo offshore racing for the first time, but Sanderson doesn't think this will be his main issue. "My problem will be sending myself to bed even though I am not really comfortable with how it is all going. What will be tough is when there is 40 knots of wind and you should be steering. But you aren't going to make it if you drive all the way to Boston."

His main fear is what his result will be. "I haven't been lying awake about the sleep or the food. I worry about putting on a good show mainly for Pindar AlphaGraphics having put up the money and the guys who've been working all hours for this."

For The Transat Sanderson has taken over the helm of the Open 60 Pindar Alphagraphics from Emma Richards. Winner of the 50ft class in the race four years ago, Richards has retired from single-handed ocean racing. She has been helping him with some of the techniques specific to solo offshore racing.

"I did the qualifier and I've done a couple of overnighters on my own and then we've done quite a lot where we've gone out with four of us but I do the manoeuvres on my own. Emma has taught me lots of things, but we are so different in size that we end up doing things differently."

As to how he sees his performance in The Transat, Sanderson says Pindar Alphagraphics is narrower than the latest generation boat, but will have his day in the sun. "Lighter airs..downwind. It would be good for me if the race is tricky. If it is a power race or even if it is 30 knots downwind I am under no illusion that I am going to hang on with Bernard Stamm."

Sanderson is also unique among the Open 60 sailors in The Transat that he is not taking part in the Vendée Globe. Instead he and Richards have teamed up and are 100% focussed on getting the funding for a campaign for next year's Volvo Ocean Race.

Nick Moloney is under equal pressure to Sanderson. While Ellen MacArthur now has a new 75ft trimaran for breaking ocean records, Moloney has taken over the reigns of her famous Vendée Globe boat Kingfisher. In MacArthur's hands the boat had the most magnificent of track records - second in the Vendée, first in both The Transat four years ago and the single- handed Route du Rhum in 2002.

Compared to Sanderson, Moloney has now been sailing shorthanded for almost five years, since he acquired and then raced Ellen's boat in the 1999 Mini Transat. On the Open 60 he scored a sixth in the Transat Jacques Vabre and a fifth place in the single-handed return race, the Defi Atlantique.

Over the winter Moloney's team has been busy 'turboing' Skandia. The size of the headsails used on board have all been enlarged and they are now flying masthead spinnakers. Down below has been 'de-Ellenised' with more room to move around, a revised sleeping area and special paint job around his chart table area that mood specialists have told him will engender 'calm'.

He says in the build-up to The Transat he has been out training against Sanderson and is impressed by the Kiwi's speed. "He’s quick as... And he's a very smart sailor and well supported. Mike has participated with it and he’s going to be very strong. And he is a very solid sailor - you can't underestimate his capability."

Among the Open 60s he thinks Ecover and Virbac will be the boats to watch while Sanderson will be the wildcard. "If it were an 18 hour race he'd stay awake, drive the whole way and kick all our butts. But he's never done this before. The fatigue does funny things to your mind and how your body operates and the decisions you make, so it will be interesting to see how we go after five or six days. That will be the telling factor. It doesn't take too many mistakes to break things and then you fall behind with downtime fixing things."

As to why Australia and New Zealand have been so successful in some sides of yacht racing, but not this, Sanderson thinks this could again be as the budgets are of a scale that are unaffordable to New Zealand companies, while Moloney feels that having to move to Europe to race competitively puts off potential Australian competitors.

Things to do: The Transat

Courtesy of the Motorola Ocean Racing Team

In exactly one week's time, our Open 60 HELLOMOTO will be lining up against 16 other competitors for the 2004 Transat. Yesterday afternoon my shore team and I were a few miles off the breakwater in Plymouth Sound testing electronic equipment and making final preparations. I feel calm and at ease with our preparations, in fact so much so that last Sunday morning Vikki (my wife) and a friend donned our frog suits to clean the bottom of the boat and a surprised camera crew commented that it was the first time they had seen a skipper in the water scrubbing his boat – I said we were having a “relaxing” Sunday morning!

Open 60 Hellomoto. She used to be Group 4.

With just a week to go until the start, we would normally be under intense pressure to be ready. This time we have stayed comfortably in control of the programme after an incredible few months of intense activity. A little over three months has passed since we signed a new two-year contract with our long term sponsor, Motorola. In those three months a lot has had to happen. We have secured one of the top flight generation Open 60’s and carried out an extensive refit to improve her performance, built a new team that look after core aspects of the programme from race preparation and communications to finance and logistics. We have a new base here in Plymouth Yacht Haven and several new Plymouth business partners have joined our newly formed Motorola Ocean Racing Team. I'm often asked how do you prepare for a transatlantic race like this? "Self-belief and the courage to take a few risks” is how I often reply.

In a project like this you are often faced with insurmountable mountains to climb and obstacles to clear. I am very lucky to be surrounded by a team of people who just don't see them. "Keeping it simple" is one of our key attributes we all adhere to, and one where I feel we have a distinct advantage over some of our competitors. I have maintained quietly throughout our preparation that my experience in this class is perhaps our biggest opponent. Therefore we have focused on making HELLOMOTO easier to sail and using the power of the yacht more efficiently. Three months ago, I had a wish list for optimising HELLOMOTO that ran over several sheets of A4. The reality is that with just eight weeks to complete a full refit, we tackled just a few key aspects that would greatly increase my ability to race the boat closer to its full potential. If we had taken on too much, I think we would now be running around like a bunch of headless chickens without the resources to be ready. We will continue our optimisation after the Transat, but for now HELLOMOTO sits in Plymouth Yacht Haven ready to race in her seventh transatlantic. Her record is a good one; she has finished every race inside the top three. This year is Vendeé Globe year and we are using this race to qualify. To do that we have to complete the course. This is my primary goal, the result will follow.

Motorola and our new Plymouth partners Vospers Ford, Plymouth Yacht Haven, Yacht Parts Plymouth and Noakes & Habermehl Opticians have given us the chance to raise our game and compete with the very best Open 60 sailors in the world in one of the most exciting and dynamic fleets of grand prix racing yachts to grace our oceans. We would not be here without your generous support. We would not be here at all without some individuals taking a few risks, and as the publics perception of grand prix ocean racing maybe that it is a sport not without risk, let me just say that often the risks taken by skippers and their teams to reach the start line of these historical races sometimes far outweighs the physical risk of the competition. Every skipper has a story to tell about the limits they have gone to just take part in a race as special as this. None of us could have done this without the foundations of a strong team. For me, I am indebted to my wife, Vikki for having the strength to keep believing in me as we push aside the obstacles and keep our dreams on track.

This is my first diary piece for 2004 and it would not be complete without saying thank you to Plymouth for all your support. I’m looking forward to sharing this fantastic adventure with you mile by mile and I hope for those of you in Plymouth that you will visit the race village over the bank-holiday weekend and come and watch the start at 1400hrs on Monday.

In the meantime take a look at your “things to do list” and with a little self-belief and courage make them happen. Conrad

Conrad Humphreys

The Transat: Girl Racer

GIRL RACER : KARINE FAUCONNIER

For boy racers, there are few more gripping experiences on the ocean wave than roaring along in an ORMA trimaran. 60ft long 60ft wide and with their towering 100ft tall wingmasts, these ocean dragsters are capable of sailing at 18 knots upwind, 30+ knots off the wind and are by far the fastest sailing boats of their size. Racing them single-handed without their normal 12 crew is one of the biggest challenges available in yachting.

Among the twelve brave ORMA 60 skippers taking the start line of The Transat on Monday, is a lone woman. Although this will be her first time in The Transat, Karine Fauconnier, 32, is no stranger to the race. Her father Yvon won it in 1984 aboard the 53ft long trimaran Umupro Jardin V and this year the Fauconnier family are celebrating the 20th anniversary of his win.

In 1984 the young Karine was in Newport for the finish of The Transat and helped her father deliver the boat up to Quebec for the start of the Quebec-St Malo race, standing watches despite being just 12 years old.

"It was really wet and really fast and really uncomfortable, but a good boat," says Karine of her time on her father's race winner. "Now it is still wet, still uncomfortable but it is faster. It is less wet at 20 knots than it was before. Then extreme high speed was 20-25 knots and it was really exciting. But now we can go at 35 knots and sometimes you don't even notice it when you are only sailing at 20 knots."

Sixty-foot trimarans such as Fauconnier's Sergio Tacchini are terrifying boats to sail, particularly single-handed. "This boat doesn't accept any mistakes," says Fauconnier. "You cannot have too much sail. You cannot make a steering error. You cannot hit something at 25 knots. You can capsize and not come back like a monohull will with the keel. Anything can very quickly become a big problem."

The skill in racing fast boats single-handed is a complex one. Firstly, skippers must find the correct level of compromise between driving themselves and the boat to the maximum, while maintaining the minimum of risk. Normally in a fully crewed race a boat is pushed to 100%. Single-handed the skipper has to find time to sleep, eat, drink, navigate, look at the weather forecast, communicate with the shore and a multitude of other tasks and whenever they focus on these rather than trimming or steering, the boat will not be sailing at the optimum. "When you are on your own you are tired and you have to rest," says Fauconnier. "Sometimes you have to leave the boat on it's own. So the most frustrating thing is you cannot drive it to the full potential."

For example, on The Transat Fauconnier says that she will survive on two hours sleep each day, although admits four is better, but in a fleet of 12 competitive boats getting that extra two hours is certain to cost her places. While she will be verging on exhaustion, sleep will still be far from easy. Sixty foot trimarans are fast but exceptionally uncomfortable especially upwind in waves when their three hulls can be passing over wave peaks at different times and the whole structure feels like it is shaking itself apart.

There is also the ever present fear that if her autopilot fails while she is asleep her boat could go off course, pick up speed and capsize.

Her energy expenditure is also an issue. Sixty foot trimarans are highly complex boats with foils in their floats, trim tabs on their centreboards, wingmasts that rotate, cant and move fore and aft aside from their numerous sails. While it is possible to handle all this efficiently with a full crew it isn't single-handed. Thus again Fauconnier must prioritise, manoeuvring her boat as quickly as she can on her own and in the fastest but most efficient manner. Sergio Tacchini has been tailored to her size, but she employs a host of techniques to conserve her energy. For example, if she anticipates the wind is going to increase to reduce sail earlier than later when the wind has built.

While Sergio Tacchini is competitive with a full crew how well Fauconnier is able to manage herself on board is likely to have a more profound affect on her result. She has sailed considerable miles single-handed both on Sergio Tacchini and in other classes such as the Beneteau Figaro one design and is well versed in the necessary techniques.

Fauconnier also holds the advantage over her competitors in the ORMA class that, like her father, she is sailing a British designed boat. In this case her boat is the only one in the fleet drawn by Nigel Irens who, with his colleague Benoit Cabaret, has designed every race winner in The Transat since 1988.

http://www.sergiotacchini.com

50 foot sailors Speak

IN BRIEF:

* IDENTICAL BOATS...DIFFERENT APPROACH

* NO APOLOGY BY BRUNEEL FOR TRILOGIC'S SHORT MAST...

* POLAR OPPOSITES IN THE 50FT MONOHULL FLEET...

IN DETAIL:

At 09:00 UTC this morning, a press conference was held onboard the race organisation's hospitality vessel, the square-rigged schooner, Swan Fan Makkum. All ten skippers competing in the 50ft monohull and multihull fleet attended the meeting, as did a large number of journalists from the international press keen to take advantage of the one occasion when these busy skippers will gather en-masse.

During the conference American skippers Rich Wilson (Great American II) and Canada's Mike Birch (Nootka) - both competing on almost identical, Nigel Irens designed trimarans - described how their individual projects differ dramatically in all other respects. Birch, who finished second in the 1976 edition of the race on trimaran The Third Turtle, indicated a lack of comfort with the modern communications available to today's racing yachtsman and reminisced over the earlier race during an era when satellite technology was limited to space programmes and nuclear weapons systems. Fifty-four year old Wilson, by contrast, has fully embraced advances in technology and throughout the race the skipper will be in contact with a number of American educational projects vis his SitesAlive! website while also contributing to a string of US newspapers.
http://www.sitesalive.com

Eric Bruneel, French skipper of Trilogic, is racing the newest of the 50ft multihull fleet - a Joubert-Nivelt/Marc Lombard design launched only last year. Bruneel admits that his yacht has possibly the shortest mast in the fleet but makes no apologies. Expanding on the subject, Bruneel explained that the spar was manufactured when the 2001 Route du Rhum, single-handed race was in progress and, alarmed by the dramatic casualty rate, commented: "Every time another trimaran capsized we cut a metre off the mast!"

Crêpes Whaou! is one of the hotly-tipped 50ft trimarans and her highly experienced, versatile skipper Franck-Yves Escoffier will push the boat as hard as he can to achieve a good result. This will be Escoffier's second Transat and although he will compete on Crêpes Whaou! fully-crewed in the Quebec-St. Malo race and return the yacht to France, this race will be his final, solo race on a yacht he knows well: "She does not like light conditions and I need strong winds to make her fly."

In the 50ft monohull fleet two polar opposite approaches to The Transat became evident during the press conference. French skipper Jacques Bouchacourt rescued his yacht Okami from abandonment in a boatyard in 1999 discovering that the previous owner had run out of funds and commitment shortly after the boat's keel was laid in 1994. Entirely self-funded, Bouchacourt completed the boat's build himself and, armed with a brand-new set of Elveström sails, declared: "I will race the best race I can and when I finish, if there is someone to meet me...it will be good!" Racing against Bouchacourt in Open 50 Wells Fargo-American Pioneer, Joe Harris, a resident of Boston, has no such fears over a quiet reception at the finish. With a well-funded and superbly organised racing project, the American's main concern is his lack of experience in solo, transatlantic racing: "I've competed in a number of Newport-Bermuda races, but these are a milk-run compared to The Transat." With over 25,000 miles of offshore experience, Harris will be an Open 50 to watch.

The Transat: Last Minute Deal

The long, unbroken ten-day period of fine weather conditions in Plymouth finally changed late yesterday (Thursday) afternoon bringing overcast, breezy conditions and the imminent threat of rain. Although the official, local forecast predicts twenty-four hours of heavy rain and around 15 knots of breeze, some members of the local security team hired by the race organisation to patrol Plymouth Yacht Haven using their local knowledge feel that such a bleak outlook is unlikely and that much of the rain will be pushed further north allowing shore crews to continue pre-race preparations relatively unhindered.

Mike Birch, veteran Transat competitor and last minute entry to the race, has just secured a sponsorship deal with Omega - the official principle partner to the race. This will assist the Canadian in paying the race entry fee for his 50 foot trimaran, Nootka. Until yesterday Birch was intending to fund his entry in the race personally.

Yesterday French skipper, Anne Liardet, was given the green light to compete in The Transat race after her Open 60, Quiksilver Edition, underwent a 90š incline test in Corporation Wharf near the race marina - under the IMOCA Class rules all the Open 60's must complete this test. Timing was essential as the dock provides only 4.6 metres of depth at high water and Liardet's yacht draws 4.5 metres, requiring that the test was postponed until high water at 23:00 UTC. One of the race officials conducting the test remarked that this was possibly the first time such a complex examination had been undertaken in pitch darkness. Although, technically, Quiksilver Edition failed the test by a very narrow margin, it was felt that the boat was undoubtedly capable of racing in The Transat and the issue was subsequently put before the other IMOCA skippers in the fleet. After a vote was taken and it was decided that Liardet should be allowed to race; an indication of the esteem and support felt for this experienced, forty-three year old skipper.

Nick Moloney's Sleeping Accomidations

Note: I became intriuged by Nick's formual 1 inspired chair and sleeping accomidations. Offshore Challenges supplied me with images of this new age sleeping system. Nice, but expensive. Nick will test his minimalist accomidations in the Transat.

* After an extensive refit over the last four months Nick Moloney saw his Open
60 'Skandia' exit the boat shed for the water...

* The Open 60 Skandia has undergone many modifications since its last competitive races at the back end of 2003 (the Transat Jacques Vabre, with team mate Sam Davies and the Defi Atlantique solo Vendée Globe qualifier)

* The primary focus is now on The Transat race starting 31st May...a solo race across the North Atlantic battling against the prevailing wind and elements

* Moloney's quest for his ultimate goal is the solo, non-stop round the world Vendée Globe race but there are hurdles to climb in securing necessary backing before Nick can cross that start line...

Visit www.nickmoloney.com for further information

IN DETAIL:

At the Offshore Challenges base at Cowes Waterfront - Venture Quays in East Cowes, skipper Nick Moloney and his shore team gathered to watch as the Open 60 'Skandia' left the boat shed in her new livery to be craned gently into the water. It has been a long four months of hard work for the team following a major refit that has included some big modifications to a boat that was custom-built for Nick's Offshore Challenges team-mate, Ellen MacArthur.

"It was an emotional moment to see this awesome boat - looking just fantastic in her new Skandia colours - leave the boat shed and reach the water where she belongs," said Nick. "The team have done an amazing job and it has been a long slog to get to this stage. We have just completed the first performance re-fit on this boat for over 20 months and are looking forward to the Transat to test the modifications. Our focus has been to gear up for The Transat but we have kept the Vendée Globe clearly in mind which, of course, is our major goal for 2004-2005 and really the major goal in my life."

The quote of the day came from Offshore Challenges Managing Director, Mark Turner: "Here we go again. We must be mad!"

Moloney, along with his shore team headed up by John Hildebrand, have spent many hours working on the modifications to the Open 60. The boat originally built for 5' 4" skipper Ellen MacArthur has undergone a total refit. "I have already raced this boat many times, in the EDS Atlantic Challenge, the two-handed Transat Jacques Vabre and solo in the Defi Atlantique. In fact, I have already sailed this boat the round the world distance already and during that time I imagined the different ways we could modify the boat to suit my build. I have drawn on the experiences of my competitors, friends and past races to assist in the planning and final decision making. I have a great deal to learn and the hundreds of thousands of miles that I have already raced on various boats in the past do not really reflect the demands and stresses of this final challenge."

How Nick Will Sleep

The modifications have included:

* Increasing overall sail area both upwind and downwind in order to make the boat more powerful.

* Moving furniture below deck in order to make the whole internal living area more comfortable and practical for my leg length and height, especially in the nav centre.

* Altered various features like the orientation of the grinding pedestal to create better ergonomics and larger winches for faster manoeuvres. Changing the navigational seat which is based on a Formula 1 racing car seat that can rotate, recline and move across a semi-circle track spanning the nav table.

The Racing Car Seat

* New simplified electronics, navigation, media and comms system.

"I believe that we have taken a healthy step forward in our fight against weight aloft and overall drag for better efficiency. We have gone to great lengths to assist my mental well being whilst enduring the demands of solo racing with visions of sustaining high tempo for around 95 days during the Vendée Globe. The placement of many items have been relocated to save unnecessary effort thus burning less energy. More comfort for better results from 15 minute cat naps and resting periods and a reclining racing car seat that allows me to sleep feet forward which is better for body and mind when sailing through regions of known debris in the water like logs off Brazil and ice in the Southern Ocean. We have even researched a mood colour to paint the chart table and nav center. The colour does not complement our sponsors branding but it has been decided upon after three independent sources looking into a colour that will help the boat feel warm in the South and assist any possible mood swings throughout the emotional roller coaster that comes with endurance ocean racing, alone and fighting fatigue," concluded Moloney.

The Open 60 will be officially launched on 17th May in London before heading to Plymouth for the start of The Transat. Prior to this the boat's mast will be stepped this week before Nick starts an extensive boat testing period before his compulsory 750 mile qualification for the solo transatlantic race.

Nick@ Nav Station

Moloney's ultimate and final offshore sailing goal is to race in the Vendée Globe will be a culmination of three goals he set himself in 1995 after his second Americas Cup; to race with a crew around the world (1997-98 Whitbread on board Toshiba) and to be part of a crew attempting to set a non-stop round the world Jules Verne record which was achieved in 2002 when the giant catamaran Orange' setting a record of 64 days, 8 hours and 37 minutes, 24 seconds.

Nick's sleeping demo

Women's Championships Day 2 Analysis

After 2 days Yale has taken the lead by 8 points over Navy. This means on Day 2 Yale gained a total of 18 points to take 1st from Navy.

Yale's A team gained 12 of the points. In race 8 they were 1st with Navy 9th taking 8 points. Yale's B squad finished 3 places ahead of Navy in each of the last 2 races, gaining 6 points for the day.

Stanford moved up to 3rd place while ODU which had been in 3rd dropped to 11th.

Hawaii despite winning races in both divisions sits in 5th.

Michigan State's B team of Laura Schmidt '06\Erin Holcomb '07 were 4th in B division race 8. This is the highest finish by a MCSA team.

Linky Sailing News

Racing Spa Regatta, Foerster/Burnham lead 470, Galliard 6th

News It's been a bad day

Great Lakes Sundew arrives

College Sailing Women's Nationals Day 2. The final schools we preivew are Texas which qualified for co-ed dinghies + Brown (2nd at NEISA elims) and Eckerd (2nd in district elims)which will compete in team racing.

Women's Championships Day 2

2004 NA Women's Championships
Gerald C. Miller Trophy
May 26-28, 2004

7:58 PM 5-27-04
PROTESTS PENDING

Thursday:
The day started with light rain and no wind, followed by more light rain and still no wind. Sailors stayed busy playing cards, Frisbee and constructing vehicles out of dollies and racing them down the hill. Sailing finally started with B division at 4:35. Conditions were raining and breeze was 5-10 knots from the west for the first race, with lighter wind for the second one. A division’s first race had light winds also from the west. A’s second race started with a general recall and then the wind picked up to 10-12 knots. B headed back out for 2 more races in similar conditions. B division sailed 4 races, A sailed 2, bringing both to a total of 8 races sailed in the event.
Standings are tight, with Yale taking the lead from Navy, but only leading by 8 points. The fleet is close with places 3-11 separated by only 28 points. Friday should be an exciting day of racing with just over half of the races left to sail. Racing resumes Friday, with report time at 9AM and racing starting at 9:45.

A division = 8 Races
B division = 8 Races
A B TOT

1. Yale University 42 35 77
2. US Naval Academy 45 40 85
3. Stanford 66 42 108
4. Dartmouth College 59 53 112
5. U. of Hawaii 56 59 115
6. Harvard 63 55 118
7. Connecticut College 64 56 120
8. Tufts 49 76 125
9. Georgetown 60 71 131
10. Boston College 48 84 132
11. Old Dominion 54 81 135
12. Charleston 85 69 154
13. Hobart William Smith 76 96 172
14. U. of Washington 102 96 198
15. U. of Wisconsin 127 111 238
16. TAMUG 120 126 246
17. Michigan State 132 119 251
18. U. of Michigan 121 131 252

A division = 8 Races
TOT
1. Yale University 42 Molly Carapiet '06\Jenn Hoyle '05
Julie Papanek '05
2. US Naval Academy 45 Alexa Bestoso '04\Monica Meese '05
3. Boston College 48 JulieWilson '05\ Jen Doyle '05
Lizz McAlpine'06
4. Tufts 49 AJ Crane'04\Kristin Tysell '04
Gretchen Curtis '07
5. Old Dominion 54 Anna Tunnicliffe '05\Christabelle Fernandez '05
6. U. of Hawaii 56 Jennifer Warnock '05\Shandy Buckley'07
Cassie Harris '07\Blaire Ladd '06
7. Dartmouth College 59 Lauren Padilla '05\Liz Hyon '05
Clementine James '05
8. Georgetown 60 Derby Anderson '06\Barbara Hall '05
9. Harvard 63 Genny Tulloch '06\Laura Schubert '05
Diana Rodin '04, Clemmie Everett '04
10. Connecticut College 64 Amanda Clark '05/Amanda Calkins '05
Erin Riley '06
11. Stanford 66 Jennifer Porter '04\Anna Vu '06
Liz Shearer '04
12. Hobart William Smith 76 Mora O'Malley '04\Kate Brush '07
Emlie Barkow '05
13. Charleston 85 Alana O'Reilly '06\Emily Qualey '04
14. U. of Washington 102 Hayley Siegenthaler '07\Laurel Siegenthaler '07
15. TAMUG 120 Robin Roger '05\Maureen Frerichs '06
Kristen Coons '06
16. U. of Michigan 121 Christina Falcone '07\Meredith Cochran '07
Katie DeWitt '07
17. U. of Wisconsin 127 Anne Porter '05\Kari Sachs '04
Anna Bargren '07
18. Michigan State 132 Mary Vorel '05\Jaime Ziegler '04
Meghan Walter '06

B division = 8 Races
TOT
1. Yale University 35 Emily Hill '07\Meghan Pearl '06
Sarah Himmelfarb '06
2. US Naval Academy 40 Katherine Whitman '07\Lindsey Magee '07
Catherine Long '07
3. Stanford 42 Liz Rountree '06\Julie Pitts '05
Margia Corner '04
4. Dartmouth College 53 Emily East '06\Amo Loring '04
Allison Swindell '04
5. Harvard 55 Sloan Devlin '06\Mallory Greimann '06
6. Connecticut College 56 Emily Whipple '06\Kate Bogart '05
E. Anderson'07, K. Barton '05, E. Colburn '06
7. U. of Hawaii 59 Renee DiCurtis'05\B.J. Clausen '07
Sarah Reed '04
8. Charleston 69 Sara Wilkinson '04\Elizabeth McCarthy '05
9. Georgetown 71 Eliza Ryan '04\Emilie Lincoln '04
10. Tufts 76 Lindsay Shanholt '05\Katie Shuman '04
11. Old Dominion 81 Maureen Castruccio '06\Cara Gibbons-Neff '04
Cara DiSanti '07
12. Boston College 84 Maura Winston '06\Joy MacDougall '05
Leland McManus '06
13. U. of Washington 96 Kim Kishi '04\Heather Baird '06
14. Hobart William Smith 96 Augusta Nadler '06\Emlie Barkow '05
Alexis Rubin '04
15. U. of Wisconsin 111 Kelly Ferron '06\Christina Weber '04
Elizabeth Prange '07
16. Michigan State 119 Laura Schmidt '06\Erin Holcomb '07
Jaime Ziegler '04
17. TAMUG 126 Jen Cate '05\Amber Tull '06
Julie Svaton '05
18. U. of Michigan 131 Caitlin Delphin '06\Erin Burke '06
Lisa Vandenboussche '07

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 TOT
1
Yale University A 5 7 10 2 1 12 4 1 42
B 1 4 3 7 3 8 3 6 35
6 17 30 39 43 63 70 77 77

2
US Naval Academy A 7 1 5 4 4 7 8 9 45
B 6 1 5 2 8 3 6 9 40
13 15 25 31 43 53 67 85 85

3
Stanford A 11 10 13 12 3 1 6 10 66
B 2 2 10 9 7 5 2 5 42
13 25 48 69 79 85 93 108 108

4
Dartmouth College A 2 12 6 7 6 5 13 8 59
B 14 7 8 1 1 10 4 8 53
16 35 49 57 64 79 96 112 112

5
U. of Hawaii A 12 5 1 14 13 4 1 6 56
B 12 6 1 DNF 6 6 8 1 59
24 35 37 70 89 99 108 115 115

6
Harvard A 3 4 15 8 7 DSQ 5 2 63
B 8 3 13 DNF 2 2 1 7 55
11 18 46 73 82 103 109 118 118

7
Connecticut College A 8 11 4 5 2 10 12 12 64
B 3 13 2 3 5 11 7 12 56
11 35 41 49 56 77 96 120 120

8
Tufts A 4 2 2 3 8 8 18 4 49
B OCS 12 6 10 9 4 5 11 76
23 37 45 58 75 87 110 125 125

9
Georgetown A 9 9 3 10 11 6 9 3 60
B 5 11 14 11 12 7 9 2 71
14 34 51 72 95 108 126 131 131

10
Boston College A 6 6 7 9 10 3 2 5 48
B 11 14 9 DNF 16 1 11 3 84
17 37 53 81 107 111 124 132 132

11
Old Dominion A 10 3 11 1 5 2 7 15 54
B 4 9 4 5 18 14 10 17 81
14 26 41 47 70 86 103 135 135

12
Charleston A 14 16 9 6 17 13 3 7 85
B 9 5 7 4 4 13 13 14 69
23 44 60 70 91 117 133 154 154

13
Hobart William Smith A 1 8 12 11 9 11 10 14 76
B 13 10 15 8 10 12 18 10 96
14 32 59 78 97 120 148 172 172

14
U. of Washington A 13 15 8 15 16 9 15 11 102
B 7 15 11 6 11 16 17 13 96
20 50 69 90 117 142 174 198 198

15
U. of Wisconsin A 16 17 14 17 15 15 16 17 127
B 10 8 17 DNF 17 9 15 16 111
26 51 82 118 150 174 205 238 238

16
TAMUG A 17 13 17 18 14 14 11 16 120
B 18 18 12 DNF 15 17 12 15 126
35 66 95 132 161 192 215 246 246

17
Michigan State A 18 18 18 16 18 17 14 13 132
B 16 17 16 DNF 13 18 16 4 119
34 69 103 138 169 204 234 251 251

18
U. of Michigan A 15 14 16 13 12 16 17 18 121
B 17 16 18 DNF 14 15 14 18 131
32 62 96 128 154 185 216 252 252

Bostonian to Solo Home

Joe Harris has sailed since the young age of four, yet he has never crossed the horizon alone with the daunting task of traversing an ocean. On Monday, May 31, as we kick-back for a picnic on Memorial Day in the United States, Joe Harris will be taking a large step forward in his life aboard Wells Fargo-American Pioneer, to accomplish a dream of sailing solo around the globe. The Transat race is Harris’ first hurdle in a marathon goal to compete in the next 5-Oceans event, a grueling solo sprint around the world in 2006-7. He will be cutting his teeth in an elite arena of the world’s best solo sailors, with 37 pros on a course that spans the chilly North Atlantic, a region known for brutal winds often exceeding 50 knots and littered with icebergs. The Transat starts at 14:00 local time on Monday, May 31 in Plymouth, England and ends 3,000 miles to the southwest in Boston, Massachusetts – Harris’ home town.

How does one prepare for their first solo ocean passage in such a competitive environment?

“This is no impulse voyage,” said Harris. “More than four years ago, I saw the opportunity to begin my planning and prep for The Transat. I purchased an Aerodyne 38 and started using her as a trial horse with dozens of solo and short-handed sails. I then prepurchased Brad Van Liew’s winning Open-50 race boat as he finished the Around Alone and recruited Brad for some offshore training, his wife for sponsorship and PR, and a top notch shore support team for the boat. I also began training with Dr. Claudio Stampi on sleep deprivation and Ken Campbell at Commander’s Weather on weather analysis. In my mind I am taking a calculated risk with all the best training and preparation that one can attain in this unpredictable and risky sport.”

Harris’ realistic view and impeccable planning are no surprise coming from a real estate financier, Brown University grad, MBA and Chief Financial Officer. He has spent 13 years honing his skills in the boardroom negotiating multi-million dollar real estate deals. Now he will face a new test of survival skills at sea, alone. As a solo sailor Harris will have to fulfill the role of helmsman, navigator, communicator, sail trimmer, electrician, cook, repairman, and weather analyst.

The lifestyle onboard is extremely challenging. Harris will sleep in mini-naps of twenty-minutes and dine on AlpineAire dehydrated food. He will download satellite weather imagery using Iridium services with Telenor equipment, and analyze his performance using Raymarine instruments and software. The racecourse is sure to bring challenges that Harris has never faced before, but he has his eyes wide open to the battle ahead.

“No job is too small,” said Harris. “No job is too big. People have said that getting to the start line of a major solo race is the hardest part, and I now understand their remarks. I’ll be able to tell you in a couple weeks if the statement is true.”

To follow Joe across the Atlantic and to get daily updates from the Wells Fargo-American Pioneer yacht, please visit www.gryphonsolo.com. Joe will be feeding the site with diary entries and photos taken aboard the yacht. Photos and video are available upon request.

The Transat

In The Transat race each sailor skippers his or her craft alone from Plymouth, England to Boston, Massachusetts. The race is known as the oldest and most prestigious solo sailing race in the world and only the most serious sailors with the highest proven stamina and mental toughness venture to participate in this extreme challenge. This race is the original, and arguably the toughest of trans-ocean races, taking competitors nearly 3,000 miles upwind across the treacherous, North Atlantic.

Joe Harris

Joe Harris, 44, is an accomplished businessman and experienced sailor who has set his sites on competing in several professional offshore races including the grand task of 5-Oceans, a solo race around the globe previously known as Around Alone. Harris currently holds the position of Chief Financial Officer at New Boston Fund, a $1.5 billion real estate investment and development company. His primary sponsors include Wells Fargo Bank, Goulston & Storrs, and New Boston Fund. He is also a husband and father of two young boys.

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.

Linky Sailing News

Racing Pace's day

News Cayard @ Spa.

Cayard & Trinter at Spa
Photo Peter Bentley

Great Lakes Lake Express damaged

College Sailing Women's Nationals Day 1 Navy leads.St. Mary's & USC will sail team and dinghies while South Florida will compete in dinghies only.

Women's Nationals Day 1

Pace Leads ACI Cup

On a day of predominantly light winds, Bertrand Pacé of France overtook Australian Peter Gilmour for the overall lead at the ACI HTmobile Cup, an event of the Swedish Match Tour.

With Round Robin 1 and the first two flights of Round Robin 2 complete, Pacé leads the event with a 10-2 record.

“It’s still very early,” said a wary Pacé, the slated helmsman of potential America’s Cup syndicate Team France. “There are eight more flights to sail before the semifinals. Anything can happen.”

Sweden’s Magnus Holmberg lies second with a 9-3 record, the same as Gilmour, the Day 1 leader. The two have split their round-robin matches, but Holmberg owns the tiebreaker due to his victory in Round 2 (Flight 13 overall).

Denmark’s Jes Gram-Hansen is fourth with an 8-3 record, and followed by New Zealander Gavin Brady of the Oracle BMW Racing syndicate for the America’s Cup, at 7-5.

Frenchman Mathieu Richard, the world No. 2-ranked match-race skipper, is sixth with a 6-5 record. Team New Zealand’s Kelvin Harrap is 5-7, and owns the tiebreaker for seventh over Sweden’s Mattias Rahm, also at 5-7.

Finland’s Staffan Lindberg, who returned to racing a day after undergoing a procedure to repair a broken facial bone, moved up to ninth with a 3-9 record, followed by Croatians Frano Brate, 2-10, and Mate Arapov, 1-11.

Today’s racing at the 18th annual regatta was held in lighter winds than Day 1. While the Race Committee, led by Alen Kustic and Tonko Petesic, rolled off eight flights and 40 matches yesterday, today they were able to complete just five flights and 25 matches.

Pacé has been on a roll. The champion of the inaugural Swedish Match Tour in 2000 had won six straight races before losing to Gram-Hansen in his final match of the day.

With the west/southwesterly wind down to 6 knots, the Jeanneau One-Design 35s were a bear to handle. The boat’s heavy displacement (8,000 pounds) and short-chord length keel means it side-slips dramatically.

“If you have no speed there’s a lot of leeway,” said Pacé.

That did in Pacé in his match against Gram-Hansen when he hit the pin end at the start.

“There was a lot of tide running,” said Pacé. “We misjudged the layline and the time and distance to the pin. It was a very (crappy) start, to be very clear about it.”

The lighter winds forced a different mode from the crews when compared to yesterday’s 15-knot breeze. Sweden’s Rahm explained that it requires a more tactical mindset than when there’s more pressure.

“You have to be more focused and concentrate harder,” Rahm said.

Rahm relied on a bit of experience in the light winds to help him beat Gilmour in the last flight of Round 1.

“I felt they were similar to last year,” said Rahm, who placed seventh last year. “When the wind dropped in the afternoon, there was a big right-hand shift.”

Anticipating the shift, Rahm opted for a split tack start with Gilmour. He pushed the Aussie toward the pin end, and then tacked to port just before the gun.

The two sailed to opposite corners of the racecourse, and met for the first time at the top of the initial beat.

“When we came together we were ahead by about 100 meters, and that was basically the race,” Rahm said.

After winning his first seven races yesterday, Gilmour stumbled today when he won two of five matches. He lost his first match of the series in today’s first flight, when he faced Gram-Hansen.

With the winds between 3 and 5 knots, Gilmour entered the start box on port and Gram-Hansen on starboard. Former Swedish Match Tour champion (2002-’03) Peter Holmberg feels entering the start box on port in light air is akin to being in jail, and Gilmour found himself penalized for a port-starboard incident with Gram-Hansen when he had no forward momentum.

Gram-Hansen rode a zephyr to Gilmour, who was essentially stopped dead in the water, and lined him up perfectly for the penalty.

Gram-Hansen got a second penalty on Gilmour just after the start of their match, when Gilmour tacked too close in front of the Dane. Forced to perform one of the penalty turns immediately, Gilmour was behind and had little chance of passing in the light winds.

The light winds were welcome by Lindberg. The 32-year-old skipper from Mariehamn, Finland, was knocked to his knees two days ago when hit on the right side of his head by the boom during a practice jibe. Lindberg said he saw stars while on the cockpit floor.

Today, however, the 6-foot, 5-inch tall sailor said he didn’t feel too bad after undergoing surgery yesterday to repair the broken bone. “I feel fine,” Lindberg said. “It doesn’t hurt at all. I have no problems with vision or dizziness.”

Lindberg proved his resiliency by going 3-2 on the day to move up to ninth overall.

Lindberg underwent surgery at the City Hospital of Split to repair the zygomatic arch, the arch of bone that extends along the front or side of the skull beneath the orbit, on the right side of his face.

Dr. Vladimir Ivancev, M.D., the attending physician, explained that the surgeon, Dr. Pavicic, made a one centimeter vertical incision, inserted a hook and pulled the arch back into place.

“It was a simple procedure,” Ivancev said. Lindberg had just two stitches closing the wound.

Last night, Lindberg was measured for a special mask that was delivered this morning. Ivancev emphasized to Lindberg that he should wear the mask to protect the damaged arch in the event of another accident.

Lindberg was a bit hesitant to wear it. “I can’t see that well out of it,” he explained about the inhibited periphery vision. “And I might not be able to see the boom if it comes across again.”

Navy Leads Day 1 of Women's Championships

While many folks in the Pacific Northwest would be inclined to spend a gray and dismal day inside by the fire, women sailors from 18 colleges around the nation were demonstrating they had better things to do with their time. They were in the Gorge for the first of their three days of racing for the 2004 ICSA (Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association) Women's North American Championship title.

The competitors faced an exciting afternoon on the Columbia River after both A and B divisions got in three races in breeze of 8-10 knots. Sailing FJs, the teams were in their fourth race when a squall brought rain and 15-20 knots of breeze, capsizing more than half the fleet. Once all the boats were righted and a short break taken, A-Division resumed racing in 10-15 knots and light rain. Those teams completed two additional races before calling it a day.

The US Naval Academy (Annapolis, Md.) holds the overall lead in the combined scoring on 42 points, with Yale University (New Haven, Conn.) second, 10 points back. Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Va.) is third with 54 points.

Defending champions Tufts University (Medford, Mass.) are first overall in A-Division after the consistent performance of skipper A.J. Crane (Warwick, Bermuda) and Kristen Tysell (Richmond, Calif.), both seniors, along with freshman crew Gretchen Curtis (Marblehead, Mass.). In B-Division, Navy+IBk-s freshman team of Katherine Whitman, Lindsey Magee and Catherine Long placed first overall after four races.

Women's College Nationals Day 1- Analysis

The US Naval Academy qualified for one of the three Spring College Sailing Championships. On the 1st day of the 1st championship-womens- they maximized their impact. The lead the regatta by 10 points, with the B division team 1st, and their A division team 1st.
Each division scored a 1st and neither posted a score in double digits.

Tufts leads A division but a 7th place B division team pulls them down to 7th overall.

2nd overall is Yale, trailing by 10 points. Most of the deficit comes from A division, while Yale's B trails the Navy B squad by only
1 point.

ODU is 3rd. ODU's A team skippered by Anna Tunnicliffe is 3rd despite a 10th and 11th.

Each race in A division was won by a different team. Race winners were: Hobart William Smith, Navy, Hawaii, ODU, Yale, & Stanford.
There was also a different winner in the 4 B races sailed. Winners were: Yale, Navy, Hawaii and Dartmouth.

Hawaii despite winning races in both divisions is only 8th. Both of their crews were 12th in their first race and then both bounced
back to win the 3rd races and then posted more deep finishes.

The fact that wins were spread out and that the top teams won while avoiding too many bad races show that as is typical consistency
will place high.

Sill Out of The Transat

IN BRIEF:

* ROLAND JOURDAIN'S NEW OPEN 60 SILL HAS WITHDRAWN FROM RACE WITH KEEL PROBLEMS...

* QUESTION MARK NOW HANGING OVER JEAN LE CAM'S BONDUELLE (SISTERSHIP TO SILL DESIGNED BY MARC LOMBARD)

* MAJORITY OF FLEET NOW SAFETY CHECKED...

* FRENCH OPEN 60 SKIPPER, ANNE LIARDET, MUST COMPLETE 90 DEGREE INVERSION TEST TO RACE...

* ORMA 60 SOPRA MAKING REPAIRS TO DELAMINATION...

See the official Omega countdown clock counting down to the 1400hrs start at http://www.thetransat.com

IN DETAIL:

With five days to go before they set sail upwind across the North Atlantic, the very last thing teams wish to discover are severe structural problems with their boats. However, this is exactly what has been experienced by three of the teams due to take Monday's start of The Transat.

In the Open 60 class for the last two weeks there has been major concern about the canting keels of the brand new Marc Lombard designs Sill and Bonduelle. Since their launch within the last month the keels on both boats have developed an alarming vibration when being pushed hard. During the recent 1000 Mille de Calais race concern over their keel's integrity was enough to prompt Roland Jourdain on board Sill to retire from the race. Ironically her sistership, Jean le Cam's Bonduelle, went on to win the race.

Since then both Sill and Bonduelle have been taken out of the water to have their keels fully checked. It appears the vibrations are occurring due to their keel foil twisting when the boat is powered up. After discussions with designer Marc Lombard and the structural engineer Herve Devaux they have attempted to solve this on Sill by casting a new keel bulb and fitting it to the foil, but in a position further aft to alleviate the twist. However this modification has not worked and the team are now back to square one. As a result Sill has been forced to withdraw from The Transat.

"It is not a question of taking the risk," commented skipper Roland Jourdain. "This transatlantic race is already hard enough with a perfect boat. To do it with a boat that is not 100% reliable is foolish."

Significantly Jourdain competed in the 2000 Vendée Globe and so does not have to take part in The Transat in order to race qualify for November's single-handed round the world race. "I prefer that my team and the architects and Herve Devaux work together to solve this problem. Of course it is frustrating, but it is the wise choice," says Jourdain.

However, for Bonduelle the situation is much harder as under the present qualification requirements for the Vendée Globe, she must complete in an officially sanctioned qualification race and The Transat is the last of these prior to the start of the race. Le Cam and his team are currently in discussion with the Vendée Globe organisers to see if there is a solution or if the only solution is to take Monday's start.

It is not only monohulls that have suffered structural problems. On Philippe Monnet's red trimaran Sopra Group the crew have discovered a 3sqm area of hull on the outside of her port float where the core has sheared. Most state of the art race boats are built in layers of carbon fibre and epoxy resin with a sandwich core of Nomex (a lightweight resin impregnated honeycomb material) in between. It is the Nomex core in this area which has broken. It is believed that the damage may have occurred during the 60ft trimaran's recent Grand Prix in La Trinite, or during the qualification for The Transat when the boat was hit several times by large cross seas. To make a repair the Sopra shore team must cut a hole to gain access to the inside of the hull. They will then cut away the inner layer of carbon and the broken Nomex and replace it. The crew hope to have the damaged section fixed by Sunday.

This morning forty-three-year-old French skipper Anne Liardet and her two-man shore crew are removing many of the non-essential contents from her Open 60, Quiksilver Edition. This decision is not linked to clearing the boat in final, pre-race preparation but in response to a recent decision by IMOCA - the 60 ft monohull class association - to insist that the fifteen-year-old yacht undergoes a 90 degree incline test before competing in The Transat as a legitimate entrant. Unless a successful incline test is completed before the start on Monday 31st May, IMOCA are likely to withhold issuing Liardet with that vital racing certificate.

The former Mini Transat and Solitaire du Figaro competitor and Vendée Globe hopeful is pragmatic about this recent development: "The boat made a 360 degree test in Le Havre before racing in the Transat Jacques Vabre last year (sailed, on this occasion, by Canada's Mike Birch) and we thought everything was okay." Technically, though, the boat was unqualified and IMOCA now intend to redress the situation.

At 19:00 UCT this evening Quiksilver Edition will motor across the Cattewater to Commercial Wharf, divers will then attach a spectra strop to the yacht's keel bulb and a crane will cant the boat on her side. Officials in a race organisation RIB will immediately place load measuring equipment to the top of the horizontal mast and calculate the forces produced by the yacht's unassisted attempt to right herself. Liardet is positive that her Open 60 will exceed the test's requirements claiming: "The boat is fully prepared, the boat is ready to race and so am I."

AC Act I

With space limited to just eight slots due to space restrictions, five teams have already confirmed their intention to race in the first Act of the 32nd America's Cup in Marseille in September.

Just three spots remain open for the Marseille Louis Vuitton Act after two French teams, as well as a team from South Africa, signed on to participate in the first three Acts of the 32nd America's Cup.

The Defender of the America's Cup, the Swiss Alinghi team, and the Challenger of Record, the U.S. Oracle BMW Racing team, will also race in Act 1.

The French teams, Le Défi and the K-Challenge, will both race in front of a home crowd in Act 1, the Marseille Louis Vuitton Act, beginning the 5th September, 2004, while South Africa's Shosholoza team will make its first appearance in America's Cup racing in Marseille. The teams will then come to Valencia, Spain, for Acts 2 and 3, beginning on the 5th of October.

Stephan Kandler, the CEO of the K-Challenge says he sees these first races as being very important to his team.

"We want to race this year for two reasons," Kandler said. "First, we want to show our current sponsors and our potential partners what the America's Cup has to offer in Europe. We want to give them a taste of the Cup, and whet their appetite for more. Secondly, it's an ideal opportunity for us to evaluate some of the personnel we are recruiting, and to train our sailors. We're very excited about it."

Luc Gellusseau, the Operations Manager for Le Défi agrees.

"We want to be part of this. The America's Cup is in Europe and it is important for us to demonstrate what this means to our partners. With the first Act being sailed in Marseille, it was a very easy decision to make."

Gellusseau says the team will be sending one of its boats, FRA-69, to Valencia early in summer, and plans to be sailing and training off the coast of the host city of the 32nd America's Cup by the end of June. The team will set up a 'mobile' base there to conduct operations this year.

For South Africa's Shosholoza team, the racing this year will be the first opportunity for many of its sailors to experience America's Cup Class competition.

"We've been out training on the boat off Cape Town since early April," said Captain Salvatore Sarno, the head of the South African team. "I think these first races in Marseille will remind our team of how much work we still have to do!"

AC Management, the organiser of the 32nd America's Cup will ship each team from Valencia, Spain, to Marseille, France, and back again. AC Management will move the race boat, ship's tender, three gear containers, and two masts as part of a package of logistics and shipping assistance to each America's Cup team registered in all three Acts.

Act 1 of the 32nd America's Cup, the Marseille Louis Vuitton Act, runs from the 5th through the 11th of September combining Fleet and Match Racing. The opening of the event park, a parade through Marseille's Vieux Port, and practice racing will take place on Saturday the 4th September.

Act 2 of the 32nd America's Cup, the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act, is a Match Racing event from the 5th through the 12th October.

Act 3 of the 32nd America's Cup, the second Valencia Louis Vuitton Act of 2004, is a Fleet Racing event, from the 14th - 17th of October.

Racing for the 32nd America's Cup will continue in 2005 with four more Acts in Europe and America.

Linky Sailing News

Racing Gilmour's 7-0 start. Nationals Begin

News OP. PFD Forum. Transat thoughts

Great Lakes Science under Sail

College Sailing ODU is the 4th ranked women's team going into the women's championship that starts today. Anna Tunnicliffe the women's solo champion is the team's leader. Boston College is the 13th ranked women's team . They were the final NEISA team to qualify. By qualifying for the women's nationals Michigan State will be making it's first trip to women's nationals since the seventies, and our first trip to nationals since the 80s. Skippers are Senior Mary Vogel and Junior Laura Schmidt. Nationals Day 1 forecast

College Sailing Spring Championships

What do you get when you take college sailors from 25 schools, put three North American championship titles on the line, and stage the competition in one of the most talked about places to sail in the USA? A week of thrills, spills and intense racing! Starting this week the Northwest Intercollegiate Sailing Association will host the much-anticipated Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) North American Championships in Cascade Locks, Oregon. The ICSA North American Women's Dinghy Championship will run from May 26-28; the ICSA/Layline North American Team Race Championship from May 30-June 1; and the ICSA/Gill North American Coed Dinghy Championship from June 2-4. All three events will be sailed in FJs from Marine Park, where all of the racing in the Columbia River Gorge can be seen from shore.

For those who can’t get to the Gorge in person, Windtopia – the windsports-focused media and entertainment company – will package digital video, produced by T2Productions, for a show that will air on CSTV (College Sports TV) sometime in July.

Each of the 25 colleges participating will field separate A and B division teams for both the women’s and dinghy events. District eliminations qualified 18 colleges to compete in the women's championships; 14 qualified for the team racing championship; and 16 qualified for the dinghy championship, which also includes two teams selected at-large. Of the 25 colleges qualified for these championships, nine schools qualified to send competitors in all three championships: College of Charleston, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Hobart/William Smith Colleges, Texas A&M Galveston, University of Hawaii, University of Michigan, University of Washington, and the University of Wisconsin.
Additional championship information is available online at: http://www.collegesailing.org/nwicsa/na/default.htm

ICSA AWARDS - ICSA will recognize the achievements of its members at a banquet in Cascade Locks on June 4, 2004, when it names the College Sailor of the Year, Sportsman of the Year, Student Leader of the Year and the 2003/2004 ICSA/Ronstan All-America Sailing Team. The Leonard M. Fowle Trophy for the college with the best combined record from the six collegiate championships (including last fall’s ICSA / Vanguard North American Men's Singlehanded Championship, ICSA / Vanguard North American Women's Singlehanded Championship, and the ICSA Sloop North American Championship) will also be awarded. Additionally, the College Sailing Hall of Fame will induct post-graduate leaders in the categories of Volunteer Leadership, Professional Leadership and Lifetime Service. Those honorees will be selected based on their service specifically to college sailing. The Quantum Female College Sailor of the Year award will be presented at the conclusion of the 2004 ICSA North American Women's Dinghy Championship.

To learn more about ICSA, visit www.collegesailing.org. For additional information on the sponsors of these championships, please visit them online: www.gillna.com, www.layline.com/, www.quantumsails.com, www.ronstan.com and www.teamvanguard.com. Event website: www.collegesailing.org/nwicsa/na/

Teams Qualified are as follows:

May 26-28, 2004 ICSA North American Women’s Dinghy Championship
Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Mass.)
Connecticut College (New London, Conn.)
College of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.)
Dartmouth College (Hanover, N.H.)
Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)
Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.)
Hobart/William Smith Colleges (Geneva, N.Y.)
Michigan State University (East Lansing, Mich.)
Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Va.)
Stanford University (Stanford, Calif.)
Texas A & M Galveston (Galveston, Texas)
Tufts University (Medford, Mass.)
University of Hawaii (Honolulu, Hawaii)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
University of Washington (Seattle, Wash.)
University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.)
U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, Md.)
Yale University (New Haven, Conn.)

May 30-June 1, 2004 - ICSA/Layline North American Team Race Championship
Brown University (Providence, R.I.)
College of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.)
Dartmouth College (Hanover, N.H.)
Eckerd College (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)
Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.)
Hobart/William Smith Colleges (Geneva, N.Y.)
St. Mary's College (St. Mary’s City, Md.)
Texas A & M Galveston (Galveston, Texas)
University of Hawaii (Honolulu, Hawaii)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
University of Southern California (Los Angeles, Calif.)
University of Washington (Seattle, Wash.)
University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.)

June 2-4, 2004 - ICSA/Gill North American Coed Dinghy Championship
College of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.)
Dartmouth College (Hanover, N.H.)
Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.)
Hobart/William Smith Colleges (Geneva, N.Y.)
St. Mary's College (St. Mary’s City, Md.)
Texas A & M Galveston (Galveston, Texas)
Tufts University (Medford, Mass.)
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, N.Y.)
University of Hawaii (Honolulu, Hawaii)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
University of South Florida (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
University of Southern California (Los Angeles, Calif.)
University of Texas (Austin, Texas)
University of Washington (Seattle, Wash.)
University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.)
Yale University (New Haven, Conn.)
At Large:
Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)
Stanford University (Stanford, Calif.)

New World Champions

Recent World Champinship winners:

2004 Hobie 16 Open World Champions - Axel Silvy & Pauline Jupin (FRA)

2004 Hobie 16 Women's World Champions - Pamela Noriega and Martha Noriega
(MEX)

2004 Hobie 16 Youth World Champions - Jerome Legal and Vaik Delevaux (FRA)

2004 IMS Offshore World Champions - Meridiana-Italtel - Vasco Vascotto
(ITA)

2004 J/22 World Champions - Alec Cutler, Max Skelly and Paul Murphy (USA)

2004 Laser World Champion - Robert Scheidt (BRA)

Gilmour 7-0

Peter Gilmour of Australia and the Pizza-La Sailing Team of mixed nationalities streaked to the early overall lead today at the ACI HTmobile Cup, an event of the Swedish Match Tour.

Gilmour and crew Rod Dawson (NZL), Mike Mottl (AUS), Kazuhiko Sofuku (JPN) and Yasuhiro Yaji (JPN) – the runaway leaders of the Swedish Match Tour Championship Leaderboard – won all of their races today enroute to a 7-0 record after the first eight flights of the 18th annual event off Split Harbor.

Frenchman Bertrand Pacé and Team France trailed close behind at 6-1, and there was a tie for third between Sweden’s Magnus Holmberg and the SeaLife Rangers crew and Team Denmark’s Jes Gram-Hansen, both at 5-2.

“It was beautiful sailing conditions today,” said Gram-Hansen, who has placed fifth at this event twice before. “Our team was working well and we had some luck, which you need.”

New Zealand’s Gavin Brady and the Oracle BMW Racing team stand fifth at 5-3, and are followed by Mathieu Richard (FRA, 4-3), Mattias Rahm (SWE, 3-4), Kelvin Harrap (NZL, 2-5), Frano Brate (CRO, 2-6), Mate Arapov (CRO, 1-7) and Sweden’s Daniel Wallberg, who filled in for an injured Staffan Lindberg of Finland, but was 0-7 on the day.

After a 68-minute postponement this morning due to light winds, the race committee took an aggressive approach to conducting racing.

The southwesterly breeze started at 6 knots for Flight 1, but by Flight 2 it had increased to 10 knots. The wind would gust up to 16 knots throughout the afternoon, and the race committee ran eight flights, 40 matches overall in a bit more than seven hours, over the standard windward/leeward, twice-around course.

“I think it was very clever of them to get that much racing in,” said Gilmour. “I’ve been at these events where they knock off at 5:00 and then there’s nothing later in the week.”

“For us it’s like this 65 to 75 days a year,” said Event Director Emil Tomašević, who this morning predicted a classic seabreeze, one that builds in strength and veers right after a windless morning. He was spot on.

The conditions were in stark contrast to yesterday’s blustery northeasterly for practice and crew training in the Jeanneau One-Design 35. The wind topped out around 20 knots, and took its toll on two Scandinavian skippers.

Sweden’s Rahm and Finland’s Lindberg both suffered injuries during practice. Rahm suffered a cut on his head that required a trip to the hospital for cleaning and dressage, but Lindberg’s injury was more serious.

This morning the 6-foot, 5-inch tall skipper underwent surgery to repair his orbital bone and cheek bone under his right eye. The injury occurred during a practice jibe.

“I was pulling the boom across and he didn’t stand back far enough,” said Lindberg’s mainsail trimmer Wallberg, 24, of Marstrand, Sweden. “The boom hit him under the eye.”

Rahm also suffered his injury during a jibe. The 6-foot tall Swede didn’t duck low enough during a jibe and the boom swept across his head. He reported having a scrape on his head, but not one that kept him from racing today.

Rahm said that both his and Lindberg’s crews practiced last week for this event on DS 37 Match-Racers in Sweden, the boat used at the Swedish Match Cup and the Danish Open.

“The boom on that boat isn’t as long as the one on this boat,” said Rahm, comparing the practice boat to the race boat.

Wallberg will fill in for Lindberg on the helm until he is ready to return. Wallberg, who has crewed for Lindberg the past year, began match-racing in 2000. Also joining the crew is local Croatian Ivan Kljaković Gašpić.

The International Jury, headed by Chief Umpire Bo Samuelsson, has cleared the way for Lindberg to return to the helm when, and if, he feels ready.

“We took the opinion of the skippers at the umpires’ meeting and they were in favor of us granting Lindberg the permission to return,” said Samuelsson.

Pressed into service at the last minute, Wallberg, who sailed a Soling briefly in 2000 before match-racing was removed from the Olympics, had a rough day on the helm and left the water with a 0-7 record.

“Next time I’d want to have some more practice,” Wallberg said at the end of the day with a laugh. “It got better as the day went on. At least we figured out where the start line was.”

With the match-racing specialists able to establish a rhythm due to the rapid racing (flights were taking approximately 35 to 45 minutes, with no more than 10 or 15 minutes in between), by Flight 6 the fireworks were on display.

Brady was on the unlucky side of Gram-Hansen’s luck in the final flight of the day. Brady led Gram-Hansen around the first lap and, with a penalty against Gram-Hansen for tacking too close in the pre-start, seemed on his way to a sixth victory.

On the second beat, however, Gram-Hansen was able to get past and held a slim half-length lead heading into the second windward mark.

Both boats were shy on the port-tack layline and had to perform two extra tacks to round the mark. Gram-Hansen got around cleanly, but Brady got mixed up with the windward mark.

Brady’s hitting the windward mark canceled out Gram-Hansen’s penalty, and the Dane sailed away to win by about two boatlengths.

“There was a bit of tide running and it must have pushed him onto the mark,” said Gram-Hansen.

“It wasn’t a very good day for us,” said Brady, clearly frustrated at the end of the day.

Two matches in Flight 6 – Gilmour vs. Pacé and Brady vs. Richard – were particularly entertaining. Gilmour and Pace were the only undefeated skippers at the time, and the winner would take sole possession of first place early in the event.

In the Gilmour- Pacé match, the Frenchman got the better of the Aussie in the pre-start, forcing him to port tack with less than 10 seconds to the start an no more than three boatlengths from the committee boat.

Gilmour had to tack back to starboard at the gun and had little speed off the start line, while Pace started on starboard mid-line.

At the first meeting Gilmour tacked to port on Pacé’s leebow, which gave the Frenchman a slight advantage that he would carry around the first lap. The two were never more than two boatlengths apart.

At the second windward mark, Gilmour was still on Pacé’s transom. Both crews had equal sets with their spinnakers billowing at the same time in the 15-knot winds.

Gilmour, though, got his bow to leeward of Pacé and, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, Gilmour had gained a leeward overlap.

Although he couldn’t luff Pacé in that situation because he had gained the overlap from clear astern, Gilmour could prevent Pace from jibing to starboard to get back toward the center of the racecourse.

Gilmour would take a small dig to the center of the course, and then jibe back to port to keep Pace on the left side of the run. He won the race by no more than 5 seconds.

“I was surprised he didn’t defend earlier on the run,” Gilmour said. “Rod (Dawson) was calling the puffs to leeward of him. So we did a coupld of jibes, caught a few puffs and waves and surged to even with him.”

Another entertaining match pitted Brady, the helmsman for Oracle BMW Racing, against Richard, the world No. 2-ranked match-race skipper.

Richard led Brady around the first windward mark and down the first run. As they passed the halfway point of the run, that’s when it got exciting.

With both boats on port jibe, Brady was to leeward of Richard and separated by about a boatlength. Richard deemed it enough room to jibe to starboard and did so.

On Brady’s boat, they deemed it not enough room and raised their voices along with their Y flag, asking for a foul from the on-water umpires, but they green-flagged the incident.

“They gave him the benefit of the doubt there,” Brady said. “He was leading. We just tried to stay clear. You don’t want to put it in the hands of the umpires.”

With both crews on starboard and Richard to leeward, he took Brady well past the port layline to the leeward mark

The crews raised the jibs and the spinnakers were lowered. Brady swung his boat onto port in a furious maneuver, and sailed toward the leeward mark with jib flying while Richard tried to reach up from leeward as his bowman gathered their spinnaker out of the water.

Brady nearly rolled over Richard but the Frenchman still had a tenuous inside position, which forced Brady to a wide turn. But Richard was slow coming out of his turn and Brady was able to power away and to his fourth win.

After meeting Gilmour, Pacé had to face Sweden’s Holmberg, who seemed to be sailing with more confidence after a rough regatta at the Toscana Elba Cup – Trofeo Locman two weeks ago. Holmberg, second overall on the Swedish Match Tour, placed eighth at that event and was down about his performance.

Holmberg went into the match against Pacé at 5-1, including four wins in a row, but came out at 5-2. Pacé started to windward of Holmberg, but the two were close aboard. A long drag race ensued to the port layline, when both tacked.

Holmberg felt like he was getting to Pacé, pinching up from leeward, but simply ran out of racecourse before having to tack. Then, on port tack, his outhaul broke, which helped give Pacé the victory.

“I felt good about our performance today,” said Holmberg, a past champion of the Swedish Match Tour. “We have more room to improve.”

ACI HTmobile Cup Standings
(After eight of 22 scheduled flights)
1. Peter Gilmour/AUS, Pizza-La Sailing Team 7-0
2. Bertrand Pacé/FRA, Team France 6-1
3. Magnus Holmberg/SWE, SeaLife Rangers 5-2
= Jes Gram-Hansen/DEN, Team Denmark 5-2
5. Gavin Brady/NZL, Oracle BMW Racing 5-3
6. Mathieu Richard/FRA 4-3
7. Mattias Rahm/SWE, Team Stena Bulk 3-4
8. Kelvin Harrap/NZL, Team New Zealand 2-5
9. Frano Brate/CRO 2-6
10. Mate Arapov/CRO 1-7
11. Staffan Lindberg/SWE 0-7

Transat: Theircelin & Birch

IN BRIEF:

* MARC THIERCELIN ON PRO-FORM ARRIVED IN PLYMOUTH LAST NIGHT AND THIS MORNING EXPLAINED HIS 'MINIMALIST' APPROACH TO RACING...

* MIKE BIRCH, A MAJOR PLAYER IN THE HISTORY OF SOLO SAILING, RETURNS TO THE TRANSAT FOR THE SIXTH TIME...

* BIRDS EYE VIEW OF THE RACE FLEET...check out the latest webcam images of the race fleet dockside in Plymouth at http://www.thetransat.com

See the official Omega countdown clock counting down to the 1400hrs start at http://www.thetransat.com

IN DETAIL:

Yesterday, in light winds, French skipper Marc Thiercelin motored his IMOCA Open 60 Pro Form for the final six miles to Plymouth and arrived at the race marina at 21:30 UTC. This brings the total number of IMOCA yachts assembled to fifteen - only two monohulls, the Marc Lombard designed Bonduelle of Jean Le Cam and Roland Jourdain's Sill, have yet to arrive and complete The Transat fleet.

This morning Thiercelin and his two shore crew are fully occupied with final preparation details on the six year old boat (ex-Whirlpool/ex-Tiscali) in the continuing fine weather that is providing all teams with near perfect working conditions. The French skipper's priorities with the yacht are strength and simplicity: "I have always chosen a minimalist approach with my boats - simple systems that function well and will withstand hard racing." Pro Form's interior and cabin space are extremely austere and Thiercelin has allowed no margin for comfort and prefers the increased mobility afforded by the extra space down below. He does, though, plan to sleep in a hammock (a long standing, personal preference) slung beside the yacht's bleak and functional nav station. However, weather and sea conditions that he may well encounter during the transatlantic crossing will mean the 44 year old skipper will be forced to wedge himself into one of the yacht's two small pipe cots.

Pro Form has recently been re-fitted with new winches while the skipper is rightly proud of his state of the art communications system provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). Thiercelin has also focused on stripping the boat of unnecessary weight in the hope of remaining competitive with the more recent generation of super-fast monohulls. He is also aware that during his three-year break from Open 60 racing (since an impressive fourth place in the 2000-2001 Vendée Globe) many of the skippers entered in this race have continued to increase their single-handed experience and further develop their individual boats. On this basis, the Frenchman considers Mike Golding and his Owen Clarke Design Open 60 Ecover (launched last year) as the monohull to watch.

Thiercelin has no difficulty confronting the reality that his boat has suffered five dismastings: twice with Catherine Chabaud as Whirlpool and three times as Tiscali under the ownership of Italian solo sailor, the late Simone Bianchetti. Touching on this subject the highly contented skipper declared confidently: "The mast is simple and strong...perfect."

MAJOR PLAYER : MIKE BIRCH

A major player in the history of single-handed transatlantic racing sailed into Plymouth last weekend in the form of Canadian Mike Birch. While the majority of the competitors in The Transat this year have never sailed in the race before Birch first sailed the single-handed race the 'wrong way' across the North Atlantic in 1976. Sailing his tiny Val 31 trimaran The Third Turtle in that race, Birch finished an impressive second over the line, a day after Eric Tabarly's 72ft maxi winner Pen Duick VI and almost two days ahead of Alain Colas' giant four-master Club Méditerranée.

Twenty-eight years later Birch has returned to Plymouth. Since 1976 the start of the race has moved from Millbay Docks (now the Brittany Ferries terminal) gradually eastwards across Plymouth to Queen Anne's Battery marina and this year the fleet in its entirety is moored in Plymouth Yacht Haven. The line-up has also changed dramatically. The 1976 race saw 126 starters - its biggest ever entry - ranging from the 236ft long Club Méditerranée to tiny 20 footers. Immediately following that race the maximum length of entries was limited and has since stablised at 60ft. While boats as small as 30ft were allowed in the previous race, The Transat is now limited to 60 and 50 footers only. Then the race finished in Newport, Rhode Island, today the course remains much the same, but finishes in Boston.

What remains consistent is the challenge of racing across the inhospitable North Atlantic single-handed and the lure of this is as great as it always has been for Birch. "I love to prepare a boat and sail it and seeing if it works," he says. "But a lot of it is also seeing people I haven't seen for a long time." Despite his 72 years, Birch still looks exceptionally fit.

His entry in The Transat followed a conversation back in December with the owner of his boat, Claude Develay, head of Fuji France who originally sponsored Birch's Fujicolor 60ft trimaran campaign in the late 1980s and early 90s (the Fuji sponsorship was subsequently taken over by Loick Peyron, who went on to win the 1992 and 1996 races. "Then the idea was that I was going to find a sponsor and I have someone who has been looking for sponsorship for me, but he wasn't able to find a sponsor, so I am sort of sponsoring it myself at the moment," Birch says.

At the start of the year the boat was 53ft long and had to be shortened to get into the 50ft size limit of The Transat's Class 2. "I came over in February and cut off the stern," Birch says. He also moved the staysail stay forward and added one of Fujicolor's old spinnaker poles. Unfortunately, unsponsored, funds are short and Birch says he could do with some new sails.

Aside from racing The Transat, Birch is also looking forward to sailing in the Quebec-St Malo race. Currently his home is in Quebec.

His Nigel Irens-designed trimaran Nootka, has two sisterships one of which, Rich Wilson's Great American II, is also entered in The Transat. While this will be good for competition Birch says Great American II has an advantage. She was the third of the series to be built and compared to Nootka has around 2m more beam, larger volume floats and is generally a more powerful boat.

2004 Big Dogs

This year's Mackinac Race will see at least two boats of over 80 feet on the starting line in Chicago.

Genuine Risk is an 89 footer built and just launched in Australia.

Genuine Risk is one of the new breed of maxis featuring a keel that cants from side to side. She also has rudders both forward and aft. Owner Randall Pittman has sailed a J 160 in past races.

The Devos family will once again have a first to finish contender. As usual the boat will sail under the Wind Quest name.

Wind Quest was formerly known as Zephyrus V. She was the first of the Max Z 86's to launch. In early 2003 the RP design set a record in the Fort Lauderdale to Montego Bay race.

Before contesting the Mac races Wind Quest will be sailing the Bermuda race.

As has been typical in recent years, race records are at risk, maybe even a genuine risk.

Rescue Medal Awarded

Competing for an international sailing championship title is quite a prestigious feat, particularly if it’s the US SAILING Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship, the largest women’s keelboat championship in the world. But the crew of Peter Pirate (Norfolk, Va.) didn’t let a potential victory get in the way of rescuing a fellow competitor out of cold and choppy waters. For making an extraordinary rescue, the Peter Pirate team of skipper Corrie Clement and crew Ali Sharpe, Anna Tunnicliffe, and Nataleigh Vann have been awarded US SAILING’s Arthur B. Hanson Rescue Medal.

The incident occurred in the midst of intense competition at the 2003 US
SAILING Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship, held in October
in Annapolis, Md. The weather was particularly rough on the fourth day of
racing with 30 knots of wind and cool 55-degree air. The J/22 Gorilla Girls,
skippered by Terry Schertz (Conifer, CO), was going downwind in fourth place
to the finish line when a surprising gust broached the boat, dumping the
three crew members overboard and pinning the skipper on the low side.

Peter Pirate was following closely and observed one of the Gorilla Girls
crew in the water, wearing an inflatable personal floating device. The
strong winds made it difficult for the Peter Pirate team to stop the light
boat long enough to pull the victim aboard. But after several attempts,
they finally were able to physically lift the victim out of the water. The
victim had been in the water for more than five minutes, becoming
dangerously close to suffering from hypothermia. The three remaining
members of Gorilla Girls were ultimately rescued by nearby official event boats.

Pet