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Front Line
After more than 24 hours, the Minis fleet is already extremely dispersed in the Biscay Bay just before meeting a cold front that should generate up to 25 knots South West winds that should turn into a North West breeze in the night.
Eighty miles were already separating the supporters of the North course from the aficionados of the South ! When the leaders only had covered a bit more than 100 NM since they have left les Sables d’Olonne in the middle of the day… No use to say that the solo sailors have chosen completely different options from the first miles. In fact, once the preliminary course completed, the fleet had to head West – South West with an upwind wind of some 10 knots, then the breeze progressively turned West in the end of the day with a big calm in the afternoon. It is just when this little blow started to strengthen, turning exactly on the rhumb line, that the American skipper, Clay Burkhalter (Acadia) decided to tack to go and reach the low pressure forecast this Monday evening on the Breton coasts.
He has been followed, several hours later by Isabelle Joschke (Degrémont) and the Pogo-2 of Antoine Debled (ADD Modules) then by the two production boats of Grégory Magne (20 minutes) and Hervé Piveteau (Jules). The rest of the fleet has decided to tack later, forming this way several “Branches” more or less South, with, in the North of this fan, the Slovenian Andraz Mihelin (Adria Mobil Too) and the Belgian Peter Laureyssens (Ecover) followed by Elodie Riou (KPMG) on a production boat and then by a big pack that Adrien Hardy (Brossard) and Laurent Bourguès (Adrénaline) on prototypes and Francisco Lobato (BPI) and Sébastien Marsset (Raisonances) were leading. Xavier Haize (Carben Composites) and the Belgian Pogo-2 of Alexis Hupin (Manu Poki) were the most South.
Hot sweat on a cold front
This fleet spread is due to a disturbance approaching the Biscay Bay this night and that has already generated an increasing 15 Knots South West wind this Monday afternoon. With a South West – North East orientation, the associated cold front will then touch first the North of the fleet which is going to face a 25 to 30 knots South West flood with squalls till midnight when the fleet located in the South will suffer less strong but more orientated West – South West wind till 2 am on Tuesday morning. This gap will then lead to a clearly speed differential this night when the “Northers” will find the North West rock behind the front, and then slide the first with speeds over 10 knots, heading South West, with still a fifteen to 20 knots breeze beam wind. The “Southers” will still be upwind port tack, facing a 20 knots breeze with an average speed of 6 knots !
But the main problem for this night will mostly be to manage this very fast little gale (some six hours with strong wind and sea) in order to avoid to break and anticipate the squalls that always come after the cold fronts. If the solo sailors can pass through this bad time with serenity, they will then can unwind more quietly towards the Azores with a North West flood, that will turn North off the Iberian peninsula, then North East when they arrive close to the Azores archipelago. Indeed, the so called high pressure will develop a dorsal (few wind) between Ireland and Basque country and the leaders will then be in the position of accelerating very fast to the Faial island, passing under the centre of the high pressure, with the kites up : then the first arrivals could be advanced to August, 7th and even Sunday August, 6th in the evening !
First diversions
Out of the sixty-nine skippers who took the start this Sunday at 1.02 pm in Les Sables d’Olonne, three skippers are heading to their home port in Brittany. Pierre-Yves Lautrou (Téo Taket) could not fix his electronic problems although he had come back in Les Sables d’Olonne on Sunday afternoon and Marine Chombart de Lauwe (Esprit 93) has told the support boat Gwalard V that she was also going to Lorient. Regarding Didier Le Vourch (Vecteur Plus) he has been following a North heading since midday, indicating then he is going back to la Trinité Sur Mer : he has not communicated the reasons for this change of heading.
Prototypes ranking at 2.30 pm (French time) :
1 Adria Mobil Too -Andraz MIHELIN , 1 166 NM to the arrival
2 Ecover -Peter LAUREYSSENS, 1,2 NM of the leader
3 Bretagne Lapins -David SINEAU, 2,0 NM of the leader
4 Negawatt -Olivier CUSIN, 3,3 NM of the leader
5 Degrémont -Isabelle JOSCHKE, 4,3 NM of the leader
Production Boats ranking at 2.30 pm (French time) :
1 Jules -Hervé PIVETEAU, 1 175 NM to the arrival
2 Bingo -Romain VIDAL, 9,7 NM to the leader
3 Architecture(s) élémentaire(s) -Thomas BONNIER, 10,1 NM to the leader
4 BPI -Francisco LOBATO, 10,1 NM to the leader
5 Alan France -Bertrand CASTELNéRAC, 10,8 NM to the leader
DBo. & AM.
 mardi 1 août 2006
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Fabienne Robin est arrivée
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