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Solidaire du Chocolat - Day 21
By La Solidaire du Chocolat 07 Nov 2009 18:57
Saturday night fever at the Saint Barts gate
Sugar Loaf Mountain off the port of Gustavia has played host to some interesting stories in the Solidaire du Chocolat over the last few hours. Race leaders Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy (Initiatives-Novedia) were first through the gate yesterday. Last night, the trio astern took turns at pushing through the gate. After the Italian duo of Giovanni Soldini-Pietro d'Ali (Telecom Italia) followed by Bruno Jourdren-Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat), came the turn of Damien Seguin and Armel Tripon (Cargill-MTTM). As announced, the Nantes-based boat put into port for the regulatory 3h01' minimum for speedy technical repairs before getting underway again at 10h38' French time.
Middle of the night off the coast of the pearl of the French West Indies. An exchange of smiles, a couple of words here suffice to convey the motivation and pleasure of the crews taking part. 20 days and 20 nights at sea and the sheer magic of the race is clear. The two boats closest behind the leaders came through the Saint Barts gate within five miles, 1 and ½ hours, of each other, after 3500 miles at sea and a series of six lows. !
"Avanti!"
The Italians who have a broken forestay opted not to stop for repairs. The weather for the Caribbean sail through to the Gulf of Mexico have convinced Giovanni Soldini and his fellow skipper that they ought to continue as they are and not risk losing precious miles to those up front. "Avanti!" Not to mention that they can almost feel the breath of those behind them on their necks. Idem Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm. Although they admit having problems obtaining precise weather information and having problems with their mainsail, they have resisted the temptation to make a pitstop. The race is in full swing and no way are they prepared to lose three hours at the entrance to the Caribbean with 1 500 miles before reaching Progreso in the Yucatan.
Fill her up!
As expected, Damien Seguin and Armel Tripon made a pitstop. They managed to repairs to make repairs to their alternator belt in the time they had allowed. They much preferred to spend three hours ashore than continue with energy problems in the Caribbean, notorious for unstable conditions. Full of energy, in every sense of the term, they are charged up for the last week of racing in the waters off the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba, before heading up towards Mexico. The Solidaire du Chocolat is moving into relatively unfamiliar waters and should be exciting and full of surprises as the top four boats start to feel that victory is within reach!
The rest of the fleet is finishing off in the Atlantic. As they approach the Leeward islands, Sail4Cancer, leading the second group sailed by Tim Wright and Nicko Brennan, is expected to reach the gate around 18h-18h30 French time this evening. Behind them, a delightful duel is on between Brits Peter Harding and Miranda Merron (40 Degrees) and the Chileans, Felipe Cubillos and Daniel Bravo Silva (Desafio Cabo de Hornos). The latter are flying in from the north at around 10 knots just 15 miles behind the former. So, in spite of the fact that the first four are safely into the Caribbean, the race is still on in the Atlantic!
Quotes:
Giovanni Soldini – ITA (Telecom Italia) : "We’ve had lots of lows, and had a broken stay but we managed to sort that out. We lost a few miles when we had to get the repairs done and sail north. The computer has been playing up and there’s a whole host of other little things too. But we’re not going to stop. We are out to win!"
Bernard Stamm – SUI (Cheminées Poujoulat) : "Our iridium antenna has been ripped off and so we have lacked weather info. We missed out on the bubble we got stuck in and which Tanguy (De Lamotte, ndlr) managed to avoid. Otherwise, we’ve lost all of the batten cars from the main. No way are we stopping. We’re not thirsty!"
David Consorte – ITA (Adriatech) : "We’re here and happy to be in the race. We’ve lost our wind indicator, lost early on. Our automatic pilot is not working properly either, so we have to helm a lot and we lose a few miles that way. Last Saturday we lost two spinnakers. We were counting on them but never mind! We collided with something the other night which slowed us for a few seconds and then we just got going again back to 10 knots. Port rudder damaged but we’re keeping going."
Stephen Card (Orbis) : "Yesterday we repaired and raised our spinny. It looks odd but it works! Let’s hope we pick up speed to make up for lost time. Apart from that, the fleet is quite spread out. It is not easy to know whether there are likely to be any changes in the position tables before we get to the Saint Barts gate, but we’re doing our best."
Rankings at 16:00hrs: (top five, UTC)
| Pos | Boat Name | Skippers | DTF | DTL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Initiatives – Novedia | Tanguy De Lamotte • Adrien Hardy | 1 333,02nm | 0,00nm |
| 2 | Telecom Italia | Giovanni Soldini • Pietro D'Ali | 1 464,78nm | 131,77nm |
| 3 | Cheminées Poujoulat | Bruno Jourdren • Bernard Stamm | 1 468,73nm | 135,71nm |
| 4 | Cargill-MTTM | Damien Seguin • Armel Tripon | 1 547,75nm | 214,73nm |
| 5 | Palanad 2 | Tim Wright • Nicko Brennan | 1 620,12nm | 287,11nm |
Latest rankings here and latest position maps here.
More Information:
Related Articles:
The pace at which the boats are finishing stepped up last night in Progreso as as five boats crossed the finishing line of the first edition of the Solidaire du Chocolat in the space of 12 hours.
Jacques Fournier and Jean-Edouard Criquioche, the fun skippers of Groupe Picoty, crossed the Progreso finishing line on Thursday 19th November at 3h38 French time to take 8th place after sailing for 31d 10h 48min at an average speed of 6.33 knots.
Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d’Ali on Telecom Italia crossed the finishing line of the Solidaire du Chocolat in Progreso (Yucatan) in 2nd place at 4 hours 25 minutes and 20 seconds (French time) this morning.
After 26 days 16 hours and 35 minutes at sea, winning your first transatlantic race in conditions which were as tough as they have been on this race, is already an event in itself for young yachtsmen Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy.
They did it ! Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy crossed the finishing line of the first run of the Solidaire du Chocolat from Saint Nazaire (France) to Progreso (Mexique) at 9h25 on Saturday 14th November (8 h 25 TU).