Vendee Globe 2000 gets underway
by Mary Ambler 9 Nov 2000 19:23 GMT
VENDEE GLOBE 2000 STARTS UNDER DRAMATIC SKIES - JOURDAIN & DESJOYEAUX BATTLE FOR FIRST, GOLDING & HALL CLOSE BEHIND
The twenty four strong international fleet lined up for the start of the 4th edition of the Vendée Globe single-handed, non-stop, around the world yacht race, finally set off from Les Sables d'Olonne, France, at 1611hrs today (French time) under dramatic black skies and yet only 5 knots of breeze after a four day postponement due to severe weather conditions.
Guy Bernadin, a veteran circumnavigator from the first edition of this, the toughest yachting challenge known to man, opened the route out of the Port on "Spray of St. Briac", a copy of the famous "Spray" which belonged to Joshua Slocum, the first solo circumnavigator. Each skipper was sent off like a king by the thousands of spectators lining the channel. Once out into the bay of Les Sables d¹Olonne, main sails were hoisted against a charcoal sky, a light North Westerly breeze fluxed, and the fleet slowly circled within the start zone as the Committee boat fixed the line.
The start gun was fired and the skippers were finally alone, family and shore team disembarked. The more competitive boats engaged in skillful and yet precarious maneouvring off the line in a dying wind and mounting swell. On the left to windward British skipper Mike Golding (Team Group 4) pushed out a lead, the other Brits not far behind. In the middle, veteran Yves Parlier (Aquitaine Innovations) and young-gun Thomas Coville (Sodebo) were side by side gathering speed. On the shore side to leeward the formidable duo of Mich Desjoyeaux (PRB) & Roland Jourdain (Sill) seemed to gain the most out of their position and catch a better breeze to come to the top marker buoy in first and second place an hour after the start, tacking alongside each other.
The third boat to round the buoy 8 minutes later was another Brit, Josh Hall (EBP Gartmore), who came in from the left to cut in on Parlier & Coville. First female round was Catherine Chabaud (Whirlpool), followed closely by Richard Tolkien (This Time Argos Soditic). Mike Golding (Team Group 4), although in 10th position around the buoy, sailed off on his own course further inshore than the top half of the fleet and started making serious ground on Desjoyeaux and Jourdain quickly. First 50 footer was Patrick de Radigues (La Libre Belgique), ahead of several 60 footers already. Ellen MacArthur (Kingfisher) passed the buoy mid-fleet, followed minutes later by fellow international skippers Javier Sanso (Old Spice) and Simone Bianchetti (Aquarelle.com).
As each boat tried to find new breeze, the fleet spread out along the horizon very quickly on their course towards Cap Finisterre, the sunset silhouetting their full mainsails against the reddening sky.
The start of the Vendée Globe 2000 can be viewed on the official race website - www.vendeeglobe.com (click on the English flag) - via streaming webcam. The Radio Chat with the skippers will begin at 1000hrs until 1300hrs (French time) on Friday 11th November, and will be registered online mid-afternoon.
Rankings at the top marker buoy, at 1540hrs GMT:
Pos Boat Name Skipper Nat Time
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1. PRB Michel Desjoyeaux FRA 1610
2. SILL Roland Jourdain FRA 1610
3. EBP GARTMORE Josh Hall GBR 1618
4. SODEBO Thomas Coville FRA 1618
5. AQUITAINE INNOVATIONS Yves Parlier FRA 1618
6. SUPERBIGOU-ARMORLUX Bernard Stamm SUI 1621
7. WHIRLPOOL Catherine Chabaud FRA 1621
8. THIS TIME-ARGOS SODITIC Richard Tolkien GBR 1623
9. UBP Dominique Wavre SUI 1624
10. TEAM GROUP 4 Mike Golding GBR 1624
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More Information:
News from Kingfisher:
On a grey, wet and cold afternoon, Ellen MacArthur finally crossed the start line of the Vendee Globe race. Her long held dream to compete in this event, the real Everest of ocean sailing, finally has begun in reality. Hundreds of
thousands of hours of work, by hundreds of people, thousands of messages in just the past few days alone to will her on. Ellen finally took 'Kingfisher' across the start line and off into the unknown.
Ellen visited every skipper on the dockside before they left, one by one. An incredibly strong bond exists between them, as they go out to share the same challenges over the coming months. A small present from Ellen to the others...a Kingfisher stress ball with A DONF written on it.... Either to relieve their stress, or squeeze it hard if she's ahead! A lot of emotion on the pontoons, as cameramen fought with photographers to get the ultimate
picture as final farewells were made, and tears were shed.
Incredible scenes as each boat filed out of the port and along the half mile long channel to the open sea. As we slid past under tow (the engines are sealed up now), there were thousands of people lining the walls, waving and
cheering, 'ELL-EN, ELL-EN'...more tears for us. Quite an amazing scene.
At 1611, the gun fired, and the 24 solo skippers sweated as they manouevred their racing machines in a difficult lumpy sea - in light and variable winds. Maybe not the dramatic footage the TV wanted, but certainly stressful enough for the skippers. A bit of action on the start line with Bernard
Stamm as 6 boats clustered at the buoy, and Team Group 4 came charging in from behind, trying to find a slot. The first 2 miles were negotiated with painstaking downwind gybes in next to no wind, and then on to the only mark
of the course before the Canary Islands. One by one the gennakers and big powerful sails were hoisted as the skippers settled in, and prepared to 'up the pace' after mostly conservative starts. With 23,000 miles to go its
weird to be fighting for a few metres, but that is the way this race is going to run.
As what little there was of the sun went down, 'Kingfisher' settled in, with Suisse Domonique Wavre (UBP) just off to port, and Italian Simone Bianchetti (Aquarelle.com) just to leeward. The front runners were half a mile ahead - the 'professor' Michel Desjoyeaux (PRB) and Bilou (SILL) stretching out a small lead they had from the start. Mich certainly made his mark on the rhythm of the race, hoisting a spinnaker as he crossed the line and took a very different heading to the rest of the fleet...of course though, he was right.
The night will be tough for the skippers as they get their minds off of the loved ones they have left behind, and get focussed on the race and huge challenge they are setting off for. Tactically, the first 24 hours promises to be testing. A small depression in south Biscay is causing the variable winds of present. As the fleet head south towards the Spanish coast they should get a shift, first to the south, then to the NW. Positioning and timing the tacks will be everything - time to get on with it!
Ellen will be sending us back emails, photos, and images and we'll be putting up audio files of interviews in French and English on to the website. Updates will go on the website each morning, as well as on our WAP site (ellenwap.com). Follow the action in full 3D animation on Virtual Spectator, which can be downloaded from http://www.virtualspectator.com
In our daily updates we'll be featuring firstly one of the companies in the Kingfisher group, and then one of our Gold Level Partners - technical suppliers that have supported us throughout the campaign so far.
We look forward to sharing this adventure and race with you over the coming months...