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The other competitors in The Race congratulate Club Med

by Pierrick Garenne 4 Mar 2001 17:26 GMT

"This race round the world has been for me the greatest in my sailing career ..."

Photo ©: Carlo Borlenghi/Sea&Sea

"Club Med's victory is perfectly merited... Congratulations to the whole crew and their team. And... I hope you all have a good time on your first night ashore!"... Elena Caputo on Innovation Explorer lost no time in congratulating Club Med, the great victor of The Race, la Course du Millénaire. Whilst Innovation Explorer passed the Straits of Gibraltar last night at about 0500 GMT, Club Med crossed the line on Saturday 3rd March at 20 h 56 min and 33 sec local time and was escorted along her final miles by some 400 boats. Once docked in the Vieux Port, several thousand people came to welcome the crew at the Quai des Belges and the Canebière, closed to traffic for the occasion. "I didn't expect to get a welcome like this..." said Grant Dalton, the man with five Whitbreads to his credit. "Never in my sailing career have I seen such a welcome!" 620 miles from there, Innovation Explorer is making good speed, but her gennaker exploded in two in the Straits of Gibraltar..."

Club Med crossed the line at around 23 knots yesterday evening becoming the great victor of the first edition of The Race, invented and organised by Bruno Peyron. Flares and rockets illuminated the Vieux Port, lighting the way for Club Med on her final miles covered at 25 knots average. The maxi-catamaran skippered by Kiwi Grant Dalton and Frenchman Franck Proffit covered the 27,407.9 miles of the course (50,759.4 km) at an average speed of 18.3 knots breaking into the bargain the world record for the greatest distance sailed in 24 hours with 655.2 miles at an average speed of 27.3 knots. What were the reasons for this success? In Grant's own words: "We won the race in the passage of the Saint Helena high, both on the way down and on the way back up, because we were exactly where we should have been," declared Grant yesterday evening. "this anticyclone is a real level crossing and we negotiated it well. Another key reason is that we all stuck to the strategy we fixed at the start. The work of our router and our navigator was exemplary. Moreover, we invested a lot beforehand in preparation. And really we had a fantastic crew of solid boys coming from all over the world all with varied and complementary qualities. In fact the race went according to plan. We knew exactly what we were in for. This race round the world has been for me the greatest in my sailing career..."

Gennaker exploded... The bitter blow happened this morning. While Innovation Explorer was entering the Straits of Gibraltar, the gennaker, that big balloon like headsail, literally exploded into two. "Irreparable at sea, perhaps when we're back ashore" declared Elena Caputo during the radio chat session. "Of course it could seriously handicap us if the wind is light," said Jean-Philippe Saliou. "For the moment we have our reacher, a real little tough one, that!". While Loïck Peyron's maxi-catamaran will be slowed down today, she will be off again tomorrow morning before being slowed again on Tuesday. "It's difficult to announce an ETA for Innovation Explorer," declared Gilles Chiorri (Météo Consult) this morning. "the situation is so confused but she won't be in Marseilles before Tuesday evening!". Innovation Explorer was 620 miles from Marseilles at the 1100 GMT position report. Her average speed at the moment is 14.7 knots and she covered 487 miles in the last 24 hours. Team Adventure is 550 miles off the coast of Argentina, she is sailing in light airs of around 15 knots from the north-north-west. The wind should strengthen during the day reaching 20/25 knots, which won't really improve her speed but will require her crew to be extra careful in sparing the machine in these almost headwinds. Warta-Polpharma is off the Falkland Islands heading north-east. She is going to have to face 55 knot headwinds to the east of the islands. Another gale for the Poles who have really suffered in the southern latitudes. For Team Legato, Tony Bullimore is sailing in a north-westerly flow, typical of the Deep South and is making 15 knots average. Thanks to this "conveyor belt", they ought to be able to reach Cape Horn with the providential effects of this low according to Fred Dahirel.

Anecdotes:

High pressure disintoxication
"P'tit Fred" as he is known in sailing circles, and the last Frenchman to be enrolled on Team Legato, better known as Fred Dahirel, has started to give up smoking. "I'm down to two or three cigarettes a day and it works! So as you can see, not going fast does has some advantages." Bluecoats, but clean "Ah, that's what you call a clean victory for Club Med and with no frills," said Jean-Pjilippe Saliou during today's radio chats session. "The 'bluecoats' were magnificent and they did a good job! We say well done to all of them. They were impressive they way they stuck to their guns!" Whilst all the boats have congratulated Club Med, you can sense a slight dip in morale... "It's true, it does give you the blues a bit knowing that one boat has finished and that you're still out here. That's the way it is, that's racing" declared Fred Brousse on Team Adventure. Finally in conclusion, Fred Dahirel (Team Legato) said; "Well done Club Med, I fixed a motto over the door to my house. 'Vanquish those who are prepared to vanquish'S That's exactly what they did!"

Investment: Bank on "stock-potions"
While stopping seriously penalises a boat, it does have some advantages. Fred Brousse (Team Adventure) explained how: "It does have its advantages because when we stopped in South Africa we stocked up with South African wines and in New Zealand we took on New Zealand wine, and it's not bad either! We've still got a little stock." 2000 miles from there, Team Legato was the source of another anecdoteS "We didn't bring any alcohol on board. There was just a bottle of rum that Tony bought to celebrate the Horn" declared Fred Dahirel. "In fact I suspect he's already started it!"

Quotes:

Jean-Philippe Saliou (Innovation Explorer) at the 1300 chat session: "We charged into the Straits with 25 knots of wind until the gennaker exploded and tore itself in two. After having dropped the wind is now blowing nicely againS We've been crossing our fingers but the information we have at the moment is very contradictory. Roger is working with three files from different countries, and each one has a different opinion. It's a typical Mediterranean situation and for the moment it's a question of taking it a day at a time. Not easy to make the right decisions..."

Fred Brousse (Team Adventure) at the 1300 chat session: "It's not going too badly even if our morale took a dip. We didn't make any progress yesterday, we were parked. And it's true that it rather gives you the blues knowing that one boat has finished and you're still hereS But we're OK and our little group of Frenchies get on really fine together. It's rather like a village of irreducible Gaulois! Otherwise there's not much to see here... a killer whale yesterday and a few birds. Not a single boat, nothing. The last light we saw was ten days ago, and that was a 'plane in the sky. We were all on deck, look, look, a light!"

Fred Dahirel (Team Legato) at the 1300 chat session: "We're all very fit, we were becalmed for more than five days and so we're really rested. But it's good to have picked up some wind again. It's a bit short-handed with just three on deck for manoeuvres, even the helmsman has sheets in his hands! It's true that we haven't always taken the best route, but we can feel that the boat is sound, has potential and accelerates as soon as we pick up some wind. We're going after a 30/35 knot north-westerly flow that should take us all the way to the Horn".

Latest Positions: 

Pos Boat                Lat        Long        DTF    24hr. Av.Sp
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 1  Club Med                  Finished 3rd March 2001 19h:56m:33s 
 2  Innovation Explorer 36 30.16'N   2 49.60'W  567.4 450.4  18.8
 3  TeamAdventure       42 11.92'S  49 30.48'W 5992.4 289.5  12.1
 4  Warta Polpharma     51 06.36'S  62 19.40'W 6733.3 173.0   7.2
 5  Team Legato         48 36.60'S 133 17.84'W 9442.7 260.1  10.8

More Information:

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