And from today's sailing press....
Yacana
Tue 2 Dec 2014 03:19
>Date: 12/1/2014 10:58:00 PM
>Subject: And from today's sailing press....
>
>The inaugural RORC Transatlantic Race, in association with the International Maxi Association (IMA),
>started on Sunday 30th November 1000 UTC from Puerto Calero, Lanzarote, Canary Islands bound for Grenada,
>West Indies, 2,995 nautical miles across the Atlantic Ocean.
>
>After a competitive start the 11-boat fleet has been battling through the first night to negotiate the
>fastest passage through the Canary Islands and into the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The entire fleet
>chose the northerly route through the channel between Lanzarote and Fuerteventura and once again north of
>Tenerife. The northerly route puts the fleet nearer the fresh breeze coming from the north rather than
>south where an area of little wind has developed. The rhumb line goes straight through Tenerife but the
>highest point, Mount Teide, has an elevation of 3,718 m (12,198ft), which would give a significant wind
>shadow to any yachts that ventured south.
>
>IRC Canting Keel and Zero
>Derek Hatfield’s Volvo 60, Spirit of Adventure, is estimated to be the early leader after time correction
>for the IRC Zero fleet. Rating far lower than the Maxi yachts in the class, Spirit of Adventure’s lead is
>not surprising after less than 24 hours at sea; the Canadian team are highly experienced with six of the
>crew having raced the boat across the Atlantic before.
>
>Jeremy Pilkington’s RP78, Lupa of London. have used their ‘wompa’ Code Zero to great effect, sailing high
>and fast across the top of Tenerife to take the overall lead on the water during the night. At dawn, Lupa
>of London was 40 miles from the last island, La Palma, achieving a boat speed over twice as fast as the
>Finot 100, Nomad IV, sailed by Jean-Paul Riviere. It will be interesting to see the tactics employed by
>Lupa of London at La Palma. Further behind, the young team on American Class40, Oakcliff Racing, have also
>altered course to follow Lupa of London’s track.
>
>IRC One, Two and Three
>Aref Lahham’s Swan 68, Yacana, is the clear leader in IRC One and is currently estimated to be leading the
>race after time correction. Most of the team hail from Greece and have sailed with each other for years and
>this understanding was exemplified at the start, when a spinnaker peel was pulled off with precision, to
>gain a big advantage. During the first night, the wind speed and direction has been in a constant state of
>flux and Team Yacana may well have gained the lead through good sail changing decisions and slick crew
>work.
>
>Last night, Yacana sent this message from on board: “We have good wind with a few slow moments, otherwise
>we are doing fine. Spirits are good, thank God no rain…We are leaving the Island of Tenerife eight miles on
>our port and plan to be in the open ocean in about 16 hours, then heading to Grenada. Cheers to all.” – S/Y
>Yacana.
>
>A tremendous battle kicked off right from the start in IRC Two, Frank Lang’s French X 40, Optim’X, sailed
>intelligently to take the lead from Nigel Passmore’s British J/133, Apollo 7, at the start, which the
>French team held right along the coast of Lanzarote. Apollo 7, mainly crewed by friends from Plymouth, took
>a slender lead after passing the southern tip of Lanzarote and unfurled their Code Zero to open up a three
>mile lead on their rivals by dawn. Optim’X has a small rating advantage over Apollo 7 and this may develop
>into one of the closest battles in the RORC Transatlantic Race. Denis Villotte’s French JNP 12, Sérénade,
>is currently bringing up the rear, but estimated to be fourth overall after time correction. The twin keel
>design is the smallest and lightest yacht in the race and, with just three crew on board, is more suited to
>the downwind conditions that should feature in the race over the coming days.
>
>Nigel Passmore reports from the course on Apollo 7: “We are round the top of Tenerife and en route to La
>Palma with a welcome to offshore Atlantic sailing more like the English Channel! Rain, waves and wind
>shifts. Still heading in the right direction with a good breeze. Crew are happy and settling in. Very much
>waterline length at the moment.”
>
>Sail choice and boat handling have been the major factors to performance at this early stage in the race.
>Getting into the open waters of the Atlantic first pays high dividend as more wind is expected for the
>leaders. Just a few hours difference can turn into enough miles for leading yachts to disappear over the
>horizon. All of the fleet should pass La Palma into the Atlantic today, raising spinnakers which should be
>flying for the foreseeable future. After days of confused weather systems, the Trade Winds are forecast to
>re-establish over the coming days. Downwind racing, surfing down Atlantic rollers with the sun on your back
>– it doesn’t get a lot better than that.
>
>
>Received: from INT at Globe Wireless;
>Mon, 01 Dec 2014 22:59 UTC
>Message-id: 341996068
Received: from MPD at Globe Wireless;
Tue, 02 Dec 2014 03:21 UTC
Message-id: 342074088