Calais Round Britain Race - Day 1

On the fast train to the Scillies?

Just over 28 hours into the Calais Round Britain Race, and already the leaders have managed to break away from the bulk of the fleet, some 140 miles off the pace. Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux) has a five mile lead over Vincent Riou (PRB) at the 2000 hour rankings, while Dominique Wavre (Temenos) has slipped back another 8 miles or so in the past 4 hours and Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) over 30 miles over the same period.

Wavre will be trying desperately to find a vein of wind to enable him to hang onto the front wagon of the runaway train en route for the Scillies, whilst Stamm seems to be tumbling back into the chasing group tonight. Roxy, Akena Verandas, Delta Dore and Maisonneuve have all lost ground since the 1600 hours ranking, Aviva nevertheless holding its own in fifth place and Artemis Ocean Racing not poled.

At nightfall this evening the leading duo… or trio… are likely to round the Scilly Isles, off South West England, bringing to an end their time in the Channel. Tomorrow evening may be a great opportunity for the general fleet to bunch up again off Western Ireland. In the meantime, this first day of fog and calm have been rich in emotion of all kinds.

Update from Artemis Racing:

“We had a good start yesterday. The conditions were pretty unpleasant to say the least; even the start line was difficult to see. It was quite a daunting task lining up in the fog and ripping tide, but we got ourselves in a good position and had a clean start with the A2 spinnaker (beautiful big white one with the Artemis logo on) and full mainsail. After the start, the racing was very close and very intense especially as the visibility dropped to less than a boat length. There were also hundreds of ferries and ships careering around in the murk which made things interesting. We spent a lot of time using the AIS (Automatic Identification System – used to see shipping traffic) and radar because we were effectively sailing totally blind.

A couple of times another Open 60 would pop out of nowhere either directly in front or directly behind us so we had to make sure that we were on the ball, so that we would not have any shockers. We rounded Cap Gris Nez and the fog lifted completely and out in front of us we counted five boats. As we cleared the fog the rest of the fleet emerged one by one – which was very cool, and we worked out that we were in sixth position. The coastline down to Boulogne was bathed in sunshine and in totally different weather to Calais. We then had to gybe into the channel after the Boulogne buoy and head for the next waypoint – Bishop Rock, in the Scilly Isles.

This part of the race was always going to be very difficult and the weather was really confused and all over the place, so the pressure was really on. We took a different route than everybody else and sailed up VERY close to the UK shore as the light faded. At some points we were only doing 2 knots, and of course the fog came back!! Back to the radar again as there were plenty of ships mincing around. You are never quite sure whether you have gambled too hard in situations like that, and it was a great relief to find out this morning that it had paid off for us.

The race only has position reports in the day, so night time is quite stressful, and hard work trying to go fast and maintain your position. When the 0400 (French time) report came through we found ourselves in 3rd which was brilliant. Still a long way to go though, and the conditions are still very demanding and those positions will change all the time.

We are sailing this morning in sunny weather which makes a great change. There are several boats around us so today will be another full on mission. We are just south of the Isle of Wight right now and we have been discussing the possibility of popping in for a few drinks, but that will have to wait. All in all a great first day, and we are going to try our best to stay on the leader board.

That is all for now – I have to lie down!

Cheers, Jonny and the boys.”

Update from AVIVA:

Confidence high onboard AVIVA after Dee Caffari's first day of competitive Open 60 racing

Dee Caffari and her Open 60 yacht ‘Aviva’ are in the heart of the action after successfully completing their first 24 hours of competitive Open 60 racing. Caffari started the Calais Round Britain Race yesterday in unfavourable conditions with thick fog and light, fickle winds. However, as the wind built during the afternoon, Aviva found the power to stay in touch with the lead boats.

Overnight the conditions reverted to light, unpredictable winds and the leaders made good use of their extra speed, making a small break and creating two distinctive groups. Caffari, in the main pack, made the tactical move to head for more familiar waters off the south coast of the UK, along with the two other British boats Artemis and Roxy. As dawn broke, Caffari received the exciting news that Aviva was in 5th place ahead of both the other British boats and even two brand-new boats, which did not follow the same route.

This is a fantastic situation for the Aviva Ocean Racing team as the light winds overnight do not normally favour the boat’s age and design. The forecast of light wind for the next few days means the team will be using all the tricks in the book to ensure they lose as little distance on their rivals as possible, while they hope for stronger winds.

Dee Caffari said, “Morale onboard is very high at the moment as we are currently ahead of the boats of a similar generation to Aviva. To be in front of two of the latest Open 60s is very exciting. However, the forecast does not look favourable for us, as the lighter breeze may mean we may drop back a little in the fleet.”

After setting a world record last year sailing around the world against the prevailing winds and currents, Caffari is one of the newest recruits to the highly competitive world of Open 60 racing. The Calais Round Britain Race is her first step on a very steep learning curve towards achieving her ambition of competing in the Vendée Globe 2008/9 and becoming the first woman to sail around the world, solo, in both directions.

Update from Temenos:

A ghostly start to the race!

The Calais Round Britain Race yesterday set off at 1430 hours from Pas de Calais in North Eastern France. The start will doubtless go down in history as you had to be within 100 metres of the fleet to stand any chance of making out the majestic silhouettes of the eleven 60 foot Imoca monohulls participating in the event. The lack of visibility must have left a number of spectators hungry for a clear sighting of the fleet but it didn't stop the fleet from commencing battle. For his first participation, Dominique Wavre and crew, were at the front from the outset, vying for leadership with PRB (Vincent Riou). In the early morning, Jean Le Cam got a slight edge on the duo.

Questioned a few hours before the start, the skipper of TEMENOS focused on the likely pitfalls of this circumnavigation of the British Isles. "It’s a very interesting course. Most of it is likely to be raced in light winds. Such demanding weather conditions will require a huge amount of concentration from the crew and a fair few litres of coffee! We have already seen the relatively homogenous level of the fleet in this type of weather during the exhibition races, so we know that we're really going to have to be at our best in the first few hours of the race and above all hook onto the right wagon."

For the time being, we have achieved the initial goal for the first 24 hours of racing for TEMENOS, currently in 3rd position at the 1600 hour ranking (French time), having hooked onto the right wagon. Benefiting from more breeze at the head of the fleet, the first boats seemed to have significantly increased their lead over the past few hours. At 1600 hours, Aviva, then in 5th position, already had an 85 mile deficit on the leader. This number of miles after just 24 hours at sea, must be beginning to weigh heavy on the chasing pack, even though it looks likely that the leaders will hit a calm zone enabling those behind to make up some ground. However, in the next few hours, the leaders are likely to extend their lead further judging by the boat speeds at the 1600 hour ranking.

TEMENOS and Cheminées Poujoulat were positioned making 6 knots, whilst VM Matériaux and PRB were displaying 12 knots of boat speed; the latter clearly in a different pocket of air. Nevertheless, at less than 4 miles from PRB at the noon ranking, Dominique Wavre’s monohull didn’t appear to have been in the same wind system as these two predecessors, instead watching powerless as their two playmates made the most of the additional air.

At present, the Swiss team can but hope that a vein of wind quickly comes to extricate them from this zone, otherwise they may well have to face the price. We may get a hint of what's to come in the next ranking at 2000 hours…