The breakaway trio, Safran, Mike Golding Yacht Racing and Groupe Bel continue to profit from the excellent conditions through Sunday, all seeing the speed readouts peaking over 20 knots for periods as the they relish wind, sun and high speeds.
 
      Their Sunday has been a time to re-group, catch up on repairs but most of all simply making sure the pace does not drop off.
As the distance remaining of the 4730 miles course from Le Havre to Costa Rica counted down under 3000 today, Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier’s Safran has continued to be a little faster than her pursuers, opening up a lead of 53.7 miles on the British-Spanish duo on Mike Golding Yacht Racing, whilst Kito de Pavant and Francois Gabart is just a little more than 12 miles behind.

      The threesome are sprinting south with a cushion of 134 miles back to the British crew on Hugo Boss, Alex Thomson and Ross Daniel, and the best part of 300 miles ahead of the best of the southern group, Foncia. Michel Desjoyeaux and Jeremie Beyou lie eighth.
Golding, pointing out that Safran was still no more than three hours ahead of him, remarked that he felt the three runaways have themselves a ‘glamour hand’, but that there are no guarantees. The current routings today sees a more northerly course still paying off, with a much more southerly option still bringing that southerly groups in 200 miles behind the leading trio as they enter the Caribbean Sea, but the weather predictions further down the track are changing all the time.

     For all that IMOCA Open 60 skippers usually have just about everything paced by or matched to their powerfully computed data collection and analysis, such have been the effects of the recent storms that several are reduced to first principles, setting sail area by what they see with their eyes, judging wind speed and sea state, rather than being able to take the real and predicted windspeeds off the computer and match them to their known sail cross-over charts. Golding today said that his speedo was simply how they are doing against their rivals: “We are doing our best to hold on to Safran,” said Golding, “But we are struggling a bit in terms of just knowing where we are, particularly going downhill. We kind of forget how reliant we are on our systems to give us advice on our sail plans and all that, and now here we are just trying to judge whether we have enough or not. Sometimes we are right and sometimes we are wrong. It is quite hard to gauge it, and to some extent we are using them to measure it, if they are faster we push harder…and if they are lower…..well we push even harder!”

      For Sam Davies and Sidney Gavignet on 11th placed Artemis, they have been getting towards the end of their long jobs list, one which has left them exhausted and which Gavignet said this morning has cost them many miles, not least 20 hours or so trying to sort out their mainsail problems.

Quotes:

Mike Golding, GBR, (Mike Golding Yacht Racing):
“ We always sort of had a game plan for this race, where we wanted to be at a certain time and place in the racecourse, and so we are very happy with where we are. We don’t like that Safran has pulled away a little bit overnight, but that is just one of those things, but in real terms she is just three hours in front of us and really that is not so bad.”
“What we want to do is make sure we are in a good, attacking position going to the Caribbean Sea which will present some different options to make an attack on Safran. I certainly think we can, and I certainly think there may even be some conditions down the race course which could favour our boat, and maybe have a little bit of an edge.
I think there is some opportunities for compression in the future, but the reality is that we have been dealt a glamour hand, us three boats, Bel, Safran and Mike Golding Yacht Racing, it does look like if the gate does not exactly close behind us, it does make it quite hard for them to keep up, because of the way that the weather is closing the door behind us, but as near as dammit.”

Marc Guillemot (FRA) Safran:
“I would like it to be a bit calmer for the last part of the race: we must meantime build a bigger distance from Kito de Pavant and Mike Golding. We have to remain on guard because they are two excellent competitors! We haven’t find a solution for the mainsail but we have decided to continue the race with this little problem and maybe find a solution near the Antilles. The weather conditions are pretty good but we are still wet : we are almost all the time under the cuddy : on the boat it’s like being next to a big geyser…Actually we’re going faster : I think that we could arrive to Puerto Limon at the end of next week.”

Charles Caudrelier Bénac (FRA), Safran:
“It is not yet the trade winds, but they’re not far off. Tomorrow, we should be in them. I must admit that Marc and I are both looking forward to getting some fresh air outside on the deck without getting completely soaked.” 
“We had one particularly tricky moment on Thursday night, which really stood out. The leeward rudder kicked up and the boat swung around into the direction of the wind, with the mainsail flapping.  It was torn about 50 centimetres along the leech. It was not easy fixing the rudder back with tons of water crashing over the deck, but we managed to get the repair done quickly.” “As we’re sailing downwind, the tear isn’t really having any effect. What counts for the moment is extending our lead if possible. We’re not even halfway through the race yet and everyone knows that the end of the voyage in the Gulf of Mexico can be very difficult to predict”.
“We knew our route was going to be tough. We never did anything silly and when the emergency beacon was triggered on BT, that was a particularly difficult time for us. But this route was clearly the fastest, and it was the only way to go. We made a strategic choice remaining fully confident in our boat,”
“We’re already looking at where to go between all the islands. We’ve got an idea in the back of our mind, but I can’t tell you anything more.  I can just say that we’re going to have to gybe and then after that, it should almost be a straight run.”

 
       The lightweight, radical chined Safran is clearly in her stride,  an IMOCA Open 60 widely admired by the peers and rivals of skipper Marc Guillemot since her launch, making a further 10 miles on Golding and Javier Sanso since yesterday morning, but it is pleasing to see three skippers who no one would deny a measure of good fortune to any of them, spearheading the vanguard as they streak south towards the Caribbean.

      Guillemot was the peoples’ humanitarian hero of the Vendée Globe, struggling home to a great third making the final 1000 miles with no keel, after having bravely stood by during the rescue of his badly injured friend Yann Elies.
Golding was cruelly robbed of the Vendée race lead when his mast tumbled in the South Indian Ocean in a 65 knot squall and few will forget the emotional images of Bel’s tough guy Kito de Pavant in pieces after his race ended so suddenly, less than 48 hours in.

      All three leading crews have shown the guts, experience and seamanship to get the balance right on the northerly routing and today can enjoy the fruits of their endeavours, even if they go on to prove transient.

      Safran, peaking at 22 knots on this morning’s early Sunday schedule, now has 51 miles over Mike Golding and Javier Sanso and has been consistently a knot or so quicker. The British boat in turn had stretched on Groupe Bel but by a smaller margin.

      Safran’s Charles Caudrelier Bénac reported excellent conditions this morning, anticipating getting a gennaker up later in the day, racing in around 20 knots of breeze.

 Alex Thomson (GBR) Hugo Boss:
“We were near as dammit beam reaching, about 12 knots, and the sea was getting pretty enormous, I was sat at the nav station, Ross was sat in the cuddy, I can only describe it as if you can imagine being, doing 12 knots if you imagine the boat suddenly being hit by a bulldozer. We basically got knocked down by a breaking wave. I got thrown across the boat, I did not know what the hell was going on, bashed my head, it was pretty sacry, I have never experienced anything like it to be honest, and unfortunately because of that episode, with the boat basically being picked up and pushed sideways it broke our daggerboard.”

   Alex Thomson and Ross Daniel have lost some miles on Hugo Boss, some of which Thomson attributed this morning to the after effects of something close to a knock down when their IMOCA Open 60 was bodily picked up and thrown by a huge wave. The British skipper was flung across the cabin from the nav station and a daggerboard was smashed. Since they have swapped boards and the duo are in good shape, he confirmed racing at 100% to regain the distance lost to the leading trio.

      In fifth Yves Parlier and Pachi Rivero have made steady progress in the north, whilst Roland Jourdain and Jean-Luc Nelias on Veolia Environnement remain ahead of Aviva despite their pit-stop in the Azores yesterday afternoon which cost them about 150 miles.

      Of the easterly group Michel Desjoyeaux and Jeremie Beyou on Foncia have recovered 40 miles on the leaders since yesterday as they sail a converging course across the high pressure ridge to break into same weather pattern as the leading trio.
 

Quotes
Charles Caudrelier Bénac (FRA),  Safran:
“It’s going fast and the sea is flat. It is very pleasant. The wind is not too strong, about 20 knots, and we hop to be under spinnaker before the end of the day. We need to get things dry. Everything is wet. We spent much of yesterday going over the boat.
In my opinion the guys in the south will be able to get into the same system as us but they should not succeed in getting past us, except if we break something of course.
In the north it is similar, and so we do think the battle should be between us, Mike Golding and the Laughing Cow. But, that’s OK just now, we are a long way from the finish, we have not even done half the course. It was certainly tough the way we went. Half of the boats had problems, and it would not surprise me.”

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Demanding conditions and the loss of a wind instrument have made for a testing fourth
night onboard Aviva for Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson. The British duo is, however, still within the leading pack of the IMOCA Open 60 class due to their determination and team work. 

With the strong winds and difficult conditions set to last for the next 48 hours, Caffari and Thompson will need to draw on their combined experience to make the best of the situation until they can safely attempt to execute a full repair.

Harry Spedding, Aviva Ocean Racing Campaign Manager added:  “Last night Dee and Brian were racing in over 40 knots of wind and big Atlantic swell.  Just before dusk one of the two wind instruments at the top of the mast was literally flicked off with the force of movement.  The other
instrument has been playing up.  Of course any boat can be sailed without these instruments, but it makes racing a whole lot harder.  

“Dee and Brian would have been relying on the instruments to ease the decision making on both course and sail choice.  With the Wind Direction showing, a tactical shift in the wind can help to make gains towards the finish; with the Wind Speed showing the choice of sail is made obvious.  With neither of these two things working Dee and Brian will be relying much more on their
experience to make the decisions of sail choice.

 “When one of the two people onboard is resting, the other is on deck.  When they are not driving the boat they are trimming the sails, and when they trim the sails for speed the autopilot will drive.  Normally this would be set on a Wind Angle setting, so that the boat remains on a course relative to the wind.  With no wind instruments the pilot can drive the boat on the compass setting, it is just less efficient.

 Dee and Brian will today try and make a patch up that will last the next few days.  However they will not be back up to speed for a couple of days, when the sea state may drop enough to allow one of them to go to the top of the mast and effect a proper repair.”

The 10h00 race ranking positioned Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson, onboard Aviva , in sixth place, 57.8 miles behind race leader BT .

Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson’s latest diary entry received on 12 November 2009 at 0825 GMT :

“ It is difficult to write today as it is so bumpy. We have been through many squalls of 40 knots in the last night-time hours. We were waiting to tack when the time was right like so many of our little group we have found ourselves sailing with. We knew it was right when we saw a little shift and also in the position reports everyone else had also tacked, now we just needed a window of opportunity, that was a light patch to do our manoeuvre in. 

I was grateful there are two of us because nothing seems so bad with two. 35 knots saw us tack
and that was the last we knew about the wind as we no longer have a wand at the top of the mast. Ignorance is bliss and without the numbers the squalls were not as bad. The pitch dark squalls had some clear skies between them and we struggled with the stars through the cascades of sea water stinging our eyes. We were struggling to see stars from vessel lights or maybe we are just a
little fatigued .”

Dee and Brian

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At 13:30 GMT today, British sailing duo Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson made a strong start to the 4,800 mile Transat Jacques Vabre race from Le Havre , France to Costa Rica onboard the Open 60 yacht Aviva. This is the last competitive race in the IMOCA calendar, and brings together some of the rivals from the epic Vendée Globe round the world race which saw Caffari finish sixth out of 30 starters to become the first woman to sail solo, non-stop, both ways around the world.

 Before departing Le Havre Caffari said:

“It’s great to be back competing against several of the skippers that took part in Vendée Globe – with so many experienced sailors and high speed boats this is guaranteed to be an exciting race both to follow and participate in. I’m really looking forward to sailing with Brian as co-skipper – we’re determined to put in a good show for the British!” 

Brian Thompson added:

“We’ve been pushing ourselves pretty hard these last few weeks and now it’s time to put the training into practice. We’re looking forward to pushing Aviva to the limit and being as competitive as we can within such a strong fleet. The thought of the sunnier climes of Costa Rica waiting for us at the finish is definitely something to look forward to as well!”

Joining Caffari, Thompson and Aviva on the start line, were 13 other Open 60 racing yachts of which three are British. It is the first time Caffari and Thompson have sailed two-handed together, having been rivals throughout the 2008 / 09 edition of the Vendée Globe.

The Transat Jacques Vabre has twenty entries in total assembled from two different sailing classes – the Imoca Open 60 monohulls and the Open 50 multihulls. Previous editions of the race have concluded in either Brazil or Columbia with Costa Rica added for the first time this year. The new route will take the fleet across the Caribbean Sea, requiring both tactics and the ability to adapt to changing weather conditions, with the possibility of a light wind finish in the Western Caribbean Sea or even the tail end of a late season hurricane.

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On Sunday 8 November, British sailing duo Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson will start in the ninth edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre race from France to Costa Rica , onboard the Open 60 racing yacht Aviva. The Transat Jacques Vabre will be the first competitive race since the epic Vendée Globe round the world race which saw Caffari finish sixth out of 30 starters to become the first woman to sail solo, non-stop, both ways around the world.

Joining Caffari, Thompson and Aviva on the start line, will be 13 other Open 60 racing yachts of which 11 competed in the Vendée Globe and three are British. The 4800-mile course, following the historic coffee trade route, will be the first time Caffari and Thompson have sailed two-handed together having been rivals throughout the 2008 / 09 edition of the Vendée Globe.

Dee Caffari said:

“I can’t wait to be back out on the water racing Aviva and the opportunity to sail with Brian as co-skipper is fabulous. We were so close to each other during the Vendée Globe it’s as if we’ve already spent a lot of time sailing together. We’re determined to pull off a great performance for the British”

Brian Thompson added:

“We have a quick boat and get on well together so I believe we will be competitive out there. With so many new Open 60s racing it is going to be intense, but very exciting.”

The Transat Jacques Vabre has twenty entries in total assembled from two different sailing classes – the Imoca Open 60 monohulls and the Open 50 multihulls. Previous editions of the race have concluded in either Brazil or Columbia with Costa Rica added for the first time this year. The new route will take the fleet across the Caribbean Sea, requiring both tactics and the ability to adapt to changing weather conditions, with the possibility of a light wind finish in the Western Caribbean Sea or even the tail end of a late season hurricane.

Aviva, the world’s fifth largest insurance group, has supported Caffari since 2005 and announced a new partnership with Caffari last month as the racing team’s founding partner. Dee is now actively searching for a new title sponsor to support her 2012 Vendée Globe campaign.

Dee Caffari

 At 13:13 (GMT) on 16 February 2009, Dee Caffari completed a double world first by crossing the official finish line of the Vendée Globe yacht race after 99 days to become the first woman to sail solo, non-stop both ways around the world.

Round Britain and Ireland Record

On 22nd June 2009 Dee Caffari and an all female crew, including fellow British yachtswoman and Vendée Globe race rival Samantha Davies set a new record for sailing around Britain and Ireland – 6 days, 11 hours, 30 minutes and 53 seconds. This was 17 hours and 16 minutes ahead of the previous record set in May 2004 onboard Solune.

Brian Thompson

Finishing fifth in the last Vendée Globe onboard Bahrain Team Pindar, this British yachtsman exudes quiet determination. Brian Thompson has an exceptional ability to adapt to a variety of circumstances and knows how to get the most out of everything that floats.

Brian has become a key crew member on a large number of both mono-hull and multi-hull boats and among his many achievements are the Oryx Quest 2005, taking the role of watch leader on the round the world record in 2004 on Cheyenne and the Columbus Route the previous year on PlayStation.

In recent years, Brian has sailed a great deal with his compatriot Mike Golding and raced the Artemis Challenge and the Rolex Fastnet race this summer with Dee Caffari and her crew onboard Aviva, finishing 5th in both events. Rightly considered one of the most experienced sailors on the international scene and holder of 25 sailing records, Brian will be looking forward to joining forces with Dee and racing with her rather than against her.

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While a line honours victory for Mike Slade’s 100ft super-maxi ICAP Leopard might seem obvious, the brand new Hong Kong 80-footer Beau Geste of Karl Kwok is closing on them. At 03:00 GMT this morning they were 35 miles behind and by 14:00GMT were only 24 miles astern. Over the course of the late morning and early afternoon the smaller boat was occasionally sailing three knots faster down the course.

The reason, according to round the world race veteran, Steve Hayles, navigator on Niklas Zennström’s Ran 2, is that the boats astern of ICAP Leopard have enjoyed stronger wind from the northwest. “This breeze built from behind, it came down from the Fastnet Rock, so it has been a bad bit of timing for them. It was just unfortunate. We have more headed breeze and more of it. But to be honest we are suffering the same thing with the two STP65s behind us. We feel pretty happy with what we have done. We have stopped the rot here recently.”

Hayles says they are expecting the wind to veer towards the north in the next six to ten hours and to go light. “The breeze is going to drop below ten knots for sure. We will go around Bishop Rock at about 18:00 GMT. The last 90 miles to the finish, the routing has us doing it in nine hours, but my own thinking is that it is going to take 14.” So a breakfast time arrival in Plymouth. Significantly, and regardless of the slow finish, Hayles is quietly confident of Ran 2 winning under IRC handicap, which she is leading at present.

The IMOCA 60s still remain in contention, with BT IMOCA 60 around 22 miles astern of Beau Geste. Despite being sailed doublehanded, this afternoon she has overtaken the fully-crewed Artemis Ocean Racing. The first IMOCA 60s are expected home tomorrow mid-morning.

Since yesterday the cycle of the wind has changed phase and while en route from Land’s End to the Fastnet Rock yesterday, the fastest boats were heading north awaiting a shift to get them west; today the bulk of the fleet has been heading west waiting for a shift to get them north. Some of the outbound boats have even taken the unorthodox approach of going to the west of the Scilly Isles, rather than the conventional shorter course to their east. Many have been heading so far west that the faster boats returning from the Rock, have seen them coming the opposite way. “Earlier this morning we saw several. I am surprised to see quite so many – it is a pretty aggressive punt out to the west for those boats,” said Hayles.

One of the boats heading out west was Tanguy de LaMotte’s Initiatives Saveurs-Novedia Group, the new leader in the Class 40. According to Papua New Guinean round the world sailor Liz Wardley who is sailing on board, they were obliged to dive so heavily west because of the wind direction. “We had a huge lift on starboard, more than we expected and so we really had to wait for a huge knock before we could tack over. So yes, we are quite far west.” They finally tacked back to the north at around midday.

“We are hoping the wind is going to lift us a little bit more, so we can make the Fastnet in one tack, because we are 10 degrees low,” continued Wardley, adding that at around 15:30 GMT they had 16-17 knots from the west, with the wind building the further north they sailed.

Further behind, Katie Miller and Hannah Jenner, two-handed on Miller’s Beneteau Figaro 2, Hot Socks, were enjoying the conditions off Land’s End. There the wind was southwest and Miller was hoping that it wouldn’t build as they are unable to use their water ballast at present since the pump “has just died”.

They are recovering from a difficult first night when they had to make two attempts to anchor off Portland Bill in 45m of water. If getting the anchor down was a problem, getting it up for the two of them was even harder, the operation taking more than 45 minutes. “We are going to be muscle women by the time we get back,” commented Miller, who says that the Rolex Fastnet Race is personally proving to be as tough as the singlehanded transatlantic race she completed recently. “The race is so short compared to the Atlantic that you are constantly pushing the boat as hard as you can, so you almost sleep less than you would on your own.”

In terms of the handicap standings, little has changed since this morning in the larger classes where Ran 2 remains ahead in Class SZ. La Floresta del Mar leads Class Z three quarters of the way towards the Fastnet Rock, while Codiam is first in IRC 1, half way to the Rock. However HOD35 Malice has taken over the lead in Class 2, despite a large dig out to the west , with David Lees’ High Tension 36, Hephzibah ahead in Class 3, the latter 10 miles northwest of the Scilly Isles.

The latest forecast indicates that the first boat home will be ICAP Leopard, sometime before dawn tomorrow.

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First away, punching into the last of the flood tide, were the IMOCA 60s. With their ‘big gear’ unfurled seconds before the start, it was Dee Caffari’s Aviva that made the most positive start towards the pin end. However she was soon overhauled by Seb Josse on BT IMOCA 60 sailing in slightly better breeze on the island side of the course. By the 1430GMT position report, the leading IMOCA 60s were already halfway across Christchurch Bay with Mike Sanderson’s Pindar leading, narrowly ahead of Aviva, BT and Arnaud Boissieres’ Akena Verandas.

With the tide having turned favourable to flush the remaining classes west, it was the small IRC classes that were next up. By the 1430 update they too were out through the Needles, with David Lees’ High Tension 36 Hephzibah leading from the 2005 Rolex Fastnet Race winner Iromiguy, Jean-Yves Chateau’s Nicholson 33 in IRC 3B, just ahead of David Collins’ Swan 43 Cisne, leader in IRC 3A.

For the boats heading west down the Solent, the transition to the south westerly breeze occurred for most off Yarmouth resulting in a short lull before they were put hard on the wind. Fortunately the boats were driven west towards the new breeze by the tide.

With the largest boats catching up the smaller ones, Christchurch Bay was becoming grid-locked mid-afternoon, with the IRC 2 leaders David McLeman’s J/109 Offbeat and David Walter’s J/39 Jackdaw having cruised most of the way through the Class 3 fleet, as had Jacques Pelletier’s X-43 L’Ange de Milon and Andrew Jackson’s First 40.7 Genie, leading their respective halves of IRC 1.

Despite having started an hour later than the IRC 3 boats, even the IRC Zero fleet had caught up, with John Shepherd’s Ker 46 Fair Do’s VII leading on the water from Jack Pringle’s Farr 45 Fraxious.  

In their planning of the starts, the Royal Ocean Racing Club had left the best to last. On schedule at 1440 BST, it was the turn of the Class 40s to take their start with the breeze still from the east. Here it was the two Verdier designs, Giovanni Soldini’s Telecom Italia and the Felippe Cubillos’ Chilean yacht Desafio Cabo de Hornos which made the best starts. By the time they exited the Solent Soldini was tied for the lead with Andrew Dawson’s Spliff and Mike West’s Kerlaria.

Five to six miles short of St Alban’s Head, at 1600GMT Tanguy de LaMotte reported from the Class 40 Initiatives Saveurs – Novedia Group that they were upwind, albeit port tack favoured, and that having put in a few tacks to get offshore they were making 5-6 knots, but the wind was slowly dying on them.

Finally there came the biggest boats in the fleet, led off the line by Mike Slade’s towering Rolex Fastnet Race record holder, the 100ft super-maxi, ICAP Leopard. Luna Rossa, with Flavio Flavini helming and Volvo Ocean Race winner Torben Grael on tactics, followed in their wake with Niklas Zennstrom’s Ran 2 leading Karl Kwok’s Farr 80, Beau Geste up the mainland side.

By the 1500 update, ICAP Leopard had already pulled ahead of all the IRC boats with only the IMOCA 60s ahead of her on the water. Among the Mini Maxis Beau Geste, thanks to her longer waterline length, had pulled ahead of Ran 2 and the STP65s Luna Rossa and Rosebud/Team DYT, although probably not enough to lead on corrected time.

Prior to the start America’s Cup helmsman and Beau Geste skipper Gavin Brady, for whom this is his third Rolex Fastnet Race, said that they were still on a “steep learning curve phase” with their newly launched boat. “We have had the opportunity to do three races this week which was good for us to learn the boat, but it is never fun, when you have a brand new boat, to look at the scoreboard at the end of it. So we know from on board the boat that we have a lot more speed to get out of it, but like any new boat at the moment there is a long list of things to do to get there. If the Rolex Fastnet Race was in one month’s time we’d be a lot better off.”

Like the other Mini Maxis, Beau Geste has a very strong crew including former Luna Rossa helmsman Francesco de Angelis and from Volvo Ocean Race winner Ericsson 4, New Zealanders David Endean and Phil  Jameson.

In the Rolex Fastnet Race, Beau Geste has the second highest IRC rating, to ICAP Leopard, but given the newness of the boat Brady felt it unlikely they would be nipping at heels of ‘the big cat’.  “We are very respectful of the fact that they are 100-foot long with a canting keel. ICAP Leopard would have to have a pretty bad race and we’d have to have an extraordinary good race to beat them; but this race has seen strange things before and you have to navigate the Celtic Sea and the currents. I think we have an outside shot, but the rating tells the story: they owe us seven minutes an hour.”

The 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race could well be decided this evening as the wind drops and the majority of the fleet struggle to make it around Portland Bill without having to kedge.

Two handed Division

One of the strongest sub-divisions of the Rolex Fastnet Race fleet are the two handed, twenty eight boats sailing just two up. The 2007 winners in the class, Simon Curwen and Paul Peggs, both former Mini Transat competitors, aboard Curwen’s J/105, Voador, made a strong start in Class 2, alone in gybing early towards the island side.

Many will be following up-and-coming British solo sailing star Katie Miller, freshly returned from the singlehanded transatlantic race in her Beneteau Figaro 2, Hot Socks, which she is racing two handed in Class 1 with fellow solo sailor Hannah Jenner. Miller very nearly didn’t make the Rolex Fastnet Race start when some delamination was discovered in Hot Socks’ keel structure. Her boat was only relaunched yesterday thanks to some 11^th hour assistance by Endeavour Quay in Gosport.

Despite the last minute panic, Miller was looking forward to a light wind race. “Last year the only IRC race I won my class in was when we had a really light crossing going to Cherbourg. So a bit of light upwind conditions to the Fastnet and some stronger downwind conditions back to Plymouth – that should work well for us.”

 

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Dee Caffari and her all female crew onboard Aviva crossed the finish line at 0840 hrs this morning to break the record for sailing around Britain and Ireland by 17 hours and 16 minutes. The journey took them 6 days, 11 hours, 30 minutes and 53 seconds.

Skipper Dee Caffari commented:

“The outright speed record was always our goal and I am ecstatic that we accomplished our aim. In sport, as in many areas of life, choosing the right team is vital to success and over the last six days, Aviva has had a strong, focussed team aboard pushing her every inch of the course. We have all given it 110% and clear communication has played a key part in this achievement. It has very much been a team effort and having the other three girls with me has been a blast.”

The all female crew left Gosport last Monday 15^th June and crossed the official start line off Ventnor on the Isle of Wight at 21:09:36, before embarking anti-clockwise on their 2500 mile journey. With changeable conditions throughout the record attempt, Caffari and her crew slipped either side of the required record pace on a daily basis. A high pressure front in the English Channel saw Aviva slow significantly with 450 miles to go but, with enough distance banked under the more favourable weather conditions, Caffari and her crew were able to maintain a sufficient lead to finish inside of the required record pace.

Samantha Davies added:

“It was fantastic to be onboard Aviva for this record breaking trip. We pushed ourselves and the boat hard but it was definitely worth it to finish inside the record. I think I’m almost as exhausted after this trip as I was after the Vendée Globe – although that’s probably as much from the constant chatting as the sailing!”

Joining Caffari and Davies on board Aviva for the record were fellow Brits, offshore sailor Miranda Merron and boat captain Alex Sizer. In the process of breaking the outright record, Caffari and her crew also set a record time for an all female crew. The previous record had stood at 10 days and 16 hours and was set by Samantha Davies and her crew onboard Roxy in June 2007.

CONGRATULATIONS DEE, SAM, MIRANDA AND ALEX

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Aviva (Photo by Gareth Cooke, Subzero Images)

 

 

 

Day Six: Round Britain and Ireland record attempt 

Dee Caffari and her all female crew aboard Aviva have the record for sailing around Britain and Ireland firmly in their sights as they passed the Scilly Isles this morning. With just 218 miles to go and although the crew anticipate variable winds as they enter the English Channel today, they are still on track to reach the finish line before 0100hrs Tuesday morning. Entering the English Channel will also mean a return to dodging shipping, lobster pots and the effects of land and tides will be a constant over the next 24 hours or more.  

At 0800 hrs this morning, skipper Dee Caffari commented:

“We will have good breeze for the next 3 hours and then it is going to become more variable, so we are expecting a bit of a slow down as we enter the English Channel. We are also back to the tidal and land effects as we dodge shipping on our way to the finish line. We are all far too superstitious to say whether we think we are going to beat the record but are giving it our all and spirits are high.” 

Although the girls were not prepared to comment, the Aviva Ocean Racing shore team calculated their finish time to be anytime between 0600 and 0800hrs Monday morning. 

At 0800 hrs (BST) this morning, Caffari and her all female crew were passing the Isles of Scilly.

 

 

 

 

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