Transat Jacques Vabre–Pasted!: There is a gale pounding the French coast with 30-40 knot winds, and the TJV organizers have wisely postponed the 60-foot trimaran start until Wednesday. That wasn’t much comfort for the Open 60 monohull fleet, which started on Saturday, and sailed straight into the brunt of the storm. Butchers bill so far: one boat lost its keel, and the two man crew had to be airlifted to safety by helicopter; a second boat was dismasted; seven boats had to put into port with a variety of glithces and breakage; and 6 have withdrawn from the race. Ahh, deep ocean shorthanded racing. It’s probably one of the most brutal sports on earth. Here’s what the sailors have to say:

“It’s impossible to sleep on the boat,” said Alex Thomson on Open 60 Sill over the sat phone: “We haven’t slept for more than 3 hours in total since the start. The boat bangs down on each wave and the seas are difficult. Other than that I am having a great time sailing with Bilou, and this boat is the right one to be on in these conditions…” “The sea is still pretty huge with 6m crests and crossed seas off Ushant. There’s 38 knots of wind and I can hardly speak to my co-skipper Olivier because there is too much noise around us!” said Regis Guillemot on Open 50 Storagetek. Brian Thompson on Ecover sounded out of breath on the satellite phone: “Its been another rough night with 30-35 knots. We’re jumping over waves and heading over the continental shelf, which normally has big waves. We can’t see them, but we can definitely feel them. Last night Sam Davies on Team Cowes was finally able to send in his first report from the boat: “It has been a bit rough (understatement of the year) but it didn’t feel dangerous at any point. I was knocked off the helm a couple of times by some big waves that just lifted me up as they swept down the deck. I was clipped on, of course, so managed to get back to the helm before she crashed tacked. (something that would take at least a quarter of an hour to recover from) It has been really close…I could hear some of the others around in the night doing manoeuvres, trimming sails…which was a bit weird. The boat’s been shaken around a lot – one of the solar panels on the stern has ripped off and some kit down below has literally been shaken from the fittings but apart from that we are in good shape and looking forward to when the conditions may ease a bit later tomorrow.”

Conditions are finally easing today, and the two-man crews are settling into their routines for the long run to Brazil. Britain’s ECOVER has a 12.5 mile lead as the boats head towards the Bay of Biscay…..



“I say, Jack, is this thing a boat or a submarine?…..”