Transat Trials: The lead trimaran is about 1700 miles from Boston, and the lead Open 60 monohull has got about 1850. Directly between them is a fast-moving depression–packing winds of 40 knots or more, and nasty seas–which the fleet will be forced to sail directly through. The last time this happened, in the 2002 Route De Rhum, there was carnage all over the place, with boats breaking apart one after another. It’s not as if life has been easy so far. A bunch of trimarans have been reporting collisions with floating debris, and even a whale (though no major damage yet). Plus, it’s been almost all upwind so far, which is by far the most miserable point of sail for these sensitive boats. Yves Parlier’s radical hydroplaning cat, seems to be suffering most. He’s already more than 300 miles behind the multihull leader, former Vendee Globe winner Michel Desjoyeaux. Uh, Yves, maybe you better stick to downwind events in that thing. At least our buddy, Joe Harris on Wells Fargo-American Pioneer, knows how to deal with the sh*t weather, reporting “I have made the first of my favorite night watch beverage-instant coffee, cocoa, Parmelat milk and a splash of Jameson’s Irish Whiskey to buck me up to go on deck in the dark and cold and rain.” There are very few situations in life that a dash of Jameson’s can’t improve…



“Great, I’ve only got to do this for another, oh, 2000 miles…”