Artemis TRANSAT - Class 40

THE Artemis TRANSAT - Class 40s : Remarkable comeback by Boris Herrmann - Giovanni Soldini still leader

The 11 Class40 yachts in The Artemis Transat have made a general trend to the south, mirroring the IMOCA Open 60 fleet, 260 miles further west into the North Atlantic. Race leader Giovanni Soldini started his port gybe south mid-afternoon yesterday and pulled out of this dive shortly before the position poll blackout was lifted at 0600GMT this morning. Second place Appart’ City tailed Soldini throughout the night, matching Telecom Italia’s pre-dawn gybe as the wind moved slightly NNE. “He was a little bit more downwind so he catch me up a little bit in the night,” said Soldini this morning of Yvan Noblet’s shadow tactics just to the south of Telecom Italia. The French skipper maintains he is not intentionally hounding Soldini: “I’m not really racing only Telecom Italia,” he explained this morning. “My tactics are more driven by the weather forecast.” Both of the leading pair agree that the forthcoming meteo forecast will be challenging. “I think the next 48 hours will be tricky,” Soldini predicts, “as there is a system with very little wind ahead and the fleet behind will catch up, but this is part of the racing.”

But for the moment, Noblet is just enjoying sailing Appart’ City: “Everything is going really well on board,” he reported via satellite phone earlier. “The weather is calm and I’m gliding along with the spinnaker up and as the pilot is handling the boat well, I can get plenty of rest.” There is one dark cloud on Noblet’s horizon: “I’ve just run out of fresh food, so it’s time to start with the freeze dried variety.” At dawn, Soldini lead Appart’ City by 15 miles and has manageded to squeeze a further mile ahead throughout the day. The most remarkable 24 hours in the fleet belong to Boris Herrmann on Beluga Racer. Yesterday evening the German skipper languished in 10th place, exhausted by a bout of flu, under canvassed and sleeping off a fever. Overnight, Herrmann came back to life, climbing the position poll to 3rd, nine miles behind Appart’ City and has averaged the highest 24 hour speed in the fleet at 9.3 knots: “I slept in the cockpit in the big breeze to be able to steer when I needed to and I steer a lot.” For Hermann, the future tactical options are simple: “I’ll stick to the layline, straight to the ice gate. After that, I don’t know yet. For now its just straight on.”
There is no major winning advantage of being north or south in the fleet with most of the boats averaging between 7-8 knots over the past 24 hours, although the race backmarker, Benoit Parnaudeau, was making best speed nearest the low pressure system at midday, averaging 10 knots and trailing Soldini by 98 miles in 20 knots of breeze under spinnaker. Having informed the race office that he had just taken his first shower of the race, Parnaudeau may have a psychological advantage. Although VMG is vital, the fleet’s focus is the next 48 hours. “I had a really easy start to this race, very spoilt really,” said Miranda Merron on 40 Degrees sailing in 11-15 knots north of Parnaudeau. “I’m trying to catch sleep whenever I can, driving whenever I can, then put the pilot on and it’s doing a good job.” Currently streaking up the rankings from 9th to 5th place, just 9 miles behind Thierry Bouchard on Mistral Loisirs - Pole Santé ELIOR, Merron is preparing physically and mentally for the next few days; “I think it will be hard to get through the light area and it’s a really important transition zone. Not sure how to tackle things in two days time yet, but I’m totally settled into race and loving it.”
The race leader, Giovanni Soldini, has predicted that the fleet is likely to compress in the light patch and it is possible that the race may ’restart’ in mid-Atlantic...just as the position blackout comes into force on Friday evening, heightening the tactical tension within the Class40s.