Gearing-up for a blow

"So, I tried to anticipate the tacking and moved when the wind shifted a bit." This afternoon, Telecom Italia leads by 55 miles over Thierry Bouchard's Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR in 2nd - a loss of only 2 miles since the pre-blackout, pre-manoeuvre ranking at 1800GMT yesterday: "My course doesn't seem to be a complete disaster," he commented modestly. His current tactics are carefully considered and driven - to a great extent - by a high-pressure zone ahead of the fleet. "I think it might be better to pass the high pressure in front of us to the south," he explained. "Also, I think it will be good to be near 40° North after the light winds as maybe the wind will shift south or south-west, so it'll be easier to reach the gate."

In 4th place this afternoon, Yvan Noblet's pace has been slowed by a technical problem on board Appart' City: "I'm not getting any information from my masthead instruments," he told the race office this morning, "and I need to get up there and have a look." Although Noblet averaged the highest speed in the fleet pre-dawn at 9.3 knots, the Frenchman knows that a solution is vital: "I think to catch up with Thierry Bouchard and Boris Herrmann, I have to sort this out quickly as I'm not going as well upwind as them." Bouchard on Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR is currently 10 miles ahead of Noblet's yellow Class40 with Herrmann's Beluga Racer in 3rd, only 8 miles in front of Appart' City. The close fight between the French and German yachts remains tight: "I passed within 50 metres of Boris Herrmann last night as I took a starboard tack north," recounts Noblet. "I tried calling him on VHF, but no answer." As the fleet pass the halfway mark in The Artemis Transat, Noblet is in good shape for the remaining 1,300 miles: "I like it solo," he confirmed this morning. "Physically I'm feeling really fit and I'm ready for the second part of the race, but with the instrument problem, I feel a bit handicapped."

Noblet has scheduled a mast climb for this afternoon and hopefully he will fare better than Simon Clarke's high-altitude horror show after his jib halyard detached from the sail 15 minutes after a hoist: "I turned dead downwind as soon as it happened as I knew I had to climb the mast immediately as I could see some weather ahead. So, I piled up the rig," he told the race office this morning. Unfortunately, Clarke's static line had insufficient height and he was forced to free-climb the last few feet: "The alternative was to go back down and start again and there's no chance I'd do that." To increase his peril, the wind rose rapidly from a relatively stable 9 knots as Clarke climbed aloft: "The breeze kicked in at 20 knots and how the boat didn't wipe out, I'll never know." Clinging to the top of the mast as Clarke Offshore Racing headed west for 12 miles clearly focussed his concentration: "We were scorching downwind with the pilot driving and I got some big old leans on. When I was up there, I knew this wasn't going to be good." Clarke cursed himself fiercely on the satellite phone for going aloft without taking one or two reefs in the mainsail prior to the climb: "Another unforced error," he admits, "and if she'd gone over, there's no way she would have come up again." Currently one of the most southern boats in 11th place, Clarke Offshore Racing is 26 miles behind Louis Duc and Groupe Royer, but Clarke is still feeling positive: "There's no doubt that when I'm going in a straight line, I take some miles out of the others. If I can catch a couple of people, that will be good." The English skipper confessed frankly that sailing alone is a real struggle and racing without a co-skipper is becoming a personal hell: "This is my first solo sailing experience. How insane is that!" he joked, before signing-off. (To hear Simon Clarke tell the bone-chilling tale of his mast climb, check the 'Latest audio' drop-down on the homepage at www.theartemistransat.com)

Christophe Coatnoan is also racing on his back foot after breakage on 9th place Groupe Partouche as part of his boat now rests on the Atlantic sea floor: "The water ballast intake scoop has dropped out of the hull," he informed the race office this morning. Shortly before the call, Coatnoan had completed pumping out a small amount of seawater from the cabin and sealing the through-hull fitting with a wooden emergency bung. The immediate problem is over, but the scoop's loss will effect the Frenchman's performance. When lowered through the hull, the small cylindrical, open-faced tube transfers seawater via pipes into the ballast tanks, using the boat's forward to create pressure. The tank is then gravity drained when Coatnoan prepares to tack. Without the scoop, he will be forced to use the engine as a pump, which is an effective system, but costly in terms of the limited diesel budget on board Groupe Partouche. At the moment, Coatnoan estimates he is losing 1.5 knots of boat speed without the ballast. Tomorrow, as the wind strength increases, ballast will become an increasingly vital feature.

With around 230 miles remaining to the ice gate for the lead boat, Telecom Italia, the Class40 fleet are now committed to the weather ahead. Soldini will encounter the wind build-up first with a predicted 20-25 knots from the south-west on Thursday morning and the wind going right and increasing to a 30 knot westerlies - and possibly more - in the late afternoon. For the race leader, the building breeze is not a problem: "We haven't had very much wind with this boat," he replied when asked the maximum breeze he had encountered since launching Telecom Italia. "We had a fantastic Transat Jacques Vabre," he said, recalling his victory in the famous double-handed race last year. "Maybe only 40 knots off Cape Finisterre, nothing very bad luckily..and I hope it stays like that!" he continued, dissolving into helpless laughter." The race leader is in peak form: "I am pretty good," he assured the race office. "I pay great attention to my sleeping time and go to sleep as soon as the boat is going fine." He finished today's satellite call with a warning based upon his enormous experience: "I know it is going to be really hard from now," he councils. "It's important to arrive at the ice gate fresh, because afterwards, it's going to be really tough."

Class40 ranking and Distance to Leader data at 1400GMT Wednesday 21st May
1 Telecom Italia 0
2 Mistral Loisirs - Pole Santé ELIOR 55.2
3 Beluga Racer 57.5
4 Appart City 65.9
5 40 Degrees 106.6
6 Custo Pol 123.5
7 Fujifilm 128.1
8 Prévoir Vie 136.9
9 Groupe Partouche 157.6
10 Groupe Royer 159.7
11 Clarke Offshore Racing 206