Route du Rhum update

Biscuits la Trinitaine second tri home + 1100 positions

The latest arrival in the Route du Rhum is veteran skipper Marc Guillemot. His trimaran Biscuits La Trinitaine-Ethypharm crossed the finish line at Pointe à Pitre at 08 hours 21min18 sec GMT after 13 days 19 hours 36 minutes and 18 seconds of racing at an average of 10.71 knots.

Guillemot was fourth in the last Route du Rhum and was at one point leading the Route du Rhum before stopping and being severely held up in the Azores.

From leaving the English Channel, Marc Guillemot like Michel Desjoyeaux followed a northwesterly course which enabled him to miss the full brunt of the storm which swept the competitors situated further south.

On 14 November, he was leading the fleet, but he too fell victim to sail damage and had to make a pitstop in the Azores on 15 November to replace his solent and staysail. But the technical stopover in Punta Delgada lasted longer than planned when it was discovered that the outer skin of his tri's forward beam was delaminating and needed to be repaired. The supposed pitstop ended up being 50 hours long.

Marc Guillemot set back out to sea on 18 November at a time when the Azores high was centred over the mid-Atlantic island. Eventually two days later, he moving into third place ahead of Lalou Roucayrol, who was taking an ambitious route to the north of the Azores high. The capsize of the leader Stève Ravussin eventually propelled him into second place behind Michel Desjoyeaux.

Guillemot arrived 11 hours 43 minutes and 18 seconds after the winner. His route was 4205 nautical miles long - much longer than the Great Circle, but much less than Desjoyeaux. His speed over this distance was 12.68 knots.

The last racer remaining in the Orma Multihull Class, Lalou Roucayrol was just 99.7 nautical miles away from the promised land at the 1100 GMT position reports.

Third placed in the IMOCA class is Joé Seeten aboard Arcelor-Dunkerque just 236 miles who is being chased hard by Roland Jourdain on Sill 322.9 nautical miles from the finish.

At 1100 GMT Nick Moloney was just 857.6 nautical miles from sweet victory with Flory’s still on his tail nearly 180 miles away. This gap may yet decrease rapidly as they approach the finish. "There is a risk I'll be engulfed by some high pressure near the finish which could allow the other guys to catch up and take some miles out of me," explained Nick yesterday.

One of the most interesting races has been that of Franck-Yves Escoffier on the 50ft trimaran Crepes Whaou! who survived the storm has been constantly up with the front runners. He is currently leading the class 2 multihulls and is currently set to arrive after Joe Setton.

Positions 24/11/02 11:00:00 GMT
Pos	Boat name	Skipper	Lat	Long	Dist	SOG	COG
60ft tris
1	Géant	Michel Desjoyeaux	16 14.16' N	61 32.04' W		0	90
2	Biscuits La Trinitaine - Ethypharm	Marc Guillemot	16 14.16' N	61 32.04' W		1	346
3	Banque Populaire	Lalou Roucayrol	16 14.88' N	60 31.52' W	99.7	17.3	228
ABD	Fujifilm	Loick Peyron
ABD	Banque Covefi	Bertrand deBroc
ABD	Sergio Tacchini	Karine Fauconnier
ABD	Sopra Group	Philippe Monnet
ABD	Bayer CropSciences	Frederic Le Peutrec
ABD	Belgacom	Jean-Luc Nélias
ABD	Foncia	Alain Gautier
ABD	Groupama	Franck Cammas
ABD	Rexona Men	Yvan Bourgnon
ABD	Sodebo	Thomas Coville
ABD	TIM	Giovanni Soldini
ABD	TechnoMarine	Steve Ravussin
ABD	Gitana X	Lionel Lemonchois
ABD	Eure&Loir-Lorénove	Francis Joyon
ABD	Bonduelle	Jean Le Cam
Open 60s
1	Kingfisher	Ellen McArthur	16 13.26' N	61 31.80' W		0	0
2	Ecover	Mike Golding	16 13.26' N	61 31.80' W		0	146
3	Arcelor-Dunkerque	Joé Seten	17 25.72' N	58 29.20' W	236	12.3	235
4	Sill	Roland Jourdain	18 13.20' N	57 12.48' W	322.9	11	266
5	L'Heautontimoroumenos	Antoine Koch	20 29.00' N	51 16.00' W	678.5	12.3	231
6	Garnier Belgium	Patrick De Radiguès	18 06.48' N	50 33.12' W	681.9	11.6	225
7	60ème Sud	Didier Munduteguy	20 57.52' N	45 50.08' W	981	10.3	224
8	Un Univers de Services	Miranda Merron	19 10.32' N	43 10.02' W	1099.3	9.2	224
9	Tir Groupé-Montres Yéma	Mike Birch	21 22.88' N	40 44.32' W	1263.8	9	225
10	Dinan Pays d'Entreprises	Frédéric Lescot	26 57.08' N	40 24.48' W	1389.1	2.2	270
11	Ciments St Laurent-Ocean	Georges Leblanc	24 13.20' N	35 07.68' W	1604.4	6.9	227
12	Leasecom	Elie Canivenc	43 20.00' N	9 30.68' W	3148.3	4.5	355
ABD	Virbac	Jean Pierre Dick
ABD	VMI	Sébastien Josse
ABD	La Rage de Vivre	Loïck Pochet
ABD	Temenos	Dominique Wavre
NL	Millimages-Gédéon	Patrick Favre
Class 1 monos
1	Ville de Dinard	Bruno Reibel	27 40.96' N	32 54.72' W	1776.6	4.6	198
ABD	Un Autre Regard Ensemble pour l'UNHCR	Nicolas  Peitrequin
Class 2 monos
1	Ashfield Healthcare	Nick Moloney	22 14.16' N	48 43.48' W	857.6	9	236
2	Florys	Luc Coquelin	23 39.00' N	45 55.08' W	1034.1	9.1	238
3	Branec III	Roger Langevin	24 02.64' N	43 41.84' W	1151.6	7.1	230
4	Mille Visages	Hervé Vachée	22 12.84' N	40 06.60' W	1309	8	216
5	Laiterie St Malo	Clément Surtel	22 06.72' N	39 36.66' W	1329.2	7.7	213
6	Adecco Etoile Horizon	Bob Escoffier	23 25.60' N	30 16.08' W	1857.1	7.9	261
ABD	Apic A3S	Christophe Huchet
ABD	République Dominicaine	Yannick Bestaven
ABD	Défi Vendéen	J. F. Durand
Class 3 monos
1	Storagetek	Regis Guillemot	23 28.80' N	43 19.68' W	1154.4	8.1	220
2	Passion Entreprendre	Jérôme Thiriez	24 05.08' N	33 07.24' W	1709.8	6.3	217
3	Grain de Soleil	Etienne Svilarich	26 42.56' N	30 31.08' W	1882.9	4.8	201
ABD	Hellomoto	Conrad Humphreys
ABD	Fantasy-Forest	Alain Grinda
Class 2 multis
1	Crepes Whaou!	F. Y. Escofier	17 49.76' N	57 16.08' W	311.6	6.4	281
2	Yachting-casino.com	Anne Cazeneuve	18 52.98' N	51 16.38' W	646.1	12.1	237
3	Vaincre la mucoviscidose	Hervé Cleris	20 22.44' N	46 25.98' W	935.1	9.5	229
4	Archipel Guadeloupe	Claude Thelier	20 04.74' N	45 23.04' W	974.8	14.2	224
5	Lehning-Lapeyre-Blanchet-Gourbeyre	P.Y. Guennec	24 36.16' N	36 09.28' W	1559.4	7.1	261
ABD	E-Sat Tri Sélectif	Pascal Quintin
ABD	Groupe France Epargne	Patrick Morvan
ABD	Chaleur Fioul Elan	Didier Levillain