Line honours for Groupama

Second consecutive win for Franck Cammas in Transat Jacques Vabre, plus 0900 race update

Groupama sailed by Franck Cammas and Franck Proffit crossed the finish line in Salvador da Bahia this morning at 0810hrs and 41s GMT, or 0510hrs 41s local time to take line honours in the 60ft trimaran class.

The green and white trimaran came into view as dawn rose, heralded by champagne-coloured clouds and a smooth sea - the nearest to a red carpet for her French crew in this the sixth running of the Transat Jacques Vabre. This is the second consecutive win for the van Peteghem-Prevost designed trimaran which covered the 4,340 mile course in 10 days, 23hrs, 10min and 41s at an average speed of 16.49 knots. While Cammas won two years ago it is also a second win for Franck Proffit who was co-skipper with Loick Peyron on board Fujicolour the winner in 1999.

Comparisons with the Transat Jacques Vabre two years ago are hard to make because this time due to their delayed start the boats didn't have to sail around the Ascension Island waypoint.

Franck Cammas’ gave his observations: “The race was shorter but much harder than the last time. There were a lot more weather systems to play with, strong upwind, downwind - and we got trapped by the calms in the Doldrums too when the boats behind didn’t have it so bad. Although the last tack in is an easy solution in terms of strategy, it’s the least comfortable one. Well, it was great to arrive this morning, physically we felt as if we’d just been in a night club dancing til dawn - we were both awake and on deck for the last 48 hours of the race. In fact the whole race has been physically tough, we didn’t eat our first hot meal until four days into the race! This victory is sweeter than the one in 1999, because it was one which we had to fight much harder for. She’s a great boat, but in a race where pure boat speed was crucial for the last part and with Belgacom hard on our heels for the last two days, we know that she’s not as fast as the others now. But the team had to put her back together after my capsize in the Rhum and they deserve this victory as much as we do.”

Belgacom was due to arrive just over an hour after Groupama. Sailed by Jean-Luc Nélias and Loick Peyron, the blue trimaran has been storming along at high speed, eating into Groupama's lead all night.

The positions between the top five boatsin the trimaran class is suitably spread out that barring disaster their finish order is unlikely to change between now and the finish.



Positions at 0900GMT

Pos	Boat name	DTF	DTL	vmg	Lat	Long	spd	crs	spd	crs	spd	crs	spd	dist
							Inst		1hr av		4hr av		Over 24hrs
	Open 60s
1	VIRBAC	529.9	0.0	13.6	6 21.80' S	32 45.80' W	13.2	214	13.7	212	13.2	211	14.5	347.5
2	ECOVER	661.8	131.9	13.1	4 11.64' S	32 01.44' W	13.2	208	13.1	207	13.0	211	13.8	331.9
3	SILL	665.2	135.3	14.9	4 24.88' S	31 35.40' W	16.0	212	15.0	211	14.7	210	14.3	342.9
4	PRB	768.3	238.4	13.6	2 55.28' S	30 43.40' W	15.0	212	13.9	204	14.5	203	12.8	306.1
5	TEAM COWES	845.0	315.1	12.2	0 52.56' S	31 53.20' W	12.4	193	12.4	193	11.8	197	11.1	267.0
6	VMI	845.3	315.4	13.5	1 56.84' S	29 53.48' W	13.5	210	13.6	210	13.1	209	12.3	296.2
7	CARREFOUR PREVENTION	957.0	427.1	11.5	0 30.92' N	30 24.04' W	11.0	204	11.8	217	11.8	212	11.4	274.2
8	GARNIER	1301.9	772.0	5.4	6 02.20' N	28 40.28' W	10.3	180	5.6	191	4.2	199	8.7	209.3
9	ARCELOR-DUNKERQUE	1326.9	797.0	9.0	4 03.00' N	24 30.84' W	10.7	190	10.3	190	8.0	213	8.9	214.1
10	LOIRE ATLANTIQUE	1440.5	910.6	2.4	6 20.44' N	24 25.28' W	4.3	173	3.6	165	4.8	169	9.3	222.1
11	60ème SUD	1691.3	1161.4	9.5	12 16.36' N	26 44.84' W	10.0	176	10.4	177	10.4	176	9.7	232.9
12	ADECCO	1772.6	1242.7	8.8	12 31.02' N	23 52.92' W	8.7	197	9.1	194	9.1	192	9.4	225.4
13	TIR GROUPE	1888.7	1358.8	7.1	13 34.32' N	21 49.52' W	10.3	262	10.2	257	9.6	251	9.1	218.1
	60ft tris
1	GROUPAMA
2	BELGACOM	6	0	26.1	12 54.62' S	38 10.38' W	26.3	236	26.3	236	25.5	230	24.2	580.1
3	SERGIO TACCHINI	80	74	24.2	12 27.48' S	37 20.40' W	21.4	240	24.3	239	22.6	237	23.9	574.3
4	GEANT	138.2	132.2	22.9	11 45.24' S	36 37.52' W	24.4	235	23	236	21.1	234	22.2	533.7
5	BISCUITS LA TRINITAINE	174.7	168.7	11.1	11 22.24' S	36 09.48' W	8.4	233	11.1	233	16.2	226	21.5	516.8
6	BANQUE POPULAIRE	216	210	21.9	11 07.60' S	35 28.44' W	26	238	21.9	235	22	227	25	600.7
7	SODEBO	232.4	226.4	19.6	10 45.04' S	35 23.68' W	20.3	230	20	219	18.1	216	22.4	537.2
8	GITANA	263.1	257.1	16.9	10 01.32' S	34 41.28' W	30.4	214	17.3	216	18.4	212	21.3	511
9	SOPRA GROUP	361.1	355.1	18.8	8 30.08' S	34 22.36' W	21.4	207	19.1	210	18.8	209	19.6	470.8
10	FONCIA	409.7	403.8	21.9	8 05.04' S	33 49.96' W	9	202	22.3	211	22.1	205	21	503.4
11	BONDUELLE	476.3	470.3	22.1	7 01.88' S	33 21.24' W	22.4	208	22.9	204	19.3	203	16.9	406.3
12	BAYER CROPSCIENCE	653.2	647.2	21.3	4 08.68' S	32 03.28' W	22	207	21.4	206	18.8	202	18.9	454.3
13	BANQUE COVEFI	788.4	782.5	18.1	2 42.16' S	30 26.80' W	21.3	208	18.2	209	21.3	206	20	481.1
	50ft multi
1	MOLLYMAWK	2365.4	0	3.8	23 40.68' N	25 16.76' W	10	227	13.1	271	13.2	269	4.5	107.2
	Open 50s
1	HELLOMOTO	1539.9	0	8.4	8 46.24' N	25 12.04' W	9.1	187	9.1	187	8.5	183	10.3	247.1
2	STORAGETEK	1768.7	228.8	7.9	13 37.20' N	26 39.44' W	8.8	175	8.5	177	8.8	178	9.4	226.7
3	DEFI VENDEEN	1803.1	263.2	11	13 17.36' N	24 22.08' W	12.2	192	11.4	192	11.4	191	8.2	196.3

Open 60s

In the monohull class Jean-Pierre Dick and Nicolas Abiven on board Virbac are looking more certain than ever of taking line honours having extended their lead over the boats astern - Mike Golding's Ecover in second place was 116 miles behind yesterday which had increased to 132 miles this morning at 0900.

But the Brits on Ecover have other more pressing matters to think of - they are locked in battle with Roland Jourdain and Alex Thomson on board Sill, the latter slightly further offshore and potentially with a fraction broader angle to make it to the finish line. Saying this Ecover this morning seems to have picked up speed and is hanging on to the inside.

Meanwhile the inside track definitely appears not to be paying for Nick Moloney and Sam Davies on Team Cowes. From being 30 miles ahead of Seb Josse and Isabelle Autisser on VMI yesterday, Team Cowes was level pegging with VMI at 0900 this morning, the French boat sailing more than a knot faster. Moloney and Davies will have to use all their tactical cunning if they are to hang on to fifth place.




Below: Quikscat wind radar image at 1000GMT this morning