Sharp goes through light patch

Tense times for the Class 40 skippers in the Route du Rhum as the Open 60s burn rubber heading south.

Wednesday November 8th 2006, Author: James Boyd, Location: Transoceanic

Images courtesy of Expedition Navigation Systems and ProGRIB

Positions at 0800GMT

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Lat	Long	Spd	Crs	Spd	Crs	Spd	Dist	DTF	DTL
					Iinst		4hr av		24 hr
	ORMA 60 multis
1	Gitana 11	Lionel lemonchois	7j 17h 19m 6s								0
2	Banque Populaire	Pascal Bidegorry	8j 4h 25m 7s								0
3	Sodeb'O	Thomas Coville	8j 13h 39m 2s								0
4	Géant	Michel Desjoyeaux	8j 13h 48m 24s								0
5	Groupama 2	Franck Cammas	8j 17h 55m 17s								0
6	Brossard	Yvan Bourgnon	9j 0h 40m 15s								0
7	Foncia	Alain Gautier	9j 16h 14m 40s								0
8	Region Guadeloupe-Terres de Passions	Claude Thelier	23 13.02' N	54 29.10' W	17.1	251	16.6	252	11.1	266	619.7	0
9	Gitana 12	Thierry Duprey du Vorsent	23 36.44' N	52 22.92' W	9.4	286	10	272	7.7	184.7	734.5	114.7
10	Sopra Group	Antoine Koch	27 19.60' N	57 07.40' W	24	192	14.7	214	14.6	351.1	756.1	136.3
11	Madinina	Gilles Lamire	37 03.60' N	39 22.16' W	8.4	204	10.7	190	9.9	236.9	1768	1148.2
ABD	Orange Project	Steve Ravussin
	IMOCA Open 60s
1	Sill et Veolia	Roland Jourdain	26 50.16' N	56 07.96' W	17.3	194	14.3	197	14.6	350.1	751.4	0
2	VM Matériaux	Jean Le Cam	29 04.48' N	56 33.68' W	14.2	183	13.6	177	13.6	325.4	864	112.6
3	Virbac-Paprec	Jean-Pierre Dick	29 43.20' N	56 09.12' W	10	249	13.2	236	13.1	313.7	908	156.6
4	Temenos II	Dominique Wavre	28 23.80' N	52 51.92' W	17.4	228	14.2	239	12.9	309.9	916.5	165.2
5	Brit Air	Armel Le Cléac'h	29 51.72' N	54 17.80' W	15.1	220	14.4	216	15.1	361.2	957.3	205.9
6	Artemis	Brian Thompson	28 41.51' N	49 18.20' W	13.4	203	15.2	212	10.8	258.5	1056.5	305.2
7	Roxy	Anne Liardet	29 32.16' N	44 13.84' W	15	226	11.5	224	7.4	178.3	1297	545.6
8	Safran	Marc Guillemot	31 38.56' N	43 51.60' W	12.1	235	12.1	243	8.9	213.1	1388.7	637.4
9	Maisonneuve Basse Normandie	JB Dejeanty	31 48.20' N	41 16.68' W	5.1	225	8.5	264	9.4	225	1500.2	748.8
10	Adriana Karembeu Paris	Philippe Fiston	35 46.96' N	35 36.88' W	12.1	256	12.4	269	10.7	255.9	1867.9	1116.5
ABD	Delta Dore	Jeremy Beyou
ABD	PRB	Vincent Riou
	Class 2 multis
1	Crêpes Whaou !	Franck-Yves Escoffier	26 14.92' N	57 22.32' W	11.2	192	15.7	192	14.9	358.5	691.1	0
2	Trilogic	Eric Bruneel	28 35.92' N	48 55.52' W	11.3	222	15.3	229	11.2	268.1	1070.8	379.7
3	Laiterie de Saint-Malo	Victorien Erussard	30 18.76' N	43 43.72' W	10	246	9.8	247	8.5	204.7	1341.5	650.4
4	Jean Stalaven	Pascal Quintin	35 17.88' N	43 27.96' W	14.4	213	14.3	208	7.1	169.8	1549.9	858.8
5	Deleage & DIAZO	Loic Escofier	37 32.12' N	44 04.04' W	11	231	8.6	212	11.5	276.1	1627.7	936.6
6	Gifi	Dominique Demachy	35 30.20' N	40 12.64' W	6.1	210	6.5	223	7.5	179.4	1676.8	985.7
7	Négocéane	Roger Langevin	34 14.94' N	38 50.31' W	8.2	282	8.6	264	9.6	229.3	1685.1	994
ABD	Le Bon Marche - Rive Gauche	Anne Caseneuve
	Class 3 multis
1	Imagine-Institut des Maladies Génétiques	Pierre Antoine	35 47.56' N	40 04.16' W	7	200	6.4	206	8.4	201.7	1693.3	0
NL	Ideal Stelrad	Ross Hobson
ABD	Switch.fr	Charlie Capelle
	Class 1 monos
1	Jeunes Dirigeants	Pierre-Yves Guennec	35 06.88' N	33 27.36' W	9.5	251	9.5	249	8.9	212.5	1928.1	0
2	Ville de Dinard	Bruno Reibel	37 07.84' N	32 15.36' W	8	246	8.3	244	7.2	173.4	2048.2	120.1
3	Antilles-Sails.com	Philippe Chevallier	38 17.64' N	32 45.68' W	8.4	250	8.4	246	7.3	176	2064.4	136.3
4	TAT Express	Arnaud Dhallenne	37 49.52' N	31 09.36' W	7.2	236	7.5	244	5.9	141.2	2114.5	186.3
	Class 2 monos
1	Artforms	Kip Stone	37 06.36' N	43 09.08' W	9.2	193	7.6	232	5.2	125.9	1637.4	0
2	Vedettes de Bréhat Cap Marine	Servane Escoffier	39 22.56' N	44 39.40' W	7.3	278	11.8	257	10.2	245.8	1694.8	57.4
3	Cap Guadeloupe 971	Luc Coquelin	39 33.82' N	42 07.39' W	7.3	261	8	269	8.7	207.7	1779.4	142
4	AOI Solidarité Dentaire Internationale	Denis Douillez	33 48.88' N	30 55.88' W	7	228	8	225	8.1	193.8	2013	375.6
	Class 3 monos
1	Roaring Forty	Michel Kleinjans	34 44.88' N	36 01.88' W	8	225	7.9	234	8.1	193.3	1817.3	0
2	DangerousWhenWet	Aurélia Ditton	42 54.64' N	35 00.20' W	6.8	257	6.3	245	5.8	139	2146.1	328.9
NL	Fantasy Forest	Alain Grinda
ABD	A Fond Contre la Spondylarthrite	Didier Le Villain
ABD	La Promesse	Jankees Lampe
ABD	Charter Regis Guillemot Martinique	Regis Guillemot
	Class 40s
1	philsharpracing.com	Phil Sharp	36 06.24' N	46 23.64' W	1.2	240	7.2	226	10.1	241.9	1488.2	0
2	Oyster Funds	Gildas Morvan	36 32.92' N	43 19.24' W	18.1	200	9.8	226	7.4	177.2	1608.4	120.2
3	Atao Audio System	Dominic Vittet	33 41.12' N	37 48.00' W	2	219	6.8	257	8.2	196.9	1709	220.8
4	Chocolats Monbana	Damien Grimont	36 13.08' N	39 30.16' W	7.3	226	6.9	238	7.6	182	1726.7	238.5
5	Appart'City	Yvan Noblet	34 09.00' N	37 16.24' W	8.3	280	9.4	248	8.6	206.8	1746.3	258.1
6	IXSEA	Olivier Rabine	38 07.24' N	40 56.04' W	14	276	10.8	245	6.3	152.1	1755.6	267.4
7	TMI Technologies	Joe Seeten	35 07.52' N	37 49.72' W	8.1	251	7.9	273	8.1	194	1756.1	267.9
8	Tchuda Popka 2	Gw Catherine	34 48.08' N	36 58.12' W	6.3	277	6.8	252	8	191.7	1780.1	291.9
9	Bolands Mill	Ian Munslow	39 10.64' N	41 03.16' W	10.3	212	8.3	230	8.4	202.1	1796.5	308.2
10	Cinémas Cinéfil.com	JE Criquioche	35 40.64' N	35 59.16' W	8.1	250	8.7	255	8	192.6	1849.3	361
11	Kenmore Homes	Nick Bubb	39 30.96' N	39 39.24' W	7	264	8.8	234	5.8	139.7	1856.8	368.6
12	Cotes d'Armor - Pierres et Mer	Philippe le Gros	36 14.52' N	36 06.18' W	8.3	268	9.6	260	8.4	202.5	1858.3	370.1
13	Cap VAD	Thibaud Derville	35 49.92' N	35 25.32' W	8.1	248	8.3	248	7.8	186.2	1877.3	389.1
14	Le Comptoir Immobilier	Guillaume Voizard	38 04.24' N	37 11.68' W	3.2	322	7.8	275	7	167.3	1886.4	398.2
15	Lexibook	Hervé Papin	36 09.84' N	35 24.16' W	12.3	240	8.8	240	7.8	187.6	1889	400.8
16	Nous Entreprenons	Jacques Fournier	36 08.00' N	35 20.44' W	9.2	246	8.3	247	7.7	185	1890.5	402.3
17	Guyader L'Esprit de la Mer	Gery Trentseaux	36 40.32' N	35 42.44' W	9.4	301	8.6	266	7.8	188.2	1893.7	405.5
18	FNAIM Pays de Loire	Lionel Regnier	34 28.68' N	33 05.60' W	9.1	256	9.3	244	8.5	204.9	1934.8	446.6
19	Destination Calais	Pierre-Yves Chatelain	35 13.72' N	33 30.32' W	9.2	254	8.6	242	8.2	196.4	1938.7	450.5
20	Paca Entrprendre	Cecile Poujol	37 04.84' N	33 53.12' W	10.2	240	9.1	250	8.4	201.5	1980.2	492
21	Nouvelle Caledonie	Yves Ecarlat	34 58.76' N	32 19.52' W	8	224	8.1	227	7.8	186.2	1982.4	494.2
22	KNAUF Industries	David Lefebvre	37 45.96' N	30 06.08' W	10.3	262	9.5	239	3.4	80.6	2156.3	668
23	Fermiers de Loué - Sarthe	Francois Angoulvant	38 31.96' N	28 37.48' W	0	0	0	0	0	0	2239.4	751.2
24	Siegenia-Aubi	Marc Lepesqueux	38 32.04' N	28 37.36' W	3.2	220	6.6	228	6.9	165.9	2239.6	751.3
		Benoit Parnaudeau

At 04:16:40 GMT this morning, former Vendee Globe winner Alain Gautier became the seventh finisher in the ORMA 60 class of the Route du Rhum, arriving in a time of 9 days 16 hours 14 minutes 40 seconds of race or 1 day 22 hours 55 minutes 34 seconds behind winner, Lionel Lemonchois on Gitana 11. Gitana 12 and Sopra Group are expected later today.

In the Open 60s there is not a huge amount to report. With the wind veering slightly on the right side of the course so both Jean le Cam on VM Materiaux and leader Roland Jourdain on Sill et Veolia gybed shortly after the 0400GMT position update while Jean Pierre Dick on Virbac Paprec has maintained his southwesterly course. In the middle of the race track Armel le Cleac'h has been slowly dropping back having lost 20 miles in the last 12 hours. However over to the east Dominique Wavre on Temenos has been making in roads into Jourdain's lead pulling back 15 miles. Brian Thompson on Artemis has chosen an even more easterly track and has also made ground on the race leader.

The boats can expect the wind to veer slowly around to the east over the course of the next 24 hours although it will continue to blow at 20-25 knots.

In the Class 40s there are some rather differing speeds between the lead duo. Phil Sharp still very much in first place has lost no ground to second placed Gildas Morvan on Oyster Funds, overnight but the latest sched showing him having averaged just 4.1 knots over the last four hours and with an instant speed of just 1.2 kots while Gildas Morvan has averaged 14 knots and his instant speed is 18.1! Unless there has been a catastrophy, we suspect the reason for Sharp's down turn in speed is due to his passing through an area of light breeze, a front-like thing developing off the southwestern side of the secondary depression currently to his northeast. However this is moving east and it looks like Sharp will be back into the breeze in the next couple of hours as this area of light winds similarly entrapped Morvan temporarily.

Down to the south Dominique Vittet on ATAO Audio Systems has been making similarly slow progress to Sharp, making just 2 knots over the last four hours with the wind now 20-25 knots on the nose. Fortunaely reprieve will come aroiund lunchtime for the former Solitaire du Figaro winner as the wind finally shifts around to the northwest and he is able to hightail it towards the finish line.

Among the other Class 40 Brits, Ian Munslow on Bolands Mill has done well overnight in the big downwind conditions and has reduced his deficit on Sharp by 18 miles by Nick Bubb on Kenmore Homes has lost 10 miles.