SAILING – PRESS-RELEASE No. 11 - Monday 5 November 2007
Kito de Pavant on board Groupe Bel:
"the rhythm will speed up"
Nice work by Safran during the night, when they passed Ouessant (Ushant) In a few hours, the “sister” boat of Groupe Bel made a comfortable thirty miles advance on the other racers. A group of five monohulls are following over seven miles: Gitana Eighty (Peyron-Le Vaillant), Foncia (Desjoyeaux-Le Borgne), Ecover III (Golding-Dubois), Groupe Bel 'De Pavant-Col) and VM Matériaux (Le Cam-Morvan). It is a golden opportunity for Kito de Pavant and Sebastien Col to record precious data about their competitors. In the hours to come, the Northeast wind should strengthen to between 25 and 30 knots as they pass the Finisterre headland. Things will probably heat up a bit.
The prize of the day goes to Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier, two Bretons who don't just have salted butter in their veins but also the map of the tip of Brittany engraved in their DNA. To pass, as they did, between the Le Four channel and the Raz de Sein, on board a boat with a 4.5 metre draft, requires quite a bit of “self-control” and a lot of experience. They passed rock after rock, giving themselves some 30 miles advance over their pursuers. No question for Kito de Pavant and Sébastien Col of doing the same, since they got to the area later and the current was not favourable; the best route was well outside Ouessant. Groupe Bel is holding its position in the leading pack and you can feel in the voices of the crew that this close view regatta is really enjoyable.
Kito de Pavant:“We were welcomed this morning by dozens of dolphins. Honestly, one should go on holiday in the Bay of Biscay in November, the weather conditions are ideal! During the night passing Ouessant was tricky with little wind, lots of currents and quite a few options including the Le Four channel, Fromveur or right outside the headland. For us, this third option was obvious, but Safran, which had a slight lead on the fleet, passed via the Four and the Raz de Sein and hit the wind first. Since she is ahead, I think that she will have some peace for 2 to 3 days. We have just come across Gitana 80, 3 miles in front of us, Mich' Dej' isn't far, we can also see Ecover and VM and I think that we are going to regatta race with this small group all day. This means we can gauge our speed, so that's perfect. We are going to continue to play with the wind to prepare for our arrival at Cape Finisterre where the rhythm will accelerate for the better. Otherwise, everything is working marvellously on board, the lads from the team have really done great work, and the boat is super.”
Sébastien Col:“The boat is surfing well and little by little we are learning to sail her. We have raised the little spinnaker for the first time and it's a beautiful sail. The aim of this transatlantic race is also to see what points could be optimized on the boat this winter and to sail a good distance with a reference like Foncia today, is not bad. The conditions are really calm so I am not having any difficulty getting accustomed to the sea. We have had lots of work changing sails and manoeuvring since the start and I find time is slipping by fast. We are now keeping our two our watches and I just need to force myself to sleep during the day.”
IMOCA monohull ranking, Monday 5 November, at 16:00 (GMT+1)
1 / SafranGUILLEMOT Marc/CAUDRELIER Charles / 15.4 / 251 / 3959.9 / 0.0
2 / Gitana EightyPEYRON Loick/LEVAILLANT Jean Baptiste / 11.0 / 202 / 3989.8 / 30.0
3 / FonciaDESJOYEAUX Michel/LE BORGNE Emmanuel / 9.8 / 201 / 3993.7 / 33.8
4 / Ecover IIIGOLDING MIKE/DUBOIS Bruno / 11.3 / 196 / 3995.3 / 35.4
5 / Groupe BelDE PAVANT Kito/COL Sébastien / 10.0 / 203 / 3996.6 / 36.7
6 / VM MatériauxLE CAM Jean/MORVAN Gildas / 10.3 / 207 / 3997.5 / 37.6
7 / Cheminées PoujoulatSTAMM Bernard/CARIOU Tanguy / 11.7 / 261 / 4000.7 / 40.8
8 / GeneraliELIES Yan/AUDIGANE Sébastien / 10.5 / 258 / 4005.1 / 45.2
9 / RoxyDAVIES Samantha/GREGOIRE Jeanne / 10.1 / 266 / 4011.4 / 51.5
10 / Pakea Bizkaia 2009BASURKO Unai/GANDARIAS Gonzalo / 8.6 / 190 / 4025.7 / 65.8
11 / ArtemisMALBON Jonny/TOURELL Graham / 9.4 / 189 / 4026.2 / 66.3
12 / AvivaCAFFARI Dee/KING Nigel / 7.6 / 185 / 4027.0 / 67.2
13 / Great American IIIWILSON Rich/BIRCH Mike / 5.6 / 254 / 4035.4 / 75.5
14 / Akena VérandasBOISSIERES Arnaud/CHOMETTE Jean Philippe / 7.8 / 170 / 4046.3 / 86.4
15 / Cervin EnRBESTAVEN Yannick/GUERIN Ronan / 7.5 / 171 / 4046.9 / 87.1
16 / Brit AirLE CLEAC'H Armel/TROUSSEL Nicolas / 0.9 / 241 / 4052.3 / 92.4
17 / MaisonneuveDEJEANTY Jean Baptiste/LAURENT Hervé / 6.0 / 208 / 4071.6 / 111.7
In brief
Transat Jacques Vabre 2007: 8th race since 1993 (every 2 years)
Le Havre - Salvador de Bahia in North-East Brazil: 4,340 nautical miles (7,812 km)
Kito de Pavant's 4th time taking part: 5th in 2001 (Bernard Gallay), 11th in 2003 and 3rd in 2005 (Jean Le Cam)
Sébastien Col's 1st time taking part
Groupe Bel monohull: VPLP-Verdier design, launched on 6 September in Italy
5th in the monohull prologue on Saturday 27 October, won by Safran
Saturday 3 November at 13:00: Start from Le Havre for the monohulls (multihulls on Sunday)
Groupe Bel
World leader in cheese portions, with important brands such as La vache qui rit® (Laughing Cow), Kiri®, Mini Babybel®, Leerdammer® and Apéricube® and about twenty national brands strongly implanted in their respective markets.
25 subsidiaries worldwide and present in 120 countries
More than 10,000 workers throughout the world
Turnover in 2006: more than 1.8m Euros
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