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Two British Teams Withdraw from Artemis Transat
Team Pindar today announced its withdrawal from the Artemis Transat, which begins in Plymouth on May 11. Skippered by leading British yachtsman, Brian Thompson, the team’s preparations have been severely hampered following delays in the design and build of the new mast.

Based in Gosport, the team has been working around the clock to get the Juan Kouyoumdjian designed, Open 60 ready in time. With the mast installation set back until next week, it leaves only a matter of days for Thompson to undertake the 1,000-mile qualifier and make it to Plymouth for the race start.

Over the next few weeks the team will take time to re-evaluate all aspects of the sailing programme before committing fully to the Vendee Globe. Andrew Pindar continued “The Artemis Transat was set to be a great opportunity for us to showcase the boat, however we’ve always been transparent about the need to secure additional funding to participate in the Vendee Globe. With this latest setback to the campaign, we are keeping all our options open. ”

As yet, the boat remains unproven in competition since it was launched in July last year. Despite a dismasting during Cowes Week and again ahead of the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre, the team remain confident about its race-winning potential.

Skipper Brian Thompson commented: “She’s an unbelievable boat and we are all still very excited about seeing what she is capable of. I believe we would have stood a terrific chance of winning the Artemis Transat but for now, the focus is on getting her back in the water and securing sponsorship for the big one (Vendee Globe).”

The new Open 60, which incorporates the highest power-to-weight ratio and the largest maximum sail area of the Open 60 fleet, has undergone a major refit. This includes a modified single-handed style cabin top and the removal of the hydraulics on the mast to simplify it for one person. ISAF World Sailor of the Year and Volvo Ocean Race winner, Mike Sanderson commissioned the build in conjunction with Juan Kouyoumdjian whose latest generation Volvo 70s have proven to be some of the fastest monohulls on the planet.

* Mike Golding, the UK’s most experienced single handed sailor, will not be racing The Artemis Transat, a race from Plymouth to Boston that is to start on the 11th May 2008.

ECOVER 3’s replacement carbon keel blade will not be ready sufficiently early to safely allow the team to compete in this tough transatlantic event without compromising the campaign’s goals. This is in spite of a huge effort made by JMV Industries (the keel builder) and HDS (the keel designer). Mike Golding commented: “Everyone has done everything possible to make this schedule, we even initiated the design of this new keel several weeks before it was confirmed that ECOVER 3’s original steel keel blade was both unsafe and un-repairable. We always knew that our back was against the wall and, whilst our withdrawal from The Artemis Transat is disappointing it is not entirely unexpected. Everyone involved in the work on this keel has done everything possible to make it happen for us in time but we just cannot make the ends meet - we must accept it and move on.”

The double IMOCA world champion continues to focus his attention on the Vendee Globe

Golding’s ECOVER 3 was in refit in Palma at the beginning of the year and is now at JMV industries in Cherbourg. The revised schedule will see the yacht launched for sailing trials in mid May.

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 9:20 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.