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Transat AG2R

David and I seem to be settling into the groove with things now as we are starting to find the right balance between sailing, navigating, sleeping and eating. Incredibly there is no time for anything else until literally now when I’ve sat down at the computer to write this update. I have been averaging about 4 hours sleep enough which is just enough to see you through the day although David said he got a fright when he couldn’t wake me this morning despite shouting into my ear seven times!

The first couple of days of the race were full on to say the least as we screamed across Biscay power reaching under spinnaker the first night and then battled upwind around Finisterre, from which my socks have still not dried out. We are getting to grips with level of competition we are facing which is noticeably higher than previous offshore classes I’ve raced in. I like to think we are upping the pace every day since there is loads we are learning about this one design Figaro.

After Finisterre we sailed across a 20-knot weather front only to find absolutely no wind the other side and saw our position slip down to 19th. There was no real set pattern in the weather after Finisterre due to the presence of a big high pressure system west of Portugal, and it seemed like a lottery where to position ourselves on the way down to Madeira. A lot of the fleet went way over to the Portuguese side but we’ve been one of the more westerly boats. Now it seems to be starting to pay off and we have climbed up through the fleet to 13th. Sopra Group is our next target, although after four days of racing we are still only 33 miles behind the leader so anything is still possible.

Now the pace has picked up a bit, we have wind, spinnaker and sun, and there has even been time for a bit of iPod action. It looks as though it’ll be all downwind to Madeira so we are looking forward to more T-shirt sailing and picking off some more positions. Onwards and upwards! — http://www.philsharpracing.com

Top ten at 0500 UTC 25 April:

1. Financo - Nicolas Troussel / Christopher Pratt, 3012.1 nm to finish
2. Cercle Vert - Gildas Morvan / Jean Le Cam, 4.4 nm to leader
3. Banque Populaire - Jenanne Gregoire / Nicolas Lunvan, 6.4
4. Suzuki Automobiles - Thierry Cabagny / Corentin Douguet, 7.6
5. Defi Mousquetaires - Thomas Rouxel / Erwan Israel, 11.2
6. SNEF et Cliptol Sport - Laurent Pellecuer / Jean Paul Mouren, 16.9
7. Solar Inox, Ronan Guerin / Luc Poupon, 23.7
8. Lenzele - Franck Gal / Erwan Le Roux, 23.7
9. Groupe Celeos - Ronan Treussart / Anthony Marchand, 26.6
10. Gedimat - Armel Tripon / Dominic Vittet, 27.1

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 26th, 2008 at 10:28 am 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.