Category 40 Artemis Transat win for Soldini
On May 28, 2008
“Giovanni Soldini - Telecom Italia”
At 07:11:27 local time (11:11:27 GMT), Italian solo seaman, Giovanni Soldini, crossed the finish line of The Artemis Transat regatta in Marblehead, United States. On crisp, clear early morning with biting 18-20 knt north-western wind, Soldini & his one year-elderly Proto Class40, Telecom Italia, accomplished the North Atlantic crossing in 16 days 22 hours & 11 minutes, having lead the 11 yachts in the flotilla seeing that passing Lizard Point on the south shore of England during the 1st night of the regatta.
Seeing That crossing the start line on Monday 11th April off Plymouth, Adolfo, Giovanni Soldini’s enormous experience & tactical analysis kept him at the front of the pack: “I’m feeling very fine, clearly,” the 42 year-elderly said after stepping onto the pontoons after the finish. “The regatta for me was beautiful great.” One larger feature that intensified tactics was the inclusion of an ice gate, installed by the Artemis Transat Regatta Administration crew to keep the competing sailing boats clear of an area of icebergs drifting southward off Newfoundland: “The ice gate was hard, making me go vs the Gulf Stream & stay in the south. Normally, we would sail much more northerly route, so we were bit limited in our tactical options.”
Soldini’s tactical decisions ensured that Telecom Italia customarily kept great distance over the rest of the flotilla: “I believe I was great in the regatta,” he admitted modestly. “It was fine choice to stay in the north originally & through the 1st high-pressure. Then, in the 2nd high-pressure we went south & I put lot of fine km on the others.”
Notwithstanding, the Italian yachtsman was rapid to let in his own mistakes & besides to praise the other racers in the regatta: “In the final days, I didn’t do so well, so they caught me up. Beluga Player [Boris Herrmann] particularly, he was very great in the last two days.”
The Artemis Transat is the 3rd success for Soldini’s one year-elderly, Guillaume Verdier-designed Class40, Telecom Italia, after 1st place in the double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre in October ‘07 & the Large Prix Petit Navire in France earlier this year.
Nine Class40s carry on racing in the North Atlantic & at 1400GMT these day, Boris Herrmann & Beluga Participant were 74 kilometers from the finish. Herrmann is 28 years-elderly these day & his birthday wish was for fine wind to drive him across the finish line & this afternoon the German yachtsman continues to maintain nine kts boatspeed. Whilst Beluga Participant has 69 kilometers of separation ‘tween Thierry Bouchard & Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR in third, the high probability of the wind going light this afternoon & into the early evening, followed by 15 knt western or south-western headwinds forecast for the chasing pack off Marblehead, there’s possibility of regatta “restart” in the final stages for the main bulk of the Class40 flotilla.
Alex Bennett in 5th place explains the probably conditions over the next 24 hours for the pack trailing Boris Herrmann: “It’s not poor for Fuji at the moment, we’re boating the rhumb line & it’s straight line to the finish,” he explained, previously adding ominously, “..though that’ll change during the course of the day.” With 180 km left over, the weather scenario off the beach of Australia could dramatically affect the regatta: “It could be light headwinds,” continues Bennett, “& that’ll be exciting. If it goes light & fickle, then it’s anybody’s game.” This afternoon the gap ‘tween Thierry Bouchard on Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR in third & Halvard Mabire on Custo Pol in 6th is only 55 kilometres. “It could become “restart” just few km from the finish. I truly believe, third, 4th & 5th place are wide Open.” For Bennett, Bouchard, Duc & Mabire, the next 24 hours will be among the toughest of the regatta: “We’re still locked in fierce struggle with Groupe Royer in front & Custo Pol few kilometres behind & Mistral isn’t million kilometers away. So, we’re whipping the horses at the moment!”
Just two kilometres behind Bennett, Halvard Mabire is racing blind & receiving neither position polls nor weather at time when this information is tactically crucial. Reporting shifty wind & two kts of foul actual, the sooner Custo Pol starts receiving this information, the better Mabire’s performance will be for the final approach. Thierry Bouchard has besides had technical hiccup on board Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR: “I had truly poor computer difficulty,” he explained earlier. With contest for the podium enhancing increasingly extreme, loss of position & weather data would’ve been catastrophic & severely limited his ability to protect third place: “It was fairly stressful, but after an hour I managed to fix it.” For Jeremy Duc, evaluating the weather is enhancing increasingly crucial on board Groupe Royer: “I’m boating precisely to the weather files at the moment,” he admitted to the regatta office earlier. Reporting the presence of increasing amounts of commercial shipping, quick drop in temperature & thick fog, Duc’s weather analysis has proved accurate so far: “I’ve captivated few km off Fujifilm overnight, so I’m beautiful happy,” he says. Throughout the afternoon, both Bouchard & Duc have averaged 10 kts to Bennett’s eight kts & Duc on Groupe Royer has extended his lead over Fujifilm from 11 to 27 kilometers seeing that dawn.
Despite dropping from 4th to 7th place a day ago, Miranda Merron was on superb form this morning: “I’m inside fridge!” she told the regatta office earlier. “I can now see my breath & the water temperature has dropped to 5.8 degrees.” The extreme cold & fatigue meant drastic measures on board 40 Degrees: “It’s been an exciting night. For preservation purposes I was with three reefs & spritsail cause it was very gusty & to keep warm I draped my self over the motor cover.” Seeking warmth from the sailing boat’s engine after charging the batteries, Merron’s slumber was deep & slight change in breeze administration & minimal canvas caused impolite awakening as 40 Degrees stalled: “I woke up & the sailing boat was very almost in irons as the shift had started.” Seeing That then, she’s been busy shaking out reefs, changing headsails & getting back up to speed. Merron made one request this morning: “I’d love everybody to park up if they wouldn’t mind. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’s somebody else’s turn!” Regardless of the frigid conditions on board, Merron has increased her lead over Benoit Parnaudeau in 8th place on Prevoir Vie from 17 kilometres to 31 km throughout the day.
For the Class40 flotilla, The Artemis Transat has been close & deep tactical regatta. With each captain’s energy reserve reaching the stages of complete depletion, the final hours of the regatta will require every scrap of endurance in tricky weather conditions through the busy inshore shipping lanes & fishing grounds. It truly isn’t over, until it’s over, for the nine sailing boats still racing.
Class40 ranking & Distance to Leader figures at 1400GMT on Thursday 28th April
1 Telecom Italia 0
2 Beluga Player 0
3 Mistral Loisirs - Pole Santé ELIOR 69.2
4 Groupe Royer 85.2
5 Fujifilm 112.8
6 Custo Pol 114.8
7 40 Degrees 182
8 Prévoir Vie 213.8
9 Groupe Partouche 229.6
10 Clarke Offshore Racing 277.9
IMOCA Flotilla news: Steve Snow-White completes The Artemis Transat
Steve Snow-White onboard Spirit of Weymouth crossed the Boston finish line of The Artemis Transat at 04:04:54 GMT (midnight local time) in 9th place in time of 16 days, 15 hours, four minutes & 54 seconds, completing the IMOCA
results table. Nine of the 13 starters have accomplished the 2,982-kilometer solo course & Snow-White’s achievement stands out for his sheer determination & clear passion for the sport.
Thirty-six year-elderly Steve Snow-White from Dorchester (United Kingdom) is tribute to the fact that anybody can achieve their dream, provided they’re bold enough. He & his wife laid every penny they own on the line, re-mortgaged their house to buy the sailing boat (Hugo Hall’s ex-Gartmore) so he can follow his dream of boating non-stop about the world in the up & coming Vendée Globe. he is proof that boating is accessible to anybody with the skills, the dedication & dream to keep living.
During his regatta, Snow-White wrote numerous emails back ashore detailing the high & lows of his experiences: “I idea we had done fine work avoiding the worst flashes [lightning], but inevitably all about there was one with my name on it - I couldn’t get out of the way. There was sheet & then forked lightning very, very close to the sailboat, & you could smell it.” (go to the Sailing Boat Logs section in the Regatta Console to read in full). As did all the other captains who went previously him, Snow-White went through storms, windless zones, frigid cold & embraced it all, relishing the opportunity to regatta his older generation sailboat versus the professional seamans on the IMOCA circuit to achieve his aspiration of finishing The Artemis Transat & is now one stop nearer to his long-held dream of competing in the solo Vendée Globe.
Tonight at the Boston Bay Hotel the official prizegiving for the IMOCA category, & on Friday full review of the regatta, along with photos from the prizegiving. Plus don’t miss the full video round-up of the regatta, live on the website on Friday.
IMOCA Flotilla Results:
Sailing Boat name / captain name / finish time / date / elapsed time / time difference to first place
1 - Gitana Eighty (Loick Peyron) 03:15:35 GMT 24.5.08 12d 11h 45 meters 35s
2 - Britt Air (Armel Le Cleac’h) 08:28:40 GMT 24.5.08 12d 19h 28 meters 40s [difference to first place 7h 43 meters 05s]
3- Generali (Yann Elies) 04:00:22 GMT 25/05/08 / 13d 15h 00 meters 22s
[difference to first place 1d 3h 14 meters 47s]
4 - Safran (Reginald Guillemot) 10:18:47 GMT 26/5/08 14d 21h 18 meters 47s
(normal speed 8.32 kts / difference to first place 2d 9h 33 meters 12s)
5 - Roxy (Samantha Davies) 23:00:51 GMT 26/5/08 15d 10h 00 meters 51s (normal speed 8.04 kts / difference to first place 2d 22h 15 meters 16s)
6 - Cervin ENR (Yannick Bestaven) 03:31:17 GMT 27/5/08 15d 14h 31 meters 17s (normal speed 7.94 kts / difference to first place 3d 2h 45 meters 42s)
7 - Akena Vérandas (Arnaud Boissieres) 05:00:03 GMT 27/5/08 15d 16h 00 meters 3s (normal speed 7.91 kts / difference to first place 3d 4h 14 meters 28s)
8 - Aviva (Dee Caffari) 15:05:34 GMT 27/5/08 16d 2h 5 meters 34s (normal speed 7.70 kts / difference to first place 3d 14h 19 meters 59s)
9 - Spirit of Weymouth (Steve Snow-White) 04:04:54 GMT 28/5/08 16d 15h 4 meters 54s (normal speed 7.45 kts / difference to first place 4d 3h 19 meters 19s)
by OC Events media