We counted them all out and we counted them all in............. |
Donning Viking hats and spraying the reception committee with champagne the Norwegians, Rune Aasberg and Simen Lovgren on ‘Solo’ (the oldest Class 40 in the top 6 finishers) completed the Transat Jacques Vabre course in 4th place with an elapsed time of 23d 10h 10m 24s for the 4730 miles course. They sailed 5271 miles, at an average of 9.38kts. The duo are the first ever Scandinavians to finish the TJV. ‘Solo’ was the only other Class 40 to take the less popular and more demanding Northern route and for much of the up wind part of the race were able to shadow and largely keep pace with 3rd placed finisher ‘40 Degrees’ until they moved into the reaching weather that favored the latter. Solo was also the winner in the 2010 two handed Round Britain and Ireland Race, not only being the first Class 40 home but also taking line honours for that event. With the arrival in 6th Place of ‘11th Hour Racing (Cutlass)’ skippered by American Nick Halmos and Kiwi Hugh Piggin all three Owen Clarke Design Class 40’s have successfully completed this winter’s grueling Transat Jacques Vabre, the 4730 nm classic transatlantic marathon from Le Havre France to Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. ‘11th Hour Racing’ took the route that the main body of the fleet favoured, running further South and of a slightly shorter distance. The 2007 built Class 40 was able to finish only ten hours behind Groupe Picoty the latest generation Pogo and launched only last year and sailed by ex Class 40 President Jacques Fournier winner of the Les Sable-Horta-Les Sable earlier this year. 11th Hour Racing (Cutlass) in her earlier colours as the first ‘40 Degrees’ was also Class 40 champion in 2008.
Nick Halmos (USA): "We spent 25 days at sea and we had a great time. We sailed well against JC and Jacques on Groupe Picoty. In the end we finished not far from each other and we have not lost in the last five or six days. The last 1000 miles were very, very hard, very windy, and then more wind!... We had all the weather conditions you can think of in the Atlantic.
To stay in touch with these guys, we had to give everything. " Hugh Piggin (NZL):
"This race was very hard. I thought it would be difficult but not really this hard. It's a good experience and it is really great to finally be here.
Since we left Le Havre the race was full on. In Class40 boats are in contact. All the time
We are here because we looked after the boat and ourselves.” All three Owen Clarke Design Class 40s have successfully proved fast and safe rides for multinational crews from the UK, America, Norway and New Zealand. All three crews confirmed that their boats stood up extremely well to the punishing conditions with no major breakages or structural problems and that the key to finishing was looking after their boats first and foremost. Nick Halmos confirmed that to compete in Class 40 successfully at the top there is nothing to compare with bringing the boats to Europe to compete. Valuable lessons have been learned by all the crews for their future Class 40 campaigns. |
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