Ecover 2nd Round Britain and Ireland |
| Wednesday, 01 June 2005 |
| Round Britian and Ireland Race
Starting from Calais last Sunday 22nd May, this 1850 Nm dash featured the top Open 60’s fresh for the season, and fully crewed. Lined up at the start were all the new generation boats and some of the more tried and tested. There was some debate as to which way to circle the British Isles, but eventually a clockwise route was decided.
The first leg down the Channel saw Ecover go for the inshore option to take advantage of the tide round Portland and three boats drop out of the running. Pindar Alphagraphics had rig problems, Cheminees Poujoulat hit some flotsam and had daggerboard issues, and Caen la Mer with ballast problems. Sill et Veolia dropped off the polling as their satellite antenna was ripped off by a trapped mainsail sheet as they tried to put in a reef overnight.
Racing was close up the West Coast, with Ecover, Bonduelle and Sill et Veolia jockeying for position. At Muckle Flugga, the most northerly point of the race, there was good news and bad news. The good news for us was that Ecover had crept into the lead by rounding inside St Kilda, the bad news was for Bonduelle, skippered by Jean le Cam, who had dismasted in just 35 knots of wind and was heading for Lerwick in the Shetlands. Ecover had an interesting time with them finding themselves ‘on end with the rudders in the air before broaching again’
The drag race down the East Coast was on, the first two boats hotly pursued by Virbac-Paprec with Jean Pierre Dick at the helm. Clearly, after a “memorable 12 hours” for the whole crew, skipper of Ecover, Mike Golding had gone from “survival mode to race mode” for this leg. With the wind shifting through the E, SE and S they had their work cut out for them to stay ahead of the other boats.
Saturday aftenoon saw the top two, Ecover and Sill et Veolia, still fighting for pole position, match racing a mere 500m from each other, with third only a handful of miles behind. With 30 knots of breeze and the oil rigs and sandbanks of the East Coast to contend with, it was hard work for the tired crews who could expect no rest till Calais.
With the fleet still tightly bunched after most of the race completed, a ridge of high pressure brought them to a standstill at the final mark off Dover. Sill et Veolia managed to creep past Ecover whilst they sat on the glassy sea and took first in the early hours of Sunday morning. Ecover finished 6 hours later in a time of 6 days 22 hours 52 at an average speed of 10.88 knots.
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