Mike Godling's TJV Race Summary |
| Friday, 23 November 2007 |
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Ecover 3 Copyright Mark Lloyd
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Ecover 3 copyright Mark Lloyd
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Mike Golding (GBR) and Bruno Dubois (Bel-Can) crossed the finish line of the 2007 Transat Jacques Vabre at 02:09:33hrs local time (05:09:33hrs GMT) this morning in the new ECOVER 3, taking a hard earned fifth place in what has been the longest, most competitive and most tactical edition of this key IMOCA Open 60 race ever.
ECOVER 3 finished 13 hours 32 minutes and 28 seconds behind race winners Michel Desjoyeaux and Manu Le Borgne (FRA) on the new Foncia, and one hour 35 minutes and 42 seconds ahead of sixth placed Groupe Bel (Kito de Pavant and Sebastien Col, FRA).
Wearing a broad smile as he stepped on to the dock at Salvador’s Bahia State Sports Secretariat Centre, to a traditional welcoming caiparinha, Golding admitted that their fifth place was bittersweet. The new ECOVER 3 was only launched on September 17th and Golding and Dubois had only sailed on her on seven days before they started the 4340 miles double handed race from Le Havre on Saturday November 3rd, they lead the highly competitive16 boat fleet for nearly one third of the race and only faltered when they made a wrong tactical choice in the Doldrums.
The duo were also hampered by a persistent problem with the engine of the new boat which required regular attention and by a malfunctioning water ballast scoop which affected their ability to trim the boat for best speed, but Golding said it was probably their tactical choice entering the Doldrums which put paid to their chances of victory.
“I am both pleased to be here but a little disappointed with the result.” Golding admitted of his fifth participation in this biennial race which is seen as an early indicator to form for next year’s solo round the world Vendee Globe race, the pinnacle solo racing event for the IMOCA Open 60’s “But it was an extraordinary race to compete in, certainly the most competitive I’ve done and in that respect I am happy to have proven the boat is competitive. I believe we have a boat which can win the Vendee Globe, but we made a mistake.”
“ I think it has been an extraordinary race, the number of times the rankings have changed, the quality of the boats and obviously the quality of the sailors and even right at the end of the race, the last four days were a little disappointing for us, it was bit processional because of the conditions, but even the finish was very, very close. So it was a good race and we are pretty pleased to be here now.”
“We lost it in the Doldrums, we took a decision to push as far west as we could. But We out tactic-ed ourselves. We saw Gitana (Loick Peyron and Jean Baptiste Levaillant) turn to the left and cut the corner and we knew we had 60 or 70 miles of leverage on Gitana and we thought ‘that is enough, let’s go, and so we started to go south and it was not enough.” Summarised Golding.
“The boat certainly feels good and we learnt a lot. The advantage of this race over many other things that you could be doing is that the racing is very close, and we elected from the very beginning that we would try and stay with boats, rather than break away, because we learn more doing that, which we did.”
“I think the boat could win the Vendee, but sadly,” he smiled, “so do a lot of the new boats have the potential to win the Vendee. But the interesting thing is so many different choices have been made, but all to the same end. There are conditions where Foncia are quick, where Safran is quick, where Bel is quick. The question is what will work in the context of the Vendee Globe. But the race here wasn’t really won on boat speed alone, it was won because there was a pile up in the Doldrums and the order got re-shuffled and so in the end it was race about tactics and so for Mich (Michel Desjoyeaux skipper of the winning boat Foncia) for Safran and for Bernard (Velux 5 Oceans winner Bernard Stamm) who I am pleased to see doing well with his new boat, they did the right thing.”
“We did not expect to be in a contending position. We kind of thought our start (leading off the start line in Le Havre) was going to be the limit of our visibility at the front of the fleet, but we had a good innings and we were looking pretty good. The Doldrums were pretty unkind to us but that is the way it can cut sometimes.”
“The seal for the main crank shaft bearing failed, which is annoying on a brand new engine, but it meant that you poured the oil in one end and it came out the other. And we did not have enough oil to keep pouring it in, so we had to collect it and put it in each time we wanted to run the engine. And then the other problem we had is we have two scoops to pick up water (to fill the water-ballast tanks) and one is broken, so we can only pick up water on one tack, which is a little awkward when you are on the other tack. These are the kind of gremlins you maybe expect with a brand new boat, but losing the oil seal on a brand new engine was not one of them.”
For an excellent interview with Mike, his thoughts on the other boats and the race in detail go to:
http://www.thedailysail.com/ism/articles.nsf/Interview/BA90879FE93641758025739B000BD938?OpenDocument&Page=1&Login |
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