Danes zjutraj ob 4h in 11m po našem času, je v cilj 1100 milj dolge prve etapeTransata, z jadrnico Degremont-Synergie, pripeljala Isabelle Joschke, ki vodstva (razen na startu) svojim sotekmovalcem ni prepustila niti za hip. Čas, ki ga je za to potrebovala je 5 dni, 15 ur, 33 minut in 30 sekund. Zaradi težav na spletni strani organizatorjev še ni jasno ali sta v cilju tudi drugo in tretje uvrščeni Manuard in Le Blevec, glede na zaostanke, pa bi verjetno že morala biti.

Prva izjava Isabelle, ki jo je dala za uradno stran www.transat650.org : “Tik pred ciljem sem bila zelo živčna, saj je veter začel slabeti, to pa so pogoji, ko moraš biti nenehno na preži. Presrečna sem, to so trenutki zaradi katerih jadram v razredu Mini. Etapa je bila težka, že prvi dan mi je prenehal delovati VHF, tako da nisem dobivala podatkov o vremenu in pozicijah. Posebno pri rtu Finisterre sem se počutila popolnoma samo na svetu. Šele pred dvema dnevoma sem začela dobivati podatke o pozicijah in ko sem izvedela, da sem v vodstvu sem bila vsa iz sebe. Pogoji so bili takšni, da sem se trudila čimveč biti za krmilom, saj verjamem, da prav tu prihaja do največjih prednosti. Toda vse to je šele prva etapa. Še vedno moramo predirkati Atlantik. Transat se pravzaprav začne šele na Madieri”.

Andraž je ponoči sicer izgubil eno mesto, vendar pa je še vedno le slabe tri milje oddaljen od Pelle in Hardyja, tako da se bo boj za četrto oziroma peto mesto verjetno bil tik pred ciljno črto. Tudi Kristian je ponoči izgubil eno mesto in je trenutno šestnajsti. Jure o današnjem dnevu pravi: “danes se bo severovzhodnik čez dan krepil, tako da bodo razliko milj do prvih treh lovili po 14-18 vozlih vetra, le pri Madeiri bo vetra znova malo manj. Verjamem, da Andraža žge pogled na Alexa, ki je v njegovem vidnem polju, oba, pa bosta kot izkušena jadralca lovila Adriena. Tudi Kristian se je kot kaže postavil na noge. Morda še pogled na serijce (in našega favorita Davida Križka – njegov routing smo načrtovali skupaj). Po 9. mestu na Finisterru se je držal vzhodne variante in včeraj napredoval do 4. z dobrimi obeti, da gre še višje. Očitno vzhodna varianta niti ni bila tako slaba (toda o tem velja soditi takrat, ko bodo prišli do besede še jadralci).”

At 02.11 a.m. UTC Isabelle Joschke crossed the finish line of 1100 miles long first leg of Transat 6.50 onboard Degremont-Synergie. She was firmly in the lead for the whole leg (except for the first few hours after the start). It took her 5 days, 15 hours, 33 minutes in 30 seconds. Due to some trouble at the official page it is still unclear if Manuard ad Le Blevec (first and second runner up) have alrady landed but according to the latest page update they should be in Madeira aswell.

First statement of Isabelle for the official website www.transat650.org : “This last day was an ennerving one. But I’m trully happy because it wasn’t an easy leg for me. It is for times like this that I sail in Classe Mini.  My VHF stoped working the first day and after passing Finisterre without seeing anyone I felt a bit alone in the world. I started getting the positions and weather bulletins two days ago and when I found out that I was in the lead i was extremely happy. I tried to stay at the helm as much as possible because I believe the difference is made there. Anyway this is just stage one. We still have the Atlantic to cross and the Transat will really start in Madeira.”

Andraž lost a place today but he is still within a three miles radium of Hardy and Pella, so the fight for 4th and 5th place will be on all through to the finis line. Kristian also lost a place tonight and is currently 16th. Jure says of todays forecast: “there will be a strong NE today so the fight for 4th place will be faught in 14-18 knots of wind. I’m sure Andraž can see Alex Pella and knowing him this is a strong motivation to push even harder. They are both experienced skippers and probably will be chasing Hardy trying to gain some time before leg two. Kristian too is now in a steady rythm. Just a word on the series classification. Our favorit David Križek (he was present at our meteo briefings and we did his routing together). He was 9th after Finisterre but pushed to 4th place after sticking to the eastern option. His potential is even higher at the moment so it looks as thought the eastern option wasn’t a mistake (but let’s wait and see ahat the skippers have to say when they land).”

This entry was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 9:44 am and is filed under Transat, Vreme. 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.