Clean start to the Vendée Globe

At precisely 1202 GMT this 7th November 2004 the 20 competitors in the fifth edition of the Vendée Globe headed off from Les Sables d’Olonne, on the Atlantic coast of France, under grey skies with a considerably lighter than forecast 8 knot north-westerly. The fleet are set to return here in around 3 months’ time after completing a tour of the planet around the 3 capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn, single-handed and without assistance.

The IMOCA 60 foot monohulls began with a clean start on a 6-mile coastal course prior to taking on the 23 680 mile total course. It was the winning boat of the last edition, PRB, now skippered by Vincent Riou, who was first to unfurl his gennaker and hit wind on the start line. He was chased by American Bruce Schwab on Ocean Planet second and Dominic Wavre on Temenos third, all the boats on a port tack under full main and gennaker on flat seas.

The British boats Hugo Boss (Alex Thomson) and Hellomoto (Conrad Humphreys) were 6th and 7th respectively, Australian Nick Moloney was 8th on Skandia, British sailor, Mike Golding on Ecover, was 16th and Austrian Norbert Sedlacek on Brother 18th. By the first mark, Virbac Paprec had taken the lead, PRB snatching it back again by the second mark. Around 300 000 spectators lined the pontoons, the channel, the beaches and the spectator craft this morning in scenes reminiscent of the arrival of Michel Desjoyeaux and Ellen MacArthur on the last edition – an emotional start to the adventure of a lifetime. At the 1500 GMT ranking, the top trio were PRB, Bonduelle and British boat Ecover (Mike Golding).

Bron: vendeeglobe.fr, 07-11-2004;