25 November 2017

RORC Transatlantic Race LIVE Feed, CQS Line Honors Finish Dec 6

UPDATE 13 December 2017: Eric de Turckheim's French Nivelt-Muratet 54 Teasing Machine is the overall winner of the 2017 RORC Transatlantic Race. Whilst many of the record 23 yacht fleet are still racing, none of them can better Teasing Machine's corrected time under IRC. Teasing Machine is the smallest yacht to win the RORC Transatlantic Trophy which has been previously won by yachts in the Maxi Class.

10 Dec 2017: Roman Guerra's Volvo 70 Monster Project finished the 2017 RORC Transatlantic Race on Sunday 10 December 2017 in an elapsed time of 14 days 21 hrs 39 mins 46 secs. Sixteen yachts are still racing across the Atlantic Ocean and a number of teams will finish the 3,000 nautical mile race over the next 48 hours.

Day 15 1000 UTC 9 December 2017: Eric de Turckheim's French Nivelt-Muratet 54 Teasing Machine finished the 2017 RORC Transatlantic Race on Friday 8 December in an elapsed time of 13 days 19 hrs 29 mins 08 secs. The French team lead the race overall after IRC time correction. Canadian Southern Wind 96 Sorceress, skippered by Daniel Stump and Tilmar Hansen's German Elliot 52 Outsider have also finished the RORC Transatlantic Race. 17 yachts are still at sea, vying for the finish line outside Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina in Grenada. Teasing Machine arrived at sunset on the 14th day of the race and has one hand on the RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy. The team cheered for joy as they crossed the finish line. "We are very happy to be here in Grenada," smiled Eric de Turckheim. "This is my first transatlantic race and it has been fantastic."

09 Dec 2017 21:00 UTC LIVE Tracker:
06 Dec: Ludde Ingvall's Australian Maxi CQS finished the 2017 RORC Transatlantic Race on Wednesday 6th December taking Monohull Line Honours in an elapsed time of 11 days 00 hrs 03 mins 08 secs. CQS committed to a southerly route for the 3,000 nautical mile race and despite sustaining sail damage in a vicious 40 knot squall, the canting keel 98ft Maxi led from start to finish. Ingvall is no stranger to taking line honours in prestigious offshore races, twice taking the honour in both the Rolex Fastnet Race and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. This was Ludde Ingvall's 16th transatlantic. Once dockside at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina, Ingvall was full of enthusiasm for the RORC Transatlantic Race and his team:
"We have had a fantastic trip, even though the slow start meant we didn't have a fast race, but I love it. It is great to be back in the Atlantic and especially nice to be first. Much more fun than being last! We have a young crew on board and it is especially rewarding to give them this chance and 'pass it on'. Sailing is an amazing sport, but big boat opportunities for young sailors are few and they did really well. Just think, we have eight nationalities on one boat and everybody was focused on the same finish line. We worked as a team, looked after each other and it was tough at times."
CQS Crew: Skipper Ludde Ingvall; Co-Skipper Kenneth Thelen; Logan Andresen; Martyn Baker; Philip Barnard; Hans-Christoph Brumberg; Charles Egerton-Warburton; Robin Elsey; James Espey; Liam Gardner; Paul Heyrman; David Kenefick; Rokas Milevicius; James Oxenham; Malcolm Paine and James Tomlinson.

Marten 72 Aragon, skippered by Jochen Bovenkamp and Canadian Southern Wind 96 Sorceress, skippered by Daniel Stump are likely to be the next yachts to finish. The Maxis have close company from two high-performance offshore racing yachts, Tilmar Hansen's German Elliott 52 Outsider and the provisional overall leader, Eric de Turckheim's French Nivelt-Muratet 54 Teasing Machine. All four yachts are expected to finish the 2017 RORC Transatlantic Race on Friday 8th December.

05 Dec: Ludde Ingvall's Maxi CQS is expected to finish the 4th edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race Wednesday, and the overall leader under IRC, Eric de Turckheim's French Teasing Machine, is under threat from two Maxis. Everyone is keeping a close eye on the race tracker as the fleet near Grenada; especially as a high pressure system is expected to create another conundrum for the majority of the fleet. As dawn broke on the eleventh day of the 2017 RORC Transatlantic Race, Ludde Ingvall's Australian Maxi CQS was under 300 miles from taking monohull line honours and lifting the IMA Transatlantic Trophy. CQS suffered damage to their mainsail during a knockdown in heavy weather and has one big gybe remaining before pointing their bow at Grenada and the finish. CQS is reaching at top speed and expected to finish at approximately midday local time on December 6th. A warm welcome is waiting for them at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina.

05 Dec 2017 04:00 UTC: Supermaxi CQS AUS11111 Speed: 15.6 knots @ 277.91°; Skipper: Ludde Ingvall; DTF (Distance to Finish): 447.2 NM; Distance last 24hrs: 308 Nautical Miles (NM).

04 Dec 2017 17:00 UTC--CQS Recovers From Knockdown--Ludde Ingvall's CQS is now back on track after suffering a setback in the RORC Transatlantic Race; the westbound leg of the Atlantic Anniversary Regatta. "We got caught in a bad squall of probably 40 knots which resulted in a number of issues," Ingvall reported from on board on day 10 of the race. "There has been damage to sails and onboard electronic systems, but we are still progressing towards the finish." Kenneth Thelen, co-skipper for Australian Maxi CQS confirmed that all of the crew of the 96ft canting keel Maxi were safe and well. Describing the damage he said: "Part of our electronics failed making it hard to sail in the dark. We blew our biggest spinnaker, but it is repairable. As we went into a gybe, the engine stalled and we lay flat on our side for a while which resulted in a diesel spill inside the boat, so the smell is terrible in the heat! We broke the top three battens in the mainsail, but we are still sailing towards the finish at reasonable speed, in pouring rain. We will assess the situation at first light." At 1100 UTC on December 4th, the race tracker showed that CQS had slowed down to barely a few knots of boat speed to effect repairs. "We are back on track," continued Ingvall. We lost about six hours while sailing slowly and then stopped to repair probably at 90-95%, but we are now doing 14-15 knots average with G1 and a full main." At the time of the incident CQS was more than 400 nautical miles ahead of Jochen Bovenkamp's Dutch Marten 72 Aragon and Southernwind 96 Sorceress, skippered by Daniel Stump. CQS are fighting all the way to hold onto their grip on the IMA Transatlantic Race Trophy. Eric de Turckheim's French Nivelt-Muratet 54 Teasing Machine leads overall after IRC time correction and the majority of the record fleet are reaching at double-digit boat speed towards the finish at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina, Grenada.

04 Dec 2017 02:00 UTC: Ludde Ingvall's Australian Maxi CQS is less than 800 nautical miles from Camper & Nicholson's Port Louis Marina, 400+ miles ahead of the fleet to take Monohull Line Honours and the IMA Transatlantic Trophy. Eric de Turckheim's French Nivelt-Muratet 54 Teasing Machine is still the provisional leader overall under IRC. However four other teams are also in the hunt for the RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy; CQS, Jochen Bovenkamp's Marten 72 Aragon, Teichmann & Thomas Jungblut's German Elliott 52 Outsider, and Canadian Southernwind 96 Sorceress, skippered by Daniel Stump. CQS has been hitting over 20 knots of boat speed, surfing down Atlantic rollers, but it has not all been plane sailing as their blog shows. "The A2 spinnaker had been up for four days during the RORC Transatlantic Race when a two foot tear appeared during a gybe. A4 hoisted, A2 doused, repaired, repacked and hoisted. Total time 90 minutes. All 15 crew working flat out. Now that's what I call teamwork!" (2 gray vessels in front in the screenshot show projected positions of two classes' all-time record holders from prior years).

Dec 1, 01:00 UTC: a huge spread in the fleet, with boats 800 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, north to south. Ludde Ingvall's Australian Maxi CQS leads the fleet, gybing further south last night and under 2,000 miles from the finish at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina, Grenada. CQS is 186 miles ahead of Canadian 96ft Southern Wind Sorceress in the battle to win the International Maxi Association (IMA) Transatlantic Trophy for monohull line honors.

2017 RORC Transatlantic Race video JANGADA RICHARD PALMER | YouTube.com: RORC published on Nov 30, 2017, a sat. phone interview (video) of Richard Palmer racing British JPK 10.10 Jangada Two Handed on Day 6 of the 2017 RORC Transatlantic Race.

Nov 29: Maxi CQS sailing away on the southern route appears headed for line honours while the majority of the fleet have yet to cross the long ridge of high pressure extending from the Canary Islands across the Atlantic to reach the northeast tradewinds. Tactical decisions over the next day or two in this 3,000 mile offshore race may determine the final finish positions.

Nov 28, 2017: Varuna retires from the RORC Transatlantic Race while Ludde Ingvall's Maxi CQS made short work of the transition zone to the south of the rhumb line, slowing down for just four hours before reaching fresh breeze from the north east. At 0900 GMT the third day of the race, the Australian 98ft canting maxi was enjoying downwind conditions in a moderate breeze, gybing to keep in the best pressure--rorctransatlantic.rorc.org.

See also: monohull leaders board.

 2017 RORC Transatlantic Race - DAY TWO Challenger

RORC video above published on Nov 26, 2017: Chris Stanmore-Major reports in from Canadian Whitbread 60 Challenger on Day two of the 2017 RORC Transatlantic Race

2017 RORC Transatlantic Race - Laurent Pages Teasing Machine

RORC video above published Nov 21, 2017: Eric De Turckheim's Teasing Machine is taking part in the 2017 RORC Transatlantic Race. Tactician Laurent Pages interview before the start.
RORC Transatlantic Race and Atlantic Anniversary Regatta routes
The fourth edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race will start from Marina Lanzarote on 25th November 2017, bound for Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina, Grenada. The IMA Transatlantic Trophy will be awarded to the first monohull to complete the race and three powerful Maxi yachts can be considered favourites for the prestigious trophy: CQS, Sorceress and Monster Project are all very capable of beating the race record set in 2015 by Jean Paul Riviere's Nomad IV of 10 days 07 hours 06 minutes and 59 seconds.

By contrast, Jangada is the smallest yacht in the 2017 RORC Transatlantic Race. At just 33ft (10.10 metres) and sailing Two Handed, it is estimated that Jangada will take 19 days to complete the 2,995 nautical mile race.

Ludde Ingvall's 98ft Maxi CQS from Australia is a front-runner to take Line Honours in the RORC Transatlantic Race. Ingvall has thousands of racing miles under his belt, notching up 15 transatlantic crossings; his most famous Transatlantic Race was in 1997. As skipper of Nicorette, Ingvall broke the 92-year old record set in 1905 by Charlie Barr's Atlantic.

"When you are a young kid dreaming of racing, the Transatlantic Race is a very special one. I have enjoyed them all; it is a great adventure and very historic. You become part of something that has been going on for hundreds of years. To share that experience with your crew and other boats is really unique, and I feel very privileged to be doing this race," explains Ingvall. "For this race we have a rather young crew. Many will be crossing the Atlantic for the first time and they are excited to race in an organised fashion."


THE RORC TRANSATLANTIC RACE:
The westbound leg of the celebratory Atlantic Anniversary Regatta incorporates the 4th edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race, an annual race organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in association with the International Maxi Association (IMA) http://www.internationalmaxiassociation.com
The fleet will depart from Marina Lanzarote on Saturday 25th November 2017 and the 2,995 nautical mile race runs through the Canary Islands before crossing the Atlantic to arrive at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina in Grenada. Race minisite: http://rorctransatlantic.rorc.org/
RORC website: www.rorc.org
Twitter: #rorctransatlanticrace @RORCracing
Facebook: www.facebook.com/royaloceanracingclub
Instagram: instagram.com/rorcracing

THE ATLANTIC ANNIVERSARY REGATTA:
The AAR is a celebration of the jubilees of two of the most highly regarded sailing clubs in the world - the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) from Hamburg (150th anniversary) and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) from Sardinia (50th anniversary). It is an extraordinary series of events spanning a 9-month period between November 2017 and July 2018, connecting Grenada and Bermuda with the vibrant maritime metropolis of Hamburg. Starts: Westbound (Lanzarote - Grenada) - Saturday 25th November 2017, Eastbound (Bermuda - Hamburg) - Saturday 7th July 2018. It is the first regatta series to cross the Atlantic ocean twice, in both directions. The regatta is supported by: The Royal Ocean Racing Club; Royal Bermuda Racing Club, International Maxi Class Association, Segler-Vereinigung Cuxhaven.http://anniversary-regatta.com
https://www.facebook.com/AtlanticAnniversaryRegatta @AtlanticAnniversaryRegatta

The International Maxi Association (IMA) represents owners of Maxi yachts worldwide
Recognised in 2010 as the World Sailing international class of Maxi yachts, the IMA has the exclusive right to organise World championships for Maxi yachts. The IMA rule defines and categorises maxi yachts: it aims to embrace all maxi yachts and encourage any development that has a positive effect on the construction and performance of maxi yachts.

For more information on the RORC Transatlantic Race and Atlantic Anniversary Regatta:
ENTRY LIST: The latest list of entries can be found at: http://rorctransatlantic.rorc.org/entries/entries-expressions-of-interest.html

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