Ned602

Robert Rosen Jacobson finished a fantastic 7th in the 2nd leg of the Mini Transat on November 3rd at 09:56:03 European time after 20 days 21 hours 26minutes and 3 seconds.

First interview (in French, translated with Google Translate…):

Reactions: ”In 2009 it was a simple little game this year it was sometimes dangerous.We have reached the extreme limit, I think. Otherwise, the mast, the hull, sails, pilots everything were perfect. I have known trivia. The work done for a year full-time paid. I am sad for Simonnet, between ”oldies” we often talked on the VHF. It was a great race. I do not know if I will return. In 2009, I had not planned to be here this year. I have not decided but I wonder if it would be reasonable to return. We must make room for young people. ” 

As we write the NED602 is in 11^th place, 60 nautical miles from the finish in very light weather. The next twelve hours will have winds from all directions. Positions 6 to 11 are very close, so a lot can happen when the race comes to a climax tomorrow morning. Keep a sharp lookout at the Transat Tracking site!

Three days ago NED602 was within 10 miles behind the leader in 5th place. After 48 hours with the highest boat speed of his pack, that night speed dropped dramatically and Robert went from 5th to 13th place, about 70 nm behind no. 1. We can only guess what has happened, but technical problems seem obvious. Broken bowsprit, ripped spinnaker or failing autopilot, we will only know after the finish.

The good news is that in the last 24 hours he has kept his speed up and currently 5 boats are racing for 8th to 12th place only 5 miles apart.

This afternoon the first prototype, David Raison on  his amazing “Teamwork Evolution”,  will finish in Bahia while the first Serie boats still have about 600 nm to go.

Daily position updates will come more often as the fleet gets nearer to the finish. Stories and news on the organisation website are published here in French and later here in Franglais.

Today Robert Rosen Jacobson celebrates his 57th birthday on his mighty racer NED602 somewhere between Africa and Brazil. He is doing well in the top ten of the Series class, but much will depend on interpretation of weather forecasts and luck the next days. The fleet is in the doldrums, a.k.a. the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a low-pressure area around the equator where the prevailing winds are calm. As the remaining wind is from the south now, progress is agonisingly slow. Or as Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 – 1834) noted in the

Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner:

All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

After the good start of the second leg in the Transat, Robert made quite a dramatic move to the west on sunday night. His position in the fleet dropped from 10th to 25th place overnight, 48 nm behind the leader. The next night however his move proved to be brilliant: he has climbed to 5th place on wednesday at app. 14 nm behind the leader! At this moment he is passing the Cape Verde Islands in the leading pack of the Series class.

More on the Transat Tracking Site, where the positions are updated at least three times a day.
Article on Nauticlink site (Dutch)

Robert had a great start in the second leg to Brasil: after 24 hours he is in 4th place. 

Photos by (c) Ruud Kattenberg 
Speed is high, course is straight to the finish, only 2915 nm away…

from the official Transat site:

FAQ… Robert Rosen Jacobson, 21st Serie – 602 NED 602

12.10.11 – 16:25
Your best memory of the first stage?
When I sneaked south from the high pressure’s bubble off the coast of La Rochelle rewarded with a seventh place.

Your worst memory?

Being completely stopped for 20 hours in the dark night, in the fog, in the middle of a training area for submarines.

Your main concern for the second stage?

After the Doldrums when the southeast trade winds is not yet open and the sea is sometimes rough.

Robert’s southerly course at the start of the race hasn’t worked out in the long term: sailing in 7th place the first day he went down to the 32nd position near Cap Finisterre. After rounding the cape he climbed gradually to 19th at 100 nautical miles before the finish in Funchal, Madeira where he is expected tomorrow afternoon.