The TRANSAT 650 AUS 797 belonging to the Australian skipper Scott Cavanough, has been found by local fishermen on a small island at the North-east coast of Brasil, Ilha do Machadinho, close to the port of São Caetano de Odivelas, not far from Belem.

Scott abandoned the TRANSAT 650 on oktober 25, after a collision with a supertanker in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (doldrums), about 1700 nautical miles (=3100 km) from the finish in Salvador de Bahia. TRANSAT 650′s are unsinkable, due to the obligatory foam fixed inside the boat. This is a disadvantage for which there has not yet been found a solution in the case it has to be abandoned on the Ocean. An abandoned and semi-submerged TRANSAT 650 was recently spotted floating around the ocean after many years at sea.

Organisatie NED 602

To see all pictures, klick: Gaelle Le Brec

TRANSAT 650 2011: Experiences on board of NED 602

First leg: La Rochelle-Madeira.

The race started on September 25th from la Rochelle, France to the island of Madeira. The boats: 32 Proto’s and 45 Serie Transat 650’s, covered a distance of approximately 1100 nautical miles. A distance normally covered in 6 to 7 days.

This Transat race was to be different.

After the official start signal, as agreed the previous day, we waited for a full minute in silence before crossing the starting line, in memory of Jean-Marc Allaire, who had died two weeks previously.
Once we set off, we needed to tack upwind to a buoy close to the isle of Oleron as the race committee had skipped a detour further east to fort Boyard because of the strong current against us and the lack of wind that evening.
In the evening the fleet passed the north tip of Oleron, where the wind dropped. The whole fleet was still together, with fishing boats trying to find their way through the pack, combined with the efforts of some competitors to get VHF contact with a fisherman….

The wind direction kept changing, especially when the anti-cyclonical bubble occurred, although the routing information before departure had given us contradictory information. Consequently, when the northerly light wind came, I concluded that the high-pressure bubble was nevertheless still in place and that I had to go south to circumnavigate it. I decided to do so and this resulted in a 7th place early next morning, with only 1.5 mile behind the first boat.

Unfortunately I fell behind the rest of the fleet and early in the morning on the 28th September I came to a stop near Finisterre: no wind at all for in total 20 hrs. A terrible two nights followed, with heavy mist in the middle of a submarine exercise area. I could only see the first spreader of the mast. The lights of the tricolour and the sail light, cast vague shadows in the mist around the boat. Condensed “mist-water” against the sails, fell down as if it was raining.

Due to the weather conditions, it was clear that we had to make a choice at this phase of the race. Roughly the choice was: go West to cross the cold front/ridge, continue West and after passing it, run South to Madeira or: stay closer to Portugal, East of the front/ridge and go upwind to Madeira.

At that time the weather info we received was not easy to understand and I decided to go CMG to Madeira (Course made Good, fastest course).

I gained about 10 places but lost distance on number 1. I passed Porto Santo in the early morning of October 5th, in 17th position. Despite the distance I had kept from the island, I arrived in a no-wind zone, possibly caused by the wind-shadow of Porto Santo. I tried to keep clear and lost 4 places, by finishing 21st early afternoon October 5th.

Worth mentioning is the 6 meter long whale swimming alongside on my portside, breathing and blowing water at a distance of less than one meter from the boat……

Second leg: Madeira – Salvador de Bahia.

The start was fine. My position was somewhere between the first 10-20 boats of the total fleet. We had to try to get clear of the wind shadow of Madeira, extending about 80 nautical miles further to the south. The first night was beautiful. A full moon and enough wind to make some progress caused excitement in the fleet.

In the evening I was in third position, very close indeed to number one. I tried to keep a middle position in the fleet. Keeping not too far to the East and not too far to the West.

Passing the Canaries, La Palma, the wind increased to 25-35 knots. I still had my big spinnaker up which I should have exchanged for the medium sized sail. But I did not dare to drop it. The boat surfed hard and plunged with extreme power through the waves or jumped over them. The boat reached speeds up to 20 knots. I quickly increased the distance between myself and my neighbour Vincent; who had managed to change his sails.

Only at night at about 2300 hrs, when the wind dropped to 20-25 knots I dropped the spinnaker safely, in a very fast operation and changed to smaller canvas. My position was number 5 and we were 5 miles behind number 1.

Until the 16th October, my position continued to be around the 10th place when I decided to gibe to get more West. The African heated Low pressure extended far to the West over the Atlantic Ocean giving us less wind and full clouded sky. This proved to be horrible weather and not good for charging up by solar panels.

I fell back to position 25 after I had gibed to the West to find wind, which I did. Over the following three days, I managed to arrive at position 5, only 13 miles from nr 1. I remained west, going to the Cabo Verdes.

After the Cabo Verdes I generally lost distance on number 1 but occasionally managed to gain on him.

Ahead of us were the “Doldrums”: This meant a whole number of difficult decisions. For instance, where to enter the Pot Au Noir (“Doldrums”)? In the West they seemed to be very instable, to the East there was no wind at all ….. there was no one on the radio and no wind. Only my Mini and myself…. with limited sources on board and material that had suffered badly……I felt alone but it was not a problem.

The ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) had shifted to the North, and because of that we entered it earlier than we had expected, about the 23rd of October. An Owl circled around the NED 602 to find shelter but choose to continue.

I kept gaining miles on number 1 in the ITCZ. Sailing upwind in 30 knots wind, with “tourmentin” (storm foresail) and later reaching with code “0”. On the 27th October I am in 5th position, only about 9 miles behind the first boat, Clement!

5 hours before the end of the race  on November 3rd and after racing 3300 nautical miles, I passed four competitors and jumped from 11th to 7th position, in the early morning. At 0931 hrs European time I passed the Salvador de Bahia finish line in squalls and heavy rainfall, in 7th position, after a night of no wind, which later increased to squalls of 30 knots, from the South. Competition in the series class is much heavier than in the proto class, as a consequence, competitors race close to each other.

R.M. Rosen Jacobson

Contineous anxiety, specifically during the nights, 1-7 am, when sudden and heavy squalls of 40-45 knots were battering the boats. Trimming and tuning to normal wind and wave conditions was not possible anymore, but constant adapting and trying to minimize chances of severe dammage was the parole. Constant self management and self monitoring seemed to be the answer to overcome these three weeks of extreme endurance in a more or less proper way: sleep – eat – drink – fysical safety – mental rest and stability – proper decisionmaking

The dynamic forces on hull, mast, sails were very near the material limits. Not just because when you broach the mast and sails are jamming in and above the waves, but because broaching happened numerous times a day, three weeks in a row in these sudden squalls. First small things start breaking. Blocks explode, reeflines break, rudder bolts shear, bowsprits break, guys schafe within hours etc… Everytime something breaks you have to improvise and do it fast and secure so not to loose to much distance…. Night or day, being tired, hungry or thirsty and without sleep may not play any role at such moments.

It is a race with a very strong competition in the top 12 of the serie boats. You keep going every minute, 24/7,   getting the max speed out of yourselve and out of the conditions you are in….But still trying to control the boat as much as possible. A strange target.

Falling off the waves, getting smashed by big cross waves gives extreme dynamic forces, also on the light hull. But because the ship is light and the hull strengthened where needed, it can resist this terrible beating to the finish of this 3 weeks Atlantic challenge.

And then there were hours and days with no wind, but with a heavy (cross) swell. How do you minimize the damaging powers of the wave movement on the mast, boom (connections), stays and sails, while keeping maximum speed (sometimes not more than 0,5 knots)?

This gives just an impression of this 3000 nautical mile race to Brasil. No fun. No happy remembrance. No happy feeling. Fear. But yes, I feel satisfaction and am really proud of my results under these conditions. And a small smile when I still think back towards the few times of funny dreams I had during the short sleeps, when the outside world was batting and threatening NED 602 and myself  seriously…. Thanks NED 602, you did an incredible  job staying safe and sound. With me. As small as we are. As small as we were.

Met om de 2 uur een waken en slapen hebben we de nacht doorgebracht in de onzekerheid hoe het met de snelheid van de Ned602 richting de Baai van Alle Heiligen hier in Salvador zou lopen.

Het aantal knopen wisselde gedurende de nacht nog sterk, dus we bleven rekenen en gokken. Met daarbij nog enkele praktische midden - in – de – nacht te nemen hobbels, zoals de lift van de boven- naar de benedenstad (Marina),die pas om 6 uur ‘s morgens open gaat, en een nauwelijks Engels sprekende hotelstaf voor het bestellen van een eventuele taxi, zijn we Robert uiterst dankbaar dat hij rondom het normale ontbijtmoment  van 8 uur vanochtend is gearriveerd.

Inmiddels hadden we gezien dat hij van de 11e tot de 7e plaats was opgeklommen en alles op alles heeft gezet om zijn positie te optimaliseren.  Met muziek en vuurwerk werd ook deze held in de haven verwelkomd. Druilerig weer, maar de feestvreugde was er niet minder om. De champagne die Pauline en Kees hadden meegenomen werd eerst aan de boot gegeven om haar te eren voor de bewezen diensten, daarna kwamen wij aan de beurt. Twee kleurrijk geklede Bahiaanse vrouwen in nationale klederdracht serveerden ter verwelkoming een plateau met de heerlijkste tropische vruchten en drankjes om  de  consumptie van vitaminen weer wat op peil te brengen. Ook een aantal formaliteiten moesten worden verricht o.a. bij de immigratiedienst. Wat een dankbare opluchting dat man en Mini gezond en heelhuids de race hebben volbracht, alhoewel de coureur wel wat kilootjes achter zich heeft gelaten. Voor de uiteindelijke overall positie is nog niet alles duidelijk, maar Robert maakt goede kansen om hoog uit te komen. In de komende dagen zullen de verhalen zeker nog meer loskomen. Dus………wordt nog wel vervolgd!

Heiko, Kees, Pauline en Eveline

Meer foto’s in de Gallery

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. ” 

In de culinaire sfeer is ook ruim tijd geïnvesteerd om de locale keuken te leren kennen. Maar nu wordt het menes. We volgen de voortgang met name vanuit het hotel en zijn gisteren even bij de Nautic Club in de Marina geweest waar het kloppend hart van de Transat organisatie zich heeft geïnstalleerd en waar toen 3 Proto’s al waren gearriveerd.Opvallend is dat de winnende Proto (Teamwork)als novum met een ronde “neus” is ontworpen in  tegenstelling tot de standaard spitse neuzen van alle collega-mini’s (zie foto). Het druppelt nu echt binnen en bij iedere aankomst wordt met vuurwerk geknald! Vanuit de hotelkamer is een full vieuw over de jachthaven, dus we hebben full control in combinatie met het zicht op de vorderingen via internet! Sedert gisteren valt er een tropische regen, misschien voor iedereen verfrissend, maar de snelheden van de Mini’s zijn wat gedaald door afname en draaiing van de wind waarbij er meer tegenwind vanuit het zuiden ontstaat. Bovendien is het wat regenachtig druilerig weer. In deze veranderlijke omstandigheden zijn positie wisselingen nog geenszins uitgesloten, dus het blijft spannend! Wordt vervolgd!

Met hartelijk groeten vanuit Salvador van
Heiko, Pauline, Kees en Eveline

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.