23/11/09 - 20:01 -

Damien Grimont, organizer : « I should like to congratulate all of the skippers in the first run of the race for their sporting common sense and the ability to adapt to the spirit of the race. The Solidaire du Chocolat is not just another transatlantic yacht race on a new course. It is a new type of event highlighting the values of yachtsmen, discovery, sharing and adventure along with the legendary solidarity of the people of the sea. »

Bernard Duval, race manager : « I am perfectly satisfied with this first edition. In spite of very difficult conditions, the crews sailed sensibly and safely. All of the safety indications were complied with which meant that the race went well and and that the finishes were truly exceptional moments. »

Jacques Auxiette, Chairman of the Conseil Régional des Pays de la Loire : « It is essential for the economic, social and cultural development of the Pays de la Loire region that things happen on an international and European level. The region is outward looking. It has been behind the Solidaire du Chocolat yacht race from the beginning. Today we are enthusiastic about the commitments we are making to projects in a new decentralized cooperation with the Yucatan and Mexico. »

23/11/09 - 19:58 -

Tanguy de Lamotte (Initiatives-Novedia) : « I dedicate my first transatlantic victory on my boat to the little Cambodian girl Nana who was operated on just before the start thanks to the action of Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque,. Meeting her made an impression on me and gave me the force to keep going. Thank you to both of the sponsors who made this possible. See you two years from now. My title will be up for grabs! »

Victor Maldonado (Crédit Maritime) : « I am quite moved. What better way could there be to link France where I live to my country of origin. What an incredible experience. This race has done so much. What an incredible human adventure. The most important thing for me is that France and Mexico have been brought together and met one another via an ocean race, such a fine way to get to know one another. The exceptional welcome staged by my compatriots for my fellow competitors was no surprise to me. I am very proud and would like to thank them most sincerely. »

Felipe Cubillos (Desafio Cabo de Hornos) : « I have never seen a welcome quite like it before. It’s the first time I have taken part in a race which has so much heart to it. »

Damien Seguin (Cargill-MTTM) : « Since the start, the Solidaire du Chocolat has brought meaning to sailing competitively. Thank you to the Mexican people for their fantastic welcome waiting for us at the finish. »

Bruno Jourdren (Cheminées Poujoulat) : « A magical adventure. Mexico is a dream destination. The solidarity factor makes it exceptional. »

23/11/09 - 19:55 - The first edition of the Solidaire du Chocolat kept its promise _ and much more ! Not only was the race a popular success, it was also a success with the participants, partners and organizers. Associating solidarity with the values conveyed in competitive sailing worked. « La Routa Solidaria del Chocolate », gimme more ! It has already been decided to run a second edition from the Région des Pays de la Loire to the Yucatan. Make a note in your...   Read

22/11/09 - 18:59 -

The Class 40 ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital - Saving Sight Worldwide sailed by the Brits Stephen Card and Shaun Murphy crossed the finishing line today Sunday at 10h32 French time with a race time of 34 days 17 hours and 42 minutes and an average speed of 6.1 knots. There were still quite a lot of people in Progreso to welcome the crew ashore, in spite of the fact that locally it was the middle of the night. They still received the now customary local welcome as the last boat to finish the Solidaire du Chocolat: guard of honour, hola, Maya ceremonies, dance and traditional music, Batoukada, from the first to the last boat, the organizers honoured the arrival of each boat in the same way never lacking in imagination. 

22/11/09 - 11:09 - The pace at which the boats are finishing stepped up last night in Progreso as as five boats crossed the finishing line of the first edition of the Solidaire du Chocolat in the space of 12 hours. True to form, the Yucatan public turned out in force to welcome the ten sailors ashore as only they know how after 32 days at sea. Celebrations took on a new dimension with the arrival of the highly emblematic French-Mexican crew in the shape of Patrice...   Read

20/11/09 - 19:25 - « Happy », « content » and most of all impressed by the ever festive and enthusiastic welcome put on by the Mexicans from Yucatan. Reactions from skippers returning to terra firma after 31 days at sea racing from Saint Nazaire to Progreso. 11 boats came into Progreso this morning. The next boat in will be none other than Crédit Maritime, the Franco-Mexican driven Class 40. Patrice Carpentier and Victor Maldonado made a great comeback after...   Read

20/11/09 - 09:31 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009


General synopsis by November 20, 2009 at 00h
Low expected 1007 hPa 29N and 93W by 21/12h UTC, moving northeast. 
Light gradient of pressure about 1012 hPa. 
 
Weather forecast from November 20, 2009 at 9UTC to November 22, 2009 at 00UTC
North of East of YUCATAN (east du 87 west) :
East or Northeast 13/16kt veering Easterly 10/15kt at first, then East or Southeast 6/10kt. Sea slight or moderate decreasing. squalls.
 
North of west of YUCATAN (west du 87 west) :
Easterly 10/15kt, locally variable 2/5 kt near coasts, veering East or Southeast 5/10kt. Sea slight decreasing. squalls.


Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None


Tropical activity
None

on Friday, November 20, 2009 at 07? UTC
Anne Couzinier

Météo-France

19/11/09 - 22:25 - Jacques Fournier and Jean-Edouard Criquioche, the fun skippers of Groupe Picoty, crossed the Progreso finishing line on Thursday 19th November at 3h38 French time to take 8th place after sailing for 31d 10h 48min at an average speed of 6.33 knots from France to Mexico. Throughout their voyage, both sent lots of messages and videos which were always appreciated for their good humour.   Read

19/11/09 - 09:43 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009


General synopsis by November 19, 2009 at 00h
Light gradient of pressure about 1014 hPa.
East or Northeast moderate or light flow with coastal breeze.


Weather forecast from November 19, 2009 at 9UTC to November 21, 2009 at 00UTC
West of CUBA :
East or Northeast 13/17kt decreasing 10/15kt at end. Sea slight or moderate.
 
North of East of YUCATAN (east du 87 west) :
East or Northeast 10/15kt veering Easterly 8/12 at end. Sea slight or moderate. 
 
North of west of YUCATAN (west du 87 west) :
East or Northeast 10/12kt, locally variable 2/5 kt near coasts, increasing 10/15kt later, then veering Easterly at end. Sea slight. Squalls.




Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None


Tropical activity
None

on Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 07? UTC
Anne Couzinier

Météo-France

18/11/09 - 09:48 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009

General synopsis by November 18, 2009 at 00h
Light gradient of pressure about 1012 hPa.
Northeasterly moderate or light flow with coastal breeze.

Weather forecast from November 18, 2009 at 9UTC to November 20, 2009 at 00UTC
Southeast of CUBA :
Northeasterly 10/15kt locally East or Northeast 3/6 kt in northwest. Sea slight.
 
West of CUBA :
Northeasterly 10/15kt. Sea slight or moderate.
 
Northeast of YUCATAN (east of 87 west) :
Northeasterly 7/12kt veering East or Northeast 10/15kt. Sea slight or moderate. 
 
Northwest of YUCATAN (west of 87 west) :
Northeasterly 10/15 kt locally variable 2/5 kt near coasts, veering East or Northeast 10/12kt. Sea slight or moderate decreasing. Rain or squalls.


Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None


Tropical activity
None


on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 07? UTC
Anne Couzinier

Météo-France

17/11/09 - 19:15 - Overwhelming joy once again on the arrival in Progreso on Monday evening of the two Chilean skippers, Felipe Cubillos and Daniel Bravo Silva, in 6th position on board Desafio Cabo de Hornos. A bonus perhaps for this team as finishing the race after 29 days at sea means they have returned to their native continent of Latin America. The crowd which welcomed these two thoroughly likeable chaps offered a welcome in keeping with the commitment...   Read

17/11/09 - 13:13 - Shaun Murphy (co-skipper ORBIS): “We’ve probably done 115 miles in the last 12 hours. Unfortunately, we still don’t have enough breeze or enough speed. We’ve been monitoring the water, so as long as we get reasonable wind, we should be fine. We’ve probably got five days worth if we don’t go too slowly. If we hit a light spot, the Cayman Islands look favourable. We can always just cut down our intake, which is more of an inconvenience than a hardship. We can always rehydrate the body with beer and tequila in Progreso!”

17/11/09 - 13:04 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): “Finally, we’re in Progreso. I’ve dreamt of this moment. The race was very long, but very interesting and we’re very happy with 7th place. Some parts of the race were really hard, like the string of six low pressure systems. Every day, Peter would ask me when the Trade Winds would appear, but they never came. We have given everything throughout the race. Yesterday was perfect, sailing off the wind along the coast. Our shore crew had hidden a stash of foie gras on board, which made it even better. Now, I’m dreaming of a beer…”

Peter Harding (skipper 40 Degrees): “The first 15 days of the race were really tough. However, the race was run on an excellent route and Miranda and I have had a great time.”

17/11/09 - 10:42 - At 0810 GMT this morning, Peter Harding and Miranda Merron crossed the Progreso finish line on 40 Degrees taking 7th place.

17/11/09 - 10:32 -

17/11/09 - 10:06 - This morning, another Class40 completed La Solidaire du Chocolat race with the Chilean duo of Felipe Cubillos and Daniel Bravo Silva on Desafio Cabo de Hornos crossing the finish line off Progreso at 0218 GMT in 6th place. At 0800 GMT today, the British duo of Peter Harding and Miranda Merron in 7th on 40 Degrees have just a handful of miles remaining to the finish line.   Read

17/11/09 - 10:00 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): "The last day at sea is always a busy one - it's time to make the boat and crew semi-presentable to the outside world. We think the boat is quite clean and tidy now, but we'll see what others think in a few hours! The weather yesterday was perfect, downwind sailing some 12-15 miles off the north coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. The water here is quite green. Alex (shore crew) had hidden a couple of surprises on board before the start - in strategic places that are supposed to be regularly inspected. We therefore had a foie gras for lunch on the terrace, but are saving the champagne for the finish. Thank you Alex! We were kept on our toes by the many very small one-man wooden fishing boats which are hard to see until quite close up, and we were wondering how they got so far out without any visible means of propulsion. It seems that each group has a mother ship. We passed very close to several boats, and waved at each other. What has been somewhat less entertaining is that these boats are out here at night too, unlit (other than the mother ship). Some have torches which cast a feeble light at the last minute when we are approaching at 9 knots, while others have no light at all. One unlit one was so close, I'm amazed that it didn't snag on the spinnaker. I only saw  it because the hull was light in colour. At about 25 miles to go to the finish, a vessel came close and lit up our sails. Thinking that we were about to plough through yet another unlit fishing fleet, I was immensely relieved when it turned out to be a Mexican Navy vessel come to escort us the rest of the way. They are following us one mile astern. The wind is quite light, and we are aiming for an antisocial finishing time.”

17/11/09 - 09:08 - Felipe Cubillos (skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos): “I’m really happy to finish the race and to have completed my first transatlantic crossing with Daniel. We’re really happy to have been part of the race and to have taken part in the first Solidaire du Chocolat. I admit, we’re really very hungry as we haven’t eaten much during the past three days. In my opinion, there were two separate races: the first 15 days with a succession of depressions, then our eventual  entry into the Trade Winds and then crossing the Caribbean in very agreeable conditions. This race has been great and is a perfect event for Class40.”

Daniel Bravo Silva (co-skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos): “Happy, happy, happy! We’ve done it! The race turned out to be incredibly tough and I really had no idea how hard it was going to be and whether I could do it. It’s truly fantastic. It is wonderful to be back in South America, in Mexico…it’s like coming home!”

16/11/09 - 19:59 - Taking 5th placed in La Solidaire du Chocolat, British yachtsman, Tim Wright, and his Australian co-skipper, Nicko Brennan, crossed the finish line off Progreso at 1447 GMT today, Monday 16 November, on Wright's two year-old Akilaria Class40, Sail4Cancer.   Read

16/11/09 - 13:18 - Stephen Card (skipper ORBIS): “We just don’t have any wind. We got about six hours of light breeze last night, which has now turned into flat calm. We had a look at the water situation yesterday and if the wind picks-up, we should be OK to sail straight to Progreso. If we have anymore weather like we have at the moment, we will probably have to stick our heads into Grand Cayman. Apart from the water, everything is OK. All our group arrived in Progreso last night and they will leave on the 24th. The GRIBs are showing 9-12 knots of breeze and we’ve got just two knots. Watching everyone else sail away from you is not good. Adriatech, the nearest boat to us is 140 miles ahead now.”

16/11/09 - 13:16 - Felipe Cubillos (skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos): “It’s dawn and we have the coast of Yucatan to leeward and the breeze stayed with us overnight. We’ve reduced the distance of Sail4Cancer ahead of us and have increased our lead over 40 Degrees behind us.  As always, congratulations to the winners and it has been a privilege to share the race with Tanguy de Lamotte, Giovanni Soldini and Bernard Stamm. We don’t want to just pay tribute to these giants of offshore sailing, but also to congratulate all the other boats in the race: all the boats still racing and the boats that fought hard, but have had to retire. Many of the boats still racing are already with very little food, tired, very tired,  and some are frustrated and with little water….but they continue fighting. They do not surrender and they are giving everything to get to the finish line, even though some of them may be five days from Progreso. In a society where the important thing is often success and victory with a culture of winner-takes-all, we want to pay tribute to the teams still fighting who don’t care about fame or recognition and for whom the finishing of the race is fulfilling and of prime importance.”

16/11/09 - 09:54 - With four boats from the Solidaire du Chocolat fleet across the finish line, the fifth boat, Sail4Cancer, is making good speed along the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and at 0800 GMT, the Anglo-Australian team of Tim Wright and Nicko Brennan are making just under ten knots with 40 miles of racing remaining. Wright and Brennan, who are both ex-Global Challenge sailors, will be the first non-professional team to complete the race.   Read

16/11/09 - 07:51 - Always up with the leaders and in the match, Damien Seguin and Armel Tripon cross the finishing line of the Solidaire du Chocolat to take 4th place. At 3 o'clock 41 minutes and 5à seconds precisely this morning French time, after 28 days, 10 hours, 51 minutes and 55 seconds at sea. The Nantes-based crew logs a fine result in what turned out to be an extremely tough race marked by virulent weather conditions.   Read

15/11/09 - 11:27 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): "Many evil clouds with 40 Degrees written all over them. Progress has been mighty slow, with wind shifts of 60 degrees and not much wind which suddenly increases to quite a lot. We are having to work hard to get to the finish, which is still 390 miles away. It is all the more challenging at night as there is no moon. Well done to Tanguy and Adrien for their well-deserved victory."

15/11/09 - 11:27 - After line honours for Initiatives-Novedia (De Lamotte-Hardy), the finish of the next two boats Telecom Italia (Soldini-D'Ali) and Cheminées Poujoulat (Jourdren-Stamm) in the wee small hours of Sunday morning completes the podium of the first run of the Solidaire du Chocolat from France to Mexico. Once again, the welcome in Progreso and the Maya ceremony for the crews was extremely well received! « Tough », « difficult », « extreme », «...   Read

15/11/09 - 11:24 - Stephen Card (skipper ORBIS): "Well, a tactical error on our part yesterday put us in too close to the land and at around midday we were stuck in the land effect vacuum. We've been trying to break out of it since then but it has a firm hold on us and we've only managed to do about 30 miles in the last 20 hours. Currently we are heading south and away from Mexico slightly, at about four knots. I think our race is well and truely blown now, but we're hoping to break out into the breeze soon as we have limited amounts of water and diesel. Actually, we only have enough for five more days. With 1018 miles to go to Progresso, we cannot afford any further delay. A stop in Kingston or Grand Cayman may be required. Our loved ones fly out tomorrow and we are a bit worried that we might not even arrive before they return to the UK!! Apart from that, it’s very hot, 45 degrees in the cabin yesterday, so we've rigged up a sunscreen from the remnants of our old fractional kite. Not pretty, but it works. Both Shaun and I are in good health but a little low on morale. This is proving to be a very long race.”

15/11/09 - 10:24 - Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d' Ali, on Telecom Italia crossed the finish line in 2nd place on Sunday November 15th at 05:25:20 GMT with a 7.59 knot average speed after 5,000 miles and just 19 hours and 20 seconds behind the race winners, Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia. Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm, on board Cheminées Poujoulat took 3rd place at 05:44:04 GMT with only 18 minutes and 44 seconds separating the two...   Read

15/11/09 - 10:22 - ?


Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009



General synopsis by November 15, 2009 at 00h

Cold front north HISPANIOLA, moving slowly east. 
New low expected 38N90W by 17/00UTC, with associated front west gulf of Mexico. 
Persistence weak gradient of pressure about 1008 hPa south Cuba and Republic Dominican. 
High 1015 hPa 28N88W, with little move, weakening at end.

Weather forecast from November 15, 2009 at 9UTC to November 17, 2009 at 00UTC

West of HISPANIOLA :
Northeasterly 08/12kt, locally 04/08kt in north. Sea slight. Showers or squalls. 
 
North of East of CUBA : 
Mainly Northerly O5/10kt. Sea slight. squalls.  
 
South of East of CUBA :
Northeasterly 08/12kt. Sea slight. squalls. 
 
West of CUBA :
Northeasterly 12/17kt. Sea slight. Scattered squalls .  
 
North of YUCATAN (east of 87 west) :
East or Northeast 10/15kt, increasing Northeast 12/17kt by 16/00UTC. Sea slight. Scattered squalls . 
 
North of YUCATAN (west of 87 west) :
East or Southeast 05/10kt, backing East or Northeast 10/15kt by 16/00UTC, decreasing Northeast 05/10kt at end. Sea slight.  




Further outlook for next 24 hours

Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None



Tropical activity
None.



on Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 08? UTC

Hervé Fortuny

Météo-France

14/11/09 - 13:13 - Tanguy de Lamotte (Initiatives-Novedia) on arriving in Progreso...   Read

14/11/09 - 12:52 - Denis Lazat (skipper PLAN): “Robert Louis Stevenson’s book ‘Treasure Island’ was a huge part of my childhood: ‘Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum!’ Well, it’s still the same for us and the Caribbean has a rich and exotic history filled with stories of pirates, treasure, slavery, sunken galleons, a code of honour and double-crosses. Puerto Rico is a tempting stop-off point for us, although I’d prefer to call it ‘Hispaniola’. As the islands roll passed, their names are like titles of adventure novels and we regret being unable to stop. But the French West Indies are not what we want with their supermarkets, post offices and mayor’s offices. The same can’t be said for the half-Dutch island of St. Martin or Antigua – location of a regatta that is the dream of most sailors. Then there’s Anguilla, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba, all with ports like Port au Prince, Kingston and Havana all calling to us to pull in! Then there’s the choice of sailing close to Jamaica or Haiti. Is it going to be Papa Doc, or Bob Marley?”

14/11/09 - 11:01 - Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy crossed the finishing line of the first run of the Solidaire du Chocolat from Saint Nazaire (France) to Progreso (Mexico) 8h25 UT today!   Read

14/11/09 - 10:57 - ?


Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009



General synopsis by November 14, 2009 at 00h

Low 998 hPa ex IDA 32N73W, moving slowly east, expected 10004 hPa 33N70W by 15/00UTC, then 1007 hPa 30N67W by 16/00UTC. Associated cold front near CUBA, moving slowly east. 
Persistence of weak gradient of pressure about 1007 hPa south Cuba and Republic Dominican. 
High expected 1014hPa 24N87W by 14/12UTC, moving north, expected 1015 hPa 28N88W by 15/00UTC, then 1017 hPa 29N88W by 16/00UTC.

Weather forecast from November 14, 2009 at 9UTC to November 16, 2009 at 00UTC

West of HISPANIOLA :
Easterly 08/12kt, locally 04/08kt in north, backing Northeast 10/15kt at the end. Sea slight or moderate. Showers or squalls. 
 
North of East of CUBA : 
Mainly Northerly O5/10kt. Sea slight. Showers or squalls.  
 
South of East of CUBA :
North or Northeast 05/10kt, veering Northeasterly 08/12kt by 14/12UTC. Sea slight. Showers or squalls. 
 


West of CUBA :
North or Northeast 13/17kt, veering Northeast by 15/00 UTC. Sea slight or moderate. Showers or squalls. 
 
North of YUCATAN (east 87 west) :
North or Northeast 10/15kt, veering Northeast 10/15kt by 15/00UTC. Sea moderate, becoming slight today. Showers. 
 
North of YUCATAN (west 87 west) :
East or Northeast 04/08kt, temporarily variable 02/04kt at first, veering East or Southeast 05/10kt by 15/06UTC. Sea slight.  











Further outlook for next 24 hours

Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None


Tropical activity
None.


on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 09? UTC

Hervé Fortuny

Météo-France

14/11/09 - 10:57 - At 0825 GMT today (Saturday 14th November), Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia crossed the finish line off Progreso taking first place in La Solidaire du Chocolat. “It’s fantastic,” said Lamotte after crossing the finish line. “I had no idea there would be so many people here waiting for us. Thanks to the race organisation for putting on such a great race. We are truly very happy!”

14/11/09 - 09:58 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): “Yesterday morning, we spent many hours being tormented by the disturbance/front which was lazily moving eastwards, and provided torrential rain and constantly shifting breeze, from no wind to lots of it. The wind eventually went round to the north, as expected, allowing us to get back on track in the general direction of Mexico. We are going to do a bit of tourism this morning - we have decided to pass close to the Cayman Islands, though the plan may be flawed if it is before daylight. The wind is dropping though...”

14/11/09 - 09:51 - The final sprint to the finish for the race leaders, Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia turned into an inshore drift overnight. Speeds for Lamotte and Hardy began to drop after 1600 GMT on Friday and by midnight, the French duo were making between two and three knots in a barely perceptible easterly breeze as they slowly worked their way along the northern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula towards the finish line off...   Read

13/11/09 - 11:39 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): “We are not being allowed to race the last few days in peace. This race would not be complete without another session of upwind, which we have just embarked upon. The night sky is black and ominous, it is pouring with rain, and there is some lightning around. The wind has just risen to 20 + knots, but dropped again as soon as the main has been reefed. We have the Chileans in sight (well, maybe not now as they have disappeared into the depths of this monster rain cloud).”

13/11/09 - 10:30 - ?


Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009



General synopsis by November 13, 2009 at 00h

Low 994 hPa ex IDA 34N75W, moving slowly southeast, expected 997 hPa 33N74W by 14/00UTC, then 1004 hPa 32N71W by 15/00UTC. Associated cold front near CUBA and far southeast of YUCATAN, moving slowly east. 
Persistence weak gradient of pressure about 1007 hPa south of Cuba and Republic Dominican. 
High expected 1015 hPa 24N87W by 14/12UTC, then 1015 hPa 27N87W by 15/00UTC.

Weather forecast from November 13, 2009 at 9UTC to November 15, 2009 at 00UTC

East of HISPANIOLA : 
Southeasterly 13/18kt. Sea slight or moderate. squalls. 
 
West of HISPANIOLA :
East or Southeast 10/15kt. Sea slight or moderate. squalls. 
 
North of East of CUBA : 
Mainly Westerly 05/10kt, becoming variable 05/10ns by 14/12UTC. Sea slight. Frequent showers or thundersqualls with gusts 30/35kt.  
 
South of East of CUBA :
Mainly Easterly 08/12kt, backing North or Northeast 05/10kt by 13/18UTC, veering East or Northeast 08/12kt by 14/12UTC. Sea slight. Frequent showers or thundersqualls with gusts 30/35kt. 
 
West of CUBA :
North or Northwest 15/20kt, veering Northerly 13/17kt by 14/12UTC, veering North or Northeast 13/17kt, locally 08/12kt in north at the end. Sea slight or moderate. Showers ou squalls. 
 
North of YUCATAN (east 87W) :
North or Northwest 18/22kt, locally 25/30kt in Yucatan strait, decreasing North or Northwest 12/17kt locally 20/25kt in Yucatan strait by  13/18UTC, veering Northeasterly 07/12kt by 14/12UTC. Sea moderate, becoming slight or moderate le 14/06UTC. Showers. 
 


North of YUCATAN (west 87W) :
North or Northwest 12/17kt, decreasing 08/12kt by 13/18UTC, veering Easterly 05/10kt by 14/12UTC. Sea moderate, becoming slight by 14/06UTC. Showers. 


Further outlook for next 24 hours

Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None


Tropical activity
None.


on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 08? UTC

Hervé Fortuny

Météo-France

13/11/09 - 10:13 - At 0800 GMT this morning, the race leaders Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia, are off Cape Catoche, the eastern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula, with 152 miles of sailing along the coast remaining to the finish line off Progreso. Over the past 24 hours, Lamotte and Hardy managed to extend their lead over Telecom Italia and Cheminées Poujoulat, but the chasing pair of boats have found a stronger band of northerly breeze off...   Read

12/11/09 - 21:16 - Yves Eclaret and Lionel Regnier have decided to retire from La Solidaire du Chocolat and head for St. Martin without passing through the gate at St. Barts

12/11/09 - 20:18 - Positivley buzzing in Progreso, in the Yucatan ! The first boats in the Solidaire du Chocolat should be arriving within 36 hours or so. Everything in the marina is ready. The Mexican hosts have prepared the marina for the arrival of the boats and the public ; the skippers will receive a hero's welcome ! Fleet leaders Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives Novedia are most likely to be first across the finishing line early tomorrow...   Read

12/11/09 - 13:34 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): “We think we can see the Chileans ahead of us. It’s a boat with a white spinnaker and red sail. We’ve got about eight knots of breeze coming from ESE, but it’s going light. The race is beginning to feel a bit long now. There’s not going to be any wind today and it is forecast to get even lighter.”

12/11/09 - 13:33 - Nicko Brennan (co-skipper Sail4Cancer): “We’re both up at the moment and it has been a fairly relaxed watch. The weather models have been giving us about four knots, but we’ve probably had a little bit more than that through the night. We’ve still got the kite up and the breeze is from 155, but it is forecast to go forward, but in the light stuff you never really trust the weather models. We’ve made a little bit on Cargill in the last couple of scheds and we must be in fairly similar conditions. He’s taken a fairly interesting track and it looks as though he has been lifted and had to come up on it to keep the boat going. He’ll get the new breeze earlier and he might well take off unfortunately. Looking at the race track ahead the wind is going to go forward and then get lifted right up to the corner of the Yucatan. There aren’t many options we can take and we just have to make sure the door is firmly shut on the boats behind us and hopefully we can push through this light stuff before they get it. We’ll have a couple of guys coming out to the finish. Our boat captain, Jack, is coming out to do the delivery back and a mate of mine who I was with in the Mini Transat boats. For Wrighty and myself it is going to be a quick turnaround. I’m going to try and grab a little bit of sleep before it gets too warm. Trying to sleep during the day is just ridiculous.”

12/11/09 - 12:22 - Shaun Murphy (co-skipper ORBIS): “It’s amazing after 25 days at sea how the sight of land can lift your spirits. After a good reach to the approach to St. Barts and a big kite to cross the gate. The kite had to be dropped soon after the gate due to another hole appearing. The only option for us was the Code 0. The fractional kite would have been nice, but that was left in the middle of the Atlantic a couple of thousand miles ago. The RIB came to meet us at the pin end of the gate, but we were a little busy at the time, changing from kite to Code 0. A little restart with PLAN after their pit stop at St Barts, however this was short lived. The Code 0 was no match for the fractional kite on PLAN and off into the distance they sailed. Disappointing, but you can only play with the cards left in your hand. Late afternoon whilst repairing the kite, a plane flew very low over the boat, it circled several times then a low level pass a couple of hundred meters ahead, it was the coast guard. The coast guard called us up and asked a few questions and wished us well, all a bit quick, so no time to get the camera off. Wow! Another bit of excitement! How much more can we take on day 25? All change later in the evening with a 30 minute squall at 2030 with winds exceeding 30 knots. when it passed, we were left with a double rainbow. Passed the island of St. Croix in the early hours of the morning with another wonderful light show at 0830 until the clouds blackened and shut out all light as a large squall came through. When all had settle down after the squall, we currently have wind from the north-east heading 270 at eight knots. Ummm… the GRIB files and meteo sort of say different, again. Currently having a cup of tea and drying out. Not much has changed since leaving the Atlantic!”

12/11/09 - 10:20 - ?


Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009



General synopsis by November 12, 2009 at 00h

Low 1004 hPa 27N67W, moving north, expected 1004 hPa 32N64W by 13/00UTC, then 1003 hPa 34N59W by 14/00UTC. 
Low 1002 hPa ex IDA 33N77W, deepening with little move, expected 993 hPa 34N76W by 13/00UTC, then moving slowly east expected 997 hPa 34N73W by 14/00UTC. Associated cold front near YUCATAN and far Northwest of CUBA, moving slowly east.

Weather forecast from November 12, 2009 at 9UTC to November 14, 2009 at 00UTC

NORD ANTILLES :
East or Southeast 15/20kt, locally Southeasterly 13/17kt in far north. Sea moderate, cross with Northeast swell, becoming slight in southwest at the end. Frequent thundersqualls with gusts 30/35kt.
 
East of HISPANIOLA : 
Southeasterly 15/20kt. Sea moderate. Showers and squalls. 
 
West of HISPANIOLA :
East or Northeast 10/15kt, veering East or Southeast 12/17kt by 12/18UTC. Sea slight or moderate. Scattered squalls. 
 
East of CUBA : 
Variable 05/10kt, but Easterly 10/15kt in south, becoming mainly Westerly 08/12kt in north by 13/00UTC. Sea slight or moderate. Frequent showers ou thundersqualls with gusts 30/35kt.  
 
West  of CUBA :
Northwesterly 13/17kt, veering Northerly 13/17kt at the end. Sea slight or moderate. Frequent showers and thundersqualls with gusts 30/35kt. 
 
North of YUCATAN :
Northwesterly 18/22kt, locally 25/30kt in Yucatan strait, veering North or Northwest 12/17kt locally 20kt in strait by 13/12UTC, decreasing Northerly 08/12kt in north at the end. Sea moderate, locally rough in far north soon. Frequent showers or thundersqualls with gusts 30/35kt.








Further outlook for next 24 hours

Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None


Tropical activity

None.


on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 08UTC


Hervé Fortuny


Météo-France

12/11/09 - 10:17 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): “Although pretty light wind, we have been treated to superb Caribbean conditions for the past 24 hours - glorious sunshine yesterday, and a clear night with millions of stars. We are south of Haiti, and it is a couple of hours before dawn. I can smell woodsmoke. It's strange and wonderful to smell land after weeks in the Atlantic. We made a small repair to the big spinnaker just before dark, and it is doing good service, so the three days spent mending it were worthwhile. The weather ahead looks rather less appealing, with no wind and a disturbance associated with ex-hurricane Ida. We have broken the 1000 miles to the finish barrier, which seems incredible - never thought it would arrive!”

12/11/09 - 10:03 - Overnight, the three leading boats in La Solidaire du Chocolat paced each other westwards running south of Cuba with Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia maintaining a lead of just over 100 miles. At 0400 GMT this morning, Lamotte and Hardy sailed close to Cuba's offshore island, Isla de la Juventad, slowing to below six knots while Telecom Italia in 2nd and Cheminées Poujoulat in 3rd made better pace. However, the 0800 GMT...   Read

11/11/09 - 20:27 - By midday today 11th November the leaders in the Solidaire du Chocolat, Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives Novedia had less than 500 miles to reach the finishing line. Tanguy admitted that after 24 days and 24 night racing hard in hard conditions: « it's good to feel that the end is within sight ». A battle is raging off their stern the rankings whopping and changing in the ever-changing weather typical of the Caribbean. Also at...   Read

11/11/09 - 14:02 - Felipe Cubillos (skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos): “Everything is perfect here: a sunny day, good speed, good wind, very nice sailing. Slowly we’re making a gain on 40 Degrees, but they are very good and we are probably about 11 miles ahead of them. I’ve been checking the weather information and probably tomorrow, or this afternoon, the wind will be at a good angle for us. Now we are sailing at 150 degrees. So, wait and see, wait and see! We’re very much enjoying the race. We have enough water and enough food and we’re not really tired.”    

11/11/09 - 14:01 - Shaun Murphy (co-skipper ORBIS): “We’re 14 miles from the gate now making about eight knots. Typically, there have been big squalls with absolutely no wind afterwards with a nasty north-easterly swell. It’s bloody horrendous with the boat wanting to move, but then the swell would just kill the boat. It was probably about two hours of torture yesterday. For the boats at the back it might not be a lot of fun when we get to the finish as all the parties will be over. Just a few tequilas and then people will start making their way home. Hopefully the Caribbean will be a bit easier as the last part of the Atlantic has been as full of headaches as the first part. We just take every day as it comes. We’re going to have a celebration tonight to mark finally seeing some land.”

11/11/09 - 14:00 - Paul Worswick (co-skipper Keysource): “We’re about 60 miles away from the gate. There’s only 44 miles between four boats. It should be good across the Caribbean. We’ve been chipping away a bit at the guys in front. Patrice on Crédit Maritime, I looked at the stats and a week and-a-half ago he was 27 miles in front and now he’s 1.3 miles in front. We’ve been glued to him for about a week. Adriatech has been 20 miles in front for a long time and PLAN, we’ve got back in touch with. There’s everything to play for and I think we’re going to arrive at the gate at fairly similar times as we’re all going at similar sort of speeds. It’s going to be just full-on and going for it after the gate. I haven’t repaired the spinnaker we wrapped yet and I might have a go at that today. We’ve been full-on just trying to get the miles in and catch the guys up with a lot of handsteering because our autopilot only works on compass. I’ve been up the rig to look at the forestay and that all looks OK. Mike has spent quite a lot of time getting the electronics to work. We’re a bit tired as the last two nights have been really tough trying to sail round all the lightning and picking your way through is really difficult. The breeze went to nothing, to shifty and it has been a really long night. We’re nearly in the Caribbean which is really, really exciting! We’ve got a fuel cell on board and we didn’t realise how bloody amazing it is. It is brilliant and weighs just eight kilos. We’ve got loads of diesel as the fuel cells just chug away feeding into the circuit and our solar panels add about 6amps, so we’re really only running the engine for an hour every two days just to make water. We’re in good shape and have plenty of food. It’s going to be good to have other boats around us and to keep pushing. We’re at the back, so we’ve got nothing to lose and we can have a really good pop at these boys!”

11/11/09 - 10:47 - Daniel Bravo Silva (co-skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos):  “I feel happy and fortunate to be here and although both Felipe and I are longing for a shower, a soft bed and some decent rest, we wouldn’t be anywhere else. My skipper has crossed the Atlantic five times in the last two years and I’m lucky to have his advice and guidance as I have just crossed the Atlantic for the first time in my life as the youngest – and most inexperienced -  sailor in the fleet. I’m now where I dreamt I would be all those years ago when I first went model boat yachting with my father, or first rented a pedalo on a beach. This is what I dreamt of when my grandfather enrolled me in an Optimist course at the local yacht club. This experience has been fantastic and now it slowly begins to end. We will continue trying to catch-up with the boats in front, but I’ve learnt the important thing in this type of race is to look after your two only allies. That is to say, take care of your boat and to take care of your companion.”

11/11/09 - 10:32 - ?


Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009



General synopsis by November 11, 2009 at 00h

High 1028 hPa 36N46W, moving gradually east, expected 1021 hPa 33N37W by 12/00UTC then weakening slowly east. 
Area of low pressure about 1008 hPa 15N78W, moving slowly north of Cuba by 12/00UTC. 
Low 1007 hPa 25N64W, moving northwest and deepening, expected 1003 hPa 28N66W by 12/00UTC, then 1003 hPa 32N64W by 13/00UTC. 
Low 1006 hPa ex IDA 997 hPa 30N86W, moving slowly east, expected 1003 hPa 34N78W by 12/00UTC, then deepening with little move 995 hPa 34N77W by 13/00UTC. Associated disturbance crossing north YUCATAN and CUBA.





Weather forecast from November 11, 2009 at 9UTC to November 13, 2009 at 00UTC

East of NORD ANTILLES :
Southeasterly 12/17kt, backing Easterly 12/17kt at end. Sea moderate, cross by Northeast swell, locally rough in north soon. Frequent thundersqualls with gusts 30/35kt.
 
West of NORD ANTILLES : 
South or Southeast 10/15kt, backing East or Southeast 12/17kt at end. Sea moderate cross by Northeast swell, locally rough in north soon. Frequent thunder squalls with gusts 30/35kt.
 
East of HISPANIOLA : 
Southeasterly 12/17kt, backing Easterly 12/17kt at end. Sea slight or moderate, locally rough today in north cross by Northeast swell. Showers and squalls. 
 
West of HISPANIOLA :
East or Northeast 18/22 kt, veering East or Southeast 12/17kt by 12/00UTC. Sea slight or moderate, locally rough in far northeast cross by Northeast swell. Scattered squalls. 
 
South of CUBA : 
East or Northeast 10/15 kt, locally variable 05/10kt in west, becoming North or Northwest 10/15kt in west by 12/18UTC. Sea slight or moderate. Frequents thundersqualls with gusts 30/35kt.  
 
North of CUBA :
Easterly 15/20kt, veering Southeasterly 08/12kt by 11/18UTC, becoming variable 04/08kt in west by 12/00UTC, then becoming Northwesterly 10/15kt in west by 12/18UTC. Sea slight or moderate. Frequent thundersqualls with gusts 30/35kt. 
 
North of YUCATAN :
Northwesterly 15/20kt, locally variable 08/12kt in far east today, increasing Northwest 18/22kt by 12/00 UTC, temporarily 25/30kt in Yucatan strait.  Sea moderate, locally slight east soon. Frequent thundersqualls with gusts 30/35kt.

Further outlook for next 24 hours

Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None



Tropical activity

None


on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 08? UTC

Hervé Fortuny

Météo-France

11/11/09 - 10:09 - With 522 miles remaining to the finish line off Progreso, race leaders Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia have won back the miles lost to Telcom Italia and Cheminées Poujoulat on Monday and Tuesday. In the 0800 GMT position poll, Lamotte and Hardy have returned to a 111 mile lead over the chasing pair of boats. "We had 14.6 knots average speed in four hours under medium spinnaker last night," reported Lamotte earlier. "It...   Read

10/11/09 - 20:04 -    Read

10/11/09 - 20:02 - Things have spiced up over the last 24 hours for the leaders in the Solidaire du Chocolat. In the Caribbean, in highly variable winds, the gaps between the boats increase and decrease in less time than it takes to say « chocolate ». Anything can happen. Initiatives-Novedia (De Lamotte-Hardy), Telecom Italia (Soldini-D'Ali), Cheminées Poujoulat (Joudren-Stamm) and Cargill-MTTM (Seguin-Tripon) are each in with a chance of being in the top three....   Read

10/11/09 - 13:54 - Nicko Brennan (co-skipper Sail4Cancer): “It has been a pretty stressful night and I’ve just got off the helm after about three and-a-half hours and fortunately it is getting light now. For most of last night there was no moon, so pitch black and blowing 35 knots, so pretty stressful. We were probably doing two hours on the helm at a stretch as Wrighty’s ribs are still playing-up from time to time and it’s worse for him helming on starboard gybe. He’s doing a stint now. The guys ahead of us polled 14.5 knots, back when it was daylight, I think, which is a very impressive run and we haven’t quite got near that yet. We managed to flog-off the lazy spinnaker sheet during the night, so we had to drop the kite and fix that back on, but it gives you some idea of the situation. When things went wrong last night you are heading for a fairly big wipe out with all the sails flogging. Fortunately, we haven’t broken anything or done any damage, so we can keep on pushing while we’ve got the breeze and see if we can put as many miles as possible on the guys behind us.”

10/11/09 - 13:52 - Daniel Bravo Silva (co-skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos): “We are in very nice weather here. We are very close racing with 40 Degrees and see them all the time so it is very like match racing. We’re hand steering a lot during the day and night. Everything is good on the boat, but we have to go a little bit faster to get ahead of 40 Degrees. Otherwise, everything is fine. We have enough water in bottles to get us to the finish line, but the watermaker is working fine. We haven’t seen much shipping traffic and it’s a bit of a surprise as we thought it would be much busier. Maybe just two or three ships up close.”

10/11/09 - 13:51 - Peter Harding (skipper 40 Degrees): “We’re having a good day and the Chileans are about one mile and-a-half behind us. That’s where we want to keep them. We’ve got about 18-19 knots, spinnaker, staysail and full main and we’re doing 10-11 knots. It has been pretty unstable, even this morning we’ve gone from seven knots to 19. All you need is a couple of clouds and all hell lets loose!  We should pick up some speed later today and as long as we stay ahead of the Chileans, we’ll be quite happy. The next boat is 200 miles ahead which is too much to catch. I think we’ll be match racing with the Chileans to the finish, I guess. Everything is fine and we’re all dried-out and it’s a nice sunny day.”

10/11/09 - 11:42 - Shaun Murphy (co-skipper ORBIS): “Yesterday morning continue under the large kite, until the clouds started to darken, nearly a perfect drop until we realised I had left the clutch on the tack line open. Off went the tack of the kite, so once again recovering the kite from the water, this part of the drop we have off to a tee, stern retrieval. Solent and first reef was the order off the day with speeds between 10-14 knots with small squalls and an ETA to St Barts of 31 hours. Then the clouds darken still and you could see the squalls coming, second reef and Solent furled away as the squall hit us, the second reef departed from the main sail and a batten popped out of its pocket on the main sail. By now the squall was 28-30 knots as we were putting in the third reef. The waves breaking over the boat are refreshingly warm, unlike European waters. As the wind and rain increased to 45 knots, it was like being hit with hail stones, visibility was around 100 meters, this lasted around 20 minutes. The rest of the day was a mixture of light and fickle breeze and the ETA to St Barts went from 31 to 48 to unknown..... The hole we managed to find around 23.30 UTC was to last nearly three hours, the mainsail was dropped to stop the constant bang and rocking of the boat. Then we were off again with the most fantastic light show. Thunder and lightning everywhere, a few electronic items were unplugged as a precaution. As most children learn, we were also counting between the flashes and the bangs to find out the direction of the weather, but all too often it was impossible to know which flash belonged to which bang. Over a 100 photos were taken and only three managed to capture any lightning.... the moon put in an appearance around 0500 UTC which helped with the weather ahead. Around 6.15 was the closest we came to the thunder and lightning with only a couple of seconds between them, I guess some will work out the maths between speed and sound and tell us it was hundreds of miles away.... just before 6am this morning another hole was found, again this seems to be in our skill set. Fifty minutes later we are on our way again on a heading of 282 @ 8.2 knots and an ETA of 24 hours for St Barts...ummm...somehow I think not.”

10/11/09 - 11:05 - Erik Nigon (skipper Axa Atout Coeur Pour Aides): “A calm night of steady breeze but always with large stormy activity. We spend our time switching off the electrics for fear of a lightning strike, but – so far – the flashes remain above the cloud level. However, every time there is a flash, it sets the alarm bells ringing! Reeling in the thousands of miles in this race is becoming increasingly complicated since we lost our second spinnaker through stupidity, but at least we’re still in the top ten of the fleet…” 

10/11/09 - 10:52 - Denis Lazat (skipper PLAN): “Obviously, all would be better if we had not just had the 12 the most difficult hours since the start. After being becalmed for most of the night, we were hit by some storm cells of exceptional violence. Several times, the wind went from zero to 35 knots in a few minutes, carrying out – and taking us with it - several complete rotations. This morning, the weather forecast gives us squalls with gusts of 40 knots…”

10/11/09 - 10:43 - Damien Seguin (skipper Cargill-MTTM): "We’re off! Since 0500, stable wind has arrived from a good direction. I’ll give you the numbers from the readouts in front of me: windspeed 29 knots; boatspeed 18.75 knots! We don’t spend more than one hour on the helm before swapping as the level of concentration and the strain on our arms is just too great. The boat is safe and the sailing is fantastic with the wind between 25-32 knots which has given us a speed of 16.78 knots in the past hour! For the second day only since the start, we are really sailing the boat at its strongest point and to its full potential!”

10/11/09 - 10:28 - ?


Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009



General synopsis by November 10, 2009 at 00h

High 1031 hPa 38N63W, moving gradually east, expected 1027 hPa 36N44W by 11/00UTC then 1021hPa 34N34W by 12/00UTC. 
Area low pressure about 1008 hPa 13N78W, moving slowly north Cuba at end. 
Low 1012 hPa 25N57W, moving west and deepening, expected 1004 hPa 25N64W by 11/00UTC, then 1003 hPa 28N67W by 12/00UTC. Associated tropical wave south of low over NORD ANTILLES with frequent thunderstorms, moving slowly west.   
Tropical storm IDA 997 hPa 29.3N 88.6W by 10/03UTC (wind max 55 nds) moving north à 11nds, expected moving inland today, then becoming low 1006 30N80W by 12/00 UTC.

Weather forecast from November 10, 2009 at 9UTC to November 12, 2009 at 00UTC

South of EST ANTILLES
South or southeast 15/20 kt, backing East or Southeast 15/20kt by 11/00UTC,then East 12/17kt at end. Sea moderate, cross by Northeast swell. Frequent thundersqualls avec gusts 35/40kt. 
 
East of NORD ANTILLES
South or Southeast 10/15kt backing East or Southeast 10/15kt by 11/00UTC. Sea moderate, cross by Northeast swell. Frequent thundersqualls with gusts 35/40 kt.
 
West of NORD ANTILLES  
Northeasterly 15/20 kt,locally 08/12kt in south, veering Easterly 05/10kt le 11/00UTC, then East or Southeast 10/15kt by 11/12 UTC. Sea moderate, locally rough by northeast swell. Frequent thundersqualls with gusts 35/40kt.
 
HISPANIOLA : 
East or Northeast 18/22 kt, locally 10/15kt in far southeast, veering East or Southeast 10/15kt le 11/12UTC, and veering Southerly 10/15kt in north of PORTO RICO. Sea slight or moderate, locally rough in far northeast by northeast swell. Showers and squalls. 
 
South of CUBA : 
East or Northeast 10/15 kt. Sea moderate. Showers and squalls. 
 
North of CUBA
East or Northeast 20/25 kt, decreasing 15/20kt by 11/00UTC, backing East or Southeast 08/12kt at end, becoming variable 04/08kt in west. Sea moderate. Showers and squalls.
 
North of YUCATAN 
Southeasterly 18/22kt, backing Easterly 10/15kt by 11/00 UTC, backing Northwest 12/17kt at the end. Sea slight or moderate. Frequent thundersqualls with gusts 35/40kt.

Further outlook for next 24 hours

Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None



Tropical activity

Tropical storm IDA 997 hPa  29.3N 88.6W by 10/03UTC, moving north, expected inland soon
and decreasing.


on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 08? UTC

Hervé Fortuny

Météo-France

10/11/09 - 10:18 - Paul Worswick (co-skipper Keysource): “Been a very tough 24 hours, we peeled down yesterday morning from light kite to heavy kite to Code Zero. Even so, we got a squall come from nowhere in the rain and the breeze went from (I'm guessing) 15 knots to 50 and we got knocked down. The rest of the day has been getting stuck in thunderstorms with the wind from nothing to loads. Very nervous night as we try to avoid the worst of the lightning and we've had little sleep. Be really pleased when we get through this batch of weather. Otherswise, all well on board, really pleased to hear that the Finnish boys arrived safely in St Barts.”

10/11/09 - 10:15 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): “After all the fun and games with squalls etc yesterday, we had a peaceful end to the day, surfing along in good breeze south of Puerto Rico. The night has been clear and full of stars, and we have not been attacked once by a squall (it's not light yet - I shouldn't tempt fate). After dark, we could see a the light of a yacht not too far away, and wondered if it was the Chileans, though we didn't think we could have made up our deficit that quickly, so we just assumed it was a cruising boat. When the wind died southwest of Puerto Rico, we decided that the light must be the Chileans, as a cruising boat would have put their engine on at that stage, instead of flogging sails in leftover swell. Several gybes later, and the position report has indeed confirmed that we have playmates. The race is on!”

10/11/09 - 10:07 - At 1916 GMT on Monday, the eighth boat in La Solidaire du Chocolat fleet entered the Caribbean through the race gate of St. Barts as Class40 Association President, Jacques Fournier, and his co-skipper, Jean-Edouard Criquioche, the Class40 Treasurer, took Groupe Picoty out of the North Atlantic.   Read

09/11/09 - 23:54 -

Miranda Merron- UK (40 Degrees) : « Everything’s fine. Sunrise with a squall to windward. We’re in for 30 knots. Yesterday there wasn’t much wind ; more of the same tonight. It’s nice and warm here. We can’t complain! We’ve just sailed pas the Virgin Islands. This afternoon, things should settle and we’ll be getting a bit of sun again.The weather is going to be difficult with quite a few patches of light air. »

Bernard Stamm – SUI (Cheminées Poujoulat) : « The sun is coming up and we’ve just passed the island south of the Dominican Republic. One and a half miles off but as it was night time, we didn’t see it. There were dolphins around last night. We didn’t see them but we could hear them. Gybing is on the agenda. Since leaving Saint Nazaire, there have been very few occasions to sail a direct course, tacking or gybing all the time! We helm all the time and so are exposed to the sun when it is at its height, a real barbecue ! Our match race with the Italians is fun. Now you see them, now you don’t. It’s stressful but cannot keep on like that for ever. At worst, we’ll do a quick starboard to them on the finishing line! Initiatives – Novédia might be pushed out of the picture by light air in the tail end of the tropical storm, Ida.  »

Tanguy de Lamotte – FR (Initiatives-Novedia) : « We’re on our way up to pass Jamaica and then we’ll go up to the southern coats of Cuba and cross over the strait directly to Progreso. As we’ve not been here before, the element of doubt is present. We have to make do with the wind we have. We’re being careful with the difference between the weather reports and the situation out on the water. There was a lot of gybing to be done last night. There are islands all over the place. We’re not slowing down; dead ahead to make it to the finish as fast as we can, no doubt Thursday-Friday. »

Tim Wright – UK (Palanad II) : « We’re working like mad gybing in light air to try and come back on the guys ahead who have better wind. Gybing all the time means being woken up a lot. Sometimes we don’t know if we awake or asleep! We managed to use the water maker again and so we’ve beefed up the reserves as we’re using so much water with the heat. »

Arnaud Aubry – FR (Adriatech) : « One squall after another. But no squall, no wind ! We’ve done nothing but manoeuvre since last night in dismal skies and lots of rain. We’re in fine fettle but can’t wait to get through the gate ! »

Jean-Eduard Criquioche – FR (Groupe Picoty) : « We played pinball wizards last night between squalls. Once we were free of that, the afternoon went by with very little wind. The good news is that the weather reports had forecast calm and we had some wind, to give us a speed of 10-12 knots on a straight line towards the finish Suites us ! We’re making the most of it as there’s a windless zone after the Saint Barts gate. »

09/11/09 - 23:47 - The tropics in all their splendor. All fifteen boats remaining in the fleet of the Solidaire du Chocolat are getting a true taste of the extremes of sailing in tropcial latitudes, where the only thing you can be certain of is uncertainty. Out in the lead, Initiatives-Novedia (De Lamotte-Hardy) are riding high in a fifteen knot north-east flow. Off her stern, Telecom Italia (Soldini-D'Ali) and Cheminées Poujoulat (Jourdren-Stamm) are match racing...   Read

09/11/09 - 16:34 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): "It has been yet another eventful day/night/day. Yesterday, we made it through the gate at St Barts, and carried on west in very little wind all day, and baking heat, trying to keep the boat going. In the second part of the night, a large cloud came over the area, and that was the end of the wind for a few hours, sails slatting in the swell, hugely frustrating especially when you think that you are the only boat being held captive. Eventually the wind filled in, and at dawn it was obviously a big squall system which we rode for a while. Everything was going fine until a particularly active part got to us, complete with lightning, thunder and torrential rain. So, everything electrical switched off, just in case, and 30 knots of wind plus a big shift. Now we were flying at serious pace, well off course, riding before it. When we eventually got a lull to furl the gennaker, the sheets came off, which makes for a potentially very exciting scenario, with large sail on bowsprit minus control lines. I steered, and Peter went to the bow with boat hook and sail ties, and managed to drop the gennaker onto the boat. Back on track again, and just waiting for the next event... no Caribbean holiday, this.."

09/11/09 - 14:05 - Nicko Brennan (co-skipper Sail4Cancer): “It was very deep heading into St. Barts, downwind and gybing on the shifts. I can’t remember how many gybes we did. The breeze seems to have settled down a little bit. We’ve had quite a bit of shipping traffic and a couple of big ships have gone passed us, so we called them up to make sure they’d seen us. We’re now back in the habit of checking the radar and spending time up on deck looking out – you get a bit lazy about that in the middle of the Atlantic. We didn’t quite make it through the gate at St. Barts while it was still light, but a Zodiac came out to meet us and they seemed happy to see us! It looks like it’ll turn easterly or north-easterly and more downwind. We’ve got a strange situation at the moment with a big squall this morning and the wind direction is pretty much north, which wasn’t forecast and is very odd. We’re expecting more north-easterly wind as we head up passed Puerto Rico with a small bit of acceleration there and then up towards Jamaica it looks like there might be a light spell up there. We’ve managed to run the watermaker through using a bucket and we did this just before St. Barts to make sure we could do it as our water consumption has gone up in the past few days. We should be able to make enough to drink and cook.” 

09/11/09 - 14:04 - Felipe Cubillos (skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos): “It’s very nice here in the Caribbean! Last night there was no wind – nothing – and right now we’re right in the middle of a great big black cloud and we’re going at 10 knots. We were very surprised at St. Barts. We were quite confused as in the race rules, we had to put all the flags up in the middle of the night, but when we got to the gate there were guys on boats from the press who interviewed us. Our approach to St. Barts was great and it was something we had planned for a week. Unfortunately, we’ve lost some miles to Sail4Cancer, but we’re still ahead of 40 Degrees. It’s very strange weather as although you have the weather forecast from the GRIBs, sometimes it has absolutely nothing to do with reality. Today we’re expecting easterly or north-easterly 17-20 knots. I was expecting a lot of shipping traffic, but there’s nothing.”

09/11/09 - 12:44 - Yves Eclaret (skipper Vale Inco Nouvelle Calédonie): “The new week has started brilliantly with more wind than forecast. Around 14-16 knots of Trade Wind instead of the 8-10 knots promised by the GRIB files. I’m starting to believe that our earlier wind dance and incantations are beginning to work. We’re moving along at 9-10 knots heading straight towards our goal and we’re finally starting to feel that we’re back in the race. It’s a case of foot to the floor and if anything breaks…it breaks. Right now, our poor old spinnaker is on the verge of exploding and the mainsail is developing some rips although we’re asking for one final effort from it.”

09/11/09 - 11:50 - Tieto Passion of Finnish duo Jouni Romppanen and Sam Öhman arrived in St. Barts at 1030 GMT today after four days under motor having retired from the race with keel problems

09/11/09 - 10:59 - ?


Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009



General synopsis by November 9, 2009 at 00h

High 1028 hPa 35N70W, moving gradually east, expected 1031 hPa 38N61W by 09/00UTC then 1028hPa 36N47W by 11/00UTC. 
Area of low pressure about 1008 hPa 12N78W, moving slowly north at end. 
Low expected 1014 hPa 24N55W by 09/12UTC, moving west and deepening, expected 1011 hPa 25N58W by 10/00UTC, then 1008 hPa 25N55W by 12/00UTC. Associated tropical wave south of low in northwest EST ANTILLES and NORD ANTILLES with violent thundersqualls.   
Ouragan IDA 979 hPa 23.7N 86.7W by 09/03UTC (wind max 90 kt) moving north northwest 12kt, expected 28.5 Nord and 87.7W by 10/00UTC (wind max 75 kt) then 31.2N 85.8W by 11/00UTC (wind max 40 kt).

Weather forecast from November 9, 2009 at 9UTC to November 11, 2009 at 00UTC

North of EST ANTILLES (20N23N 50W60W )
Cyclonic 10/20kt, but Southeast 10/15kt in east, becoming South or Southeast 10/20kt in west le 10/06UTC. Sea moderate, cross with north swell, locally rough in west. Violent thundersqualls with gusts 40/45kt.
 
South of EST ANTILLES
East or southeast 10/15 kt, locally Southeast 07/11kt in north today. Sea moderate, cross with North swell. Violent thundersqualls in west with gusts 40/45kt. 
 
West of NORD ANTILLES  
Northeasterly 10/15 kt, veering Easterly 08/12kt by 10/12 UTC, then Southeasterly in south at the end. Sea moderate, locally slight in southwest. Violent thundersqualls with gusts 40/45kt.
 
East of NORD ANTILLES
Southeasterly 5/10kt, veering Southerly 5/10kt in north by 09/12UTC, increasing 08/12kt by 10/00UTC. Sea moderate, cross with North well. Violent thundersqualls with gusts 40/45kt. 
 
HISPANIOLA : 
East or Northeast 18/22 kt, locally 10/15kt in far southeast. Sea slight or moderate, locally rough in far northeast. Showers and squalls. 
 
South of CUBA : 
East or Northeast 10/15 kt. Sea moderate. Squalls. 
 
North of CUBA
East or Northeast 20/25 kt with gusts 30/40kt today, decreasing 17/22kt by 10/06UTC. Sea moderate. Frequent showers and squalls.

Further outlook for next 24 hours

Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None



Tropical activity

Hurricane IDA in gulf of Mexico moving north expected inland by 10/00 UTC.


on Monday, November 9, 2009 at 09? UTC

Hervé Fortuny

Météo-France

09/11/09 - 10:50 - Nicko Brennan (co-skipper Sail4Cancer): “Working hard gybing on wind shifts - which are regular - and chasing clouds where practical in light winds to try to pull some miles back from the boats ahead, who remain in stronger breeze. With numerous night time gybes meaning one of us often being woken it is sometimes difficult to remember how many were for real or just a dream when back up for watch! Another successful session with the watermaker to top up supplies given the amount of water we are consuming in the heat.”

09/11/09 - 09:59 - Over the weekend, three Class40s in La Solidaire du Chocolat fleet passed through the mandatory race gate off St. Barts in the Leeward Islands and currently seven boats are racing through the Caribbean to Progreso on the northern tip of the Yucatán Peninsular in Mexico. At 2230 GMT on Saturday night, Tim Wright and Nicko Brennan leading the second wave of Class40s on Sail4Cancer in 5th place crossed the gate, followed by the Chilean duo of...   Read

08/11/09 - 16:40 - Paul Worswick (co-skipper Keysource): "Saturday night was a riot full of Stella and cider and a take-away Thia curry playing the air guitar to Lenny Kravitz, luckily it has been a quiet evening yachting making good progress with shifty breeze that has kept us moving through to the morning. The clouds have become our friends and we march in file with them...albeit cautiously."

08/11/09 - 16:33 - The Chilean duo of Felipe Cubillos and Daniel Bravo Silva crossed the St. Barts gate at 0844 GMT today in 6th place on Desafio Cabo de Hornos. Peter Harding and Miranda Merron on 40 Degrees followed at 1114 GMT in 7th.

08/11/09 - 11:06 - ?


Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009



General synopsis by November 8, 2009 at 00h

High 1025 hPa 35N71W, expected 1028 hPa 35N65W by 09/00UTC then 1029hPa 37N67W by 10/00UTC. 
New low expected 1008 hPa 10N78W with litle move.
Tropical wave south 19N along 64W, moving east 10/15 nds. 
Hurricane IDA 984 hPa 20.5N 85.6W by 08/09UTC moving northwest 10kt , expected 2'N8è._W by 09/06UTC  ( max wind 85kt) then 28.5N 88.2W by 10/06UTC (max wind 65 nds).




Weather forecast from November 8, 2009 at 9UTC to November 10, 2009 at 00UTC

West of ALIZES OUEST (between 20N and 25N)
Easterly 9/12 kt, increasing 9/11 kt by 09/00 UTC. Sea moderate. Squalls.
 
Northeast of EST ANTILLES (20N27N 50W55W) 
Southeast 4/9 kt in north by 07/15UTC, but East 8/11 kt in south, backing Northeast 8/12 kt by 09/00 UTC. Sea moderate, crossby North swell. Showers and scattered squalls.
 
South of EST ANTILLES
East 10/15 kt. Moderate, cross by North swell tomorrow. Scattered squalls. 
 
West of NORD ANTILLES  
East or Northeast 10/15 kt. Sea moderate in Atlantic, slight en Caribbean sea. Squalls.
 
East of NORD ANTILLES
Easterly 9/12 kt, decreasing 4/8kt by 09/18 UTC. Sea moderate, cross by North swell at the end. Squalls. 
 
HISPANIOLA : 
East or Northeast 12/17 kt, but 17/22 kt in west. Sea slight or moderate, but sea moderate in west. Showers and squalls. 
 
East of CUBA : 
East or Northeast 10/15 kt. Sea becoming moderate. Showers and squalls. 

Further outlook for next 24 hours

Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None

NORD ANTILLES: Violent thundersqualls with severe or violent gusts (> 40kt).

Tropical activity
Hurricane IDA 20.5 north 85.6 west by 08/09 UTC, moving towards gulf of Mexico.


on Sunday, November 8, 2009 at 09? UTC

Hervé Fortuny

Météo-France

08/11/09 - 09:24 - At 2233 GMT on Saturday night, the Anglo-Australian duo of Tim Wright and Nicko Brennan in 5th place on Sail4Cancer crossed the mandatory race gate off St. Barts. Wright and Brennan were holding a lead of around 66 miles over their British rivals Peter Harding and Miranda Merron on 40 Degrees when they rounded the southern tip of the Caribbean Island.   Read

07/11/09 - 23:53 -

Giovanni Soldini – ITA (Telecom Italia) :«  We’ve had lots of lows, and had a broken stay but we managed to sort that out. We lost a few miles when we had to get the repairs done and sail north. The computer has been playing up and there’s a whole host of other little things too. But we’re not going to stop. We are out to win ! »

Bernard Stamm – SUI (Cheminées Poujoulat) : « Our iridium antenna has been ripped off and so we have lacked weather info. We missed out on the bubble we got stuck in and which Tanguy (De Lamotte, ndlr) managed to avoid. Otherwise, we’ve lost all of the batten cars from the main. No way are we stopping. We’re not thirsty ! »

David Consorte – ITA (Adriatech) : « We’re here and happy to be in the race. We’ve lost our wind indicator, lost early on. Our automatic pilot is not working properly either, so we have to helm a lot and we lose a few miles that way. Last Saturday we lost two spinnakers. We were counting on them but never mind! We collided with something the other night which slowed us for a few seconds and then we just got going again back to 10 knots. Port rudder damaged but we’re keeping going. »

Stephen Card (Orbis) :« Yesterday we repaired and raised our spinny. It looks odd but it works! Let’s hope we pick up speed to make up for lost time. Apart from that, the fleet is quite spread out. It is not easy to know whether there are likely to be any changes in the position tables before we get to the Saint Barts gate, but we’re doing our best. » 

07/11/09 - 23:48 - Saint Barts : Sugar Loaf Mountain off the port of Gustavia has played host to some interesting stories in the Solidaire du Chocolat over the last few hours. Race leaders Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy (Initiatives-Novedia) were first through the gate yesterday. Last night, the trio astern took turns at pushing through the gate. After the Italian duo of Giovanni Soldini-Pietro d'Ali (Telecom Italia) followed by Bruno Jourdren-Bernard Stamm...   Read

07/11/09 - 11:17 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): "Last night, 40 Degrees was the victim of the unwanted advances of all the neighbourhood cumulomonsters. At sunset, we sensibly took the big spinnaker down with the imminent arrival of squall Number 1, and waited until it had passed, only to discover once the rain had stopped that there was another squall behind it. Well, it is generally considered risky to put a spinnaker up in a squall, so we waited, meanwhile not going fast in the right direction, and waited for the next one, and the one after, and so on for what seemed like hours. Finally a gap, and so we put the small spinnaker up. An hour or so later, another cumulomonster is overshadowing the boat. Should we take the spinnaker down? Too late: the first fingers of cold down draught and significant increase in wind are upon us, and we take off at pace for 20 minutes, surfing on the edge of control, but in the right direction. We wouldn't try this with the big spinnaker. Squall-riding is highly satisfying when it goes right. It doesn't make for a peaceful night, however. Yesterday was baking hot, and it looks like more of the same today. There are 145 miles to the gate at St Barts, and therefore the end of the Atlantic Ocean section of the race, but we will have to put in a few gybes to get there. Have a good weekend!"

07/11/09 - 10:54 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009



General synopsis by November 7, 2009 at 00h
High 1028 hPa 36N76W, expected 1025 hPa 35N70W by 08/00UTC then 1029hPa 35N63W by 09/00UTC. 
Low 983 hPa 46N58W moving northeast.
Tropical depression IDA 1006 hPa 16.2N 84.0W by 07/03UTC moving north 6nds and deepening again. Expected 18.4 N 84.8W by 08/00UTC (Max wind 35 kts) then 21.4N 86.5W by 09/00UTC (Max wind 45 nds).

Weather forecast from November 7, 2009 at 9UTC to November 9, 2009 at 00UTC
West of ALIZES OUEST (between 20N and 25N)
East 8/12 decreasing 6/11 kt by 07/18 UTC. Sea moderate. Scattered squalls.
 
Northeast of EST ANTILLES (20N27N 50W55W) 
Southeast 7/11 kt decreasing 4/9 kt in north by 07/15UTC, but East 8/11 kt in south, backing Northeast 8/12 kt at the end. Sea moderate, cross by Northerly swell tomorrow. Showers and scattered squalls.
 
South of EST ANTILLES
East 10/15 kt. Sea moderate. Scattered squalls. 
 
NORD ANTILLES  
East or Northeast 10/15 kt. Sea moderate in Atlantic ocean, slight in Caribbean sea. Scattered squalls.
 
HISPANIOLA : 
East or Northeast 12/17 kt increasing 17/22 kt in west by 07/21 UTC. Sea slight becoming moderate in west. Showers and squalls. 
 
East of CUBA : 
East 10/15 kt. Sea becoming moderate. Showers and squalls. 

Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None



Tropical activity
Tropical depression IDA in gulf of Honduras deepening again and should become a tropical storm in the next hours. Path expected just east of Yucatan peninsula tomorrow before taking a north way in gulf of Mexico.

on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 09? UTC


Hervé Fortuny
Arnaud Turck

Météo-France

07/11/09 - 10:49 - The leading three Class40s in La Solidaire du Chocolat are now through the mandatory gate off St. Barts. On Friday morning, Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia crossed the gate at 0923 GMT in first place, followed by Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d'Ali on Telecom Italia at 2226 GMT with Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm in 3rd on Cheminées Poujoulat just one hour and-a-half behind the Italian duo at 2349 GMT. Having kept...   Read

06/11/09 - 13:22 - Jouni Rompannen (skipper Tieto): “Everything is going fine and we now have enough fuel. The  crew of the boat giving us the fuel was very competent and very helpful. We haven’t managed to do anything with the keel, but the situation is stable, no further cracks. We have two or three days to go.”

06/11/09 - 13:19 - Felipe Cubillos (skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos): “We are very happy with the speed and I think in two more days we will have good news. If the weather information is correct, the wind should be from the east for two days and we are in a very good position in the north as we are making the mark and I think the other boats will have to gybe. Last night we had some breeze from the south, so we had to drop the spinnaker for some hours, but everything is OK with Daniel, with me and with the boat. We have a few electrical issues, but they’re very minor problems. There’s no need to stop in St. Barts, we have enough fuel and water…we are really in paradise!”

06/11/09 - 11:16 - After just under 19 days at sea, Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia in first place crossed the St. Barts gate at 0923 GMT

06/11/09 - 11:13 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009

General synopsis by November 6, 2009 at 00h
High 1032 hPa 38N31W, moving slowly northeast, expected 1033 hPa 40N22W by 08/00UTC. 
High 1028 hPa 38N87W moving east, expected 1025 hPa 35N70W by 08/00UTC. 
Low 1006 hPa 39N64W moving northeast and deepening.
Tropical Depression IDA 1004 hPa over Nicaragua at 14.1N 84.0W by 06/06UTC moving northwest. Expected over land during next 24h then again at sea, 16.6N 84.5W by 07/12UTC.

Weather forecast from November 6, 2009 at 9UTC to November 8, 2009 at 00UTC
Northwest of ALIZES OUEST  
East 8/12 veering Southeast 10/15kt soon then decreasing 6/11 kt by 07/18 UTC. Sea moderate. Scattered squalls.
 
South of ALIZES OUEST  
East 12/17 kt. Sea moderate. Squalls. 
 
Northeast of EST ANTILLES (20N27N 50W55W) 
East 10/15 kt decreasing 7/11 kt from west soon. Sea moderate. 
 
Northwest of EST ANTILLES (20N25N 55W60W):
East 6/11 kts becoming Variable 1/5 kt in north by 06/15 UTC then becoming Northeast 3/7 kt from north by 07/09UTC then increasing 8/12 kt by 07/18UTC. Sea moderate. Showers and squalls. 
 
South of EST ANTILLES
East 10/15 kt. Sea moderate. Scattered squalls.
 
NORD ANTILLES  
East 10/15 kt decreasing 8/12 kt by 06/18UTC then increasing 10/15 kt by 07/12UTC. Sea moderate in Atlantic ocean, slight in Caribbean sea. Scattered squalls.
 
HISPANIOLA : 
East or Northeast 10/15 kt. Sea slight. Showers and squalls. 


Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None


Tropical activity :
Tropical depression “IDA” now and for the next 24 hours over land (Nicaragua and Honduras).  Expected at sea tomorrow in gulf of Honduras, and increasing to Tropical storm level at this time.

on Friday, November 6, 2009 at 09? UTC

Arnaud Turck

Météo-France

06/11/09 - 10:11 - At 0800 GMT, the race leaders, Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on their two year-old Rogers Design Class40, Initiatives-Novedia, were under 20 miles from the mandatory race gate off St. Barts: a line running 1.5 miles south from Le Pain de Sucre on the southern end of the island to a virtual mark. In their approach under darkness, Lamotte and Hardy will have to avoid the natural hazards around the gate: Les Baleines de Grand Fond, the rocks...   Read

05/11/09 - 13:27 - Tim Wright (skipper Sail4Cancer): “We’re having a great time and this is a chance to dry everything out. The sun’s out, why wouldn’t you be happy? We’re trying to keep up on this side of the race course if we possibly can. The problem is if we go any deeper the boat slows down and looking at the weather ahead it looks very light. There’s probably going to be a gybe to get to St. Barts. The guys ahead of us seem to be pulling away from us, but that’s the way it goes and we just have to deal with the conditions. That’s such a shame about the Finnish team. Having been through the weather we’ve experienced, we take a careful look around the boat and there’s nothing wrong at the moment. We have an inspection hatch in the hull where we can peer down at the keel and at the moment everything looks like it is in the place it should be.”

05/11/09 - 13:26 - Jouni Romppanen (skipper Tieto): “We’re both doing fine, but we are very, very disappointed and sad, sad. But this is how it goes sometimes. We don’t have any leaks around the keel, but we can see that the keel is moving because the bolts are going from side-to-side and it opens the crack every time the keel moves. So I think something is very badly wrong.”

05/11/09 - 13:24 -
Stephen Card (skipper ORBIS): “We’ve had a very pleasant night sailing and it’s a beautiful day this morning. We’ve got all the boots and clothes and oilies out in the cockpit trying to dry everything off. We’ve got about one metre or a metre-and-a-half gentle swell and 14 knots of breeze. The boat’s cruising along at eight knots. In fact, sun burn is the major concern at the moment. The problem at the moment is everyone is in the same breeze and doing about the same speed and this will probably continue until St. Barts. We’ve got a small list of jobs to do while the weather is quiet, nothing major at all. It’s a real shame about the Finnish team. If nothing else, our boat is very strong. We’re both fine although I fell across the cockpit and have a lovely bruise that I must take a picture of.”

05/11/09 - 13:23 - Victor Maldonado (co-skipper Crédit Maritime): “Ahhh! Going south…finally. Even storks, whales and butterflies know that you need to head south! As the sun rises, so does our morale the morale and it has inspired me to write. Life has changed these last 24 hours on the boat and we have finally started to dry out.  One person on board has already started to complain about the heat, but I won’t mention his name….”

05/11/09 - 10:44 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009

General synopsis by November 5, 2009 at 00h
High 1030 hPa 39N33W, with litle move. Extending with a ridge to Bermuda, moving slowly southward : expected extending from Azores to northwest EST ANTILLES by 07/00UTC.
High 1026 hPa 40N68W, expected 1031 45N46W by 06/00UTC then merging with previous high.
High 1027 hPa 41N84W moving east, expected 1026 hPa 40N68W by 05/00UTC then 1032 hPa 46N47W by 06/00UTC. 
Low deepening over Bermuda tomorrow, then moving northeast and deepening.
Tropical storm IDA 995 hPa over Nicaraguan coats at 12.5N 83.1W by 05/03UTC moving northwest. Expected landing today over Nicaragua.

Weather forecast from November 5, 2009 at 9UTC to November 7, 2009 at 00UTC
Northeast of ALIZES OUEST  
East 8/12 kt increasing 10/15 kt by 06/03UTC. Sea moderate. Scattered squalls.
 
Northwest of ALIZES OUEST  
East 10/15 kt decreasing 8/12 kt by 05/15 UTC then veering Southeast by 06/06UTC, 7/12 kt in north and 10/15 kt in south. Sea moderate. Scattered squalls.
 
South of ALIZES OUEST  
East 10/15 kt in south. Sea moderate. Scattered squalls.
 
Northeast of EST ANTILLES (20N27N 50W55W) 
East 10/15 kt increasing 12/17 kt by 05/21 UTC then veering Southeast 8/12 kt from north by 06/03UTC. Sea moderate. Thundersqualls decreasing. 
 
Northwest of EST ANTILLES (20N25N 55W60W):
East 10/15 kt veering East or Southeast 6/11 kt from north by 06/06UTC then decreasing 1/5 kt in north by 06/15 UTC. Sea moderate. Showers and squalls. 
 
South of EST ANTILLES
East 11/16 kt decreasing 8/12 kt by 06/15UTC. Sea moderate. Scattered squalls. 
 
NORD ANTILLES  
East 13/17 kt decreasing 10/15 kt by le 04/21 UTC then 8/12 kt in west by 06/09UTC and backing Northeast in west by 06/18 UTC. Sea moderate in Atlantique ocean, slight in Caribbean sea. Scattered squalls.
 
East of HISPANIOLA : 
Northeast 10/15 kt veering East 8/12 kt soon then decreasing 8/13 kt by 05/21UTC and backing Northeast at the end. Sea slight. Showers and squalls. 


Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None

Tropical activity :
Tropical Storm “IDA” over Nicaraguan coasts.

on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 09? UTC

Arnaud Turck

Météo-France

05/11/09 - 10:18 - Dawn on the 19th day at sea for La Solidaire du Chocolat fleet has brought the sad news that the Finnish duo of Jouni Romppanen and Sam Öhman on Tieto have made the hard but vital decision to withdraw from the race having pushed hard and maintained a position in the top third of the fleet throughout the race. Last night, Romppanen reported cracks around the keel fitting and although no water was seeping into the boat, the Finns have wisely opted...   Read

05/11/09 - 02:09 - 400 miles to St Bart’s, passage due on 6th November during daylight
1900 miles to Progreso , finish between 13th and 15th November.
1000 miles between first boat Novedia and the last boat Nouvelle Calédonie, equivalent to 4-5 days sailing

2 Groups of 8 boats
1^st group of 8 boats still with Initiative Novedia in the lead, more than 120 ahead of 2^nd Telecom Italia.
Close match between first 4 in this group, not quite 4 miles between Cheminée Poujoulat and Cargil MTTM. 
Will the Saint Bart’s gate do anything to change the rankings if and when boats put into port for repairs ? Answers in two days from now.
Gap of 300 miles, a little more than one day’s distance, between Novedia, the first boat in this group and Desafio Cabo de Hornos, the last in the group.

2^nd group of 8 boats led by Picoty
Picoty is 574 miles from Novedia. 
Coming together of the southerners and westerners : Axa Tout Cœur 11th at 700 miles from Novedia and 130 miles from Picoty.
The however, the gang of three has been able to sail in much more pleasant conditions and still be in the race.
500 miles between Picoty leading this 2^nd group and Nouvelle Calédonie following up the rear.

 Over the last 48 hours
Little change in ranking.
Average speed of between 8 and 10 knots, distances between boats remaining constant.
All boats in similar conditions and almost all steering a straight line course to Saint Bart’s.

Weather for the next 2 days
East/North East winds, light to moderate, 5 to 15 knots.

Weather for the Caribbean Sea (7 days)
East/North East winds, light to moderate, 5 to 15 knots. 

04/11/09 - 23:30 - A day and a half to go before sighting land for the first time since leaving Saint Nazaire. Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy are comfortably in the lead of the Solidaire du Chocolat and should have be a clear half-day ahead of the three immediate followers as they pass by Saint Bart's. But the trade winds are starting to fall.   Read

04/11/09 - 13:38 - Jouni Romppanen (skipper Tieto): “Everything is just fine onboard and we’re cruising along in very, very nice weather and it is great to be going downwind. Everything is nice and dry onboard. We had some problems with the tackline, but we have built a new system with a block, so the tackline now runs through a block and now it is working perfectly. I guess when we get a little bit closer to St. Barts we might get some visual contact with the other boats as we may be more together. It does look like there will be very light winds. We are both in good form and have had an opportunity to rest and can now sleep in watches of four to five hours and always keep one person helming. This almost feels like a holiday after the first two weeks!”           

04/11/09 - 13:35 - Paul Worswick (co-skipper Keysource): “We finally got the kite down after spending a few hours on the foredeck yesterday evening. We just used a lot of grunt and started swinging on bits of the sail to try and pull it down and lots of untangling as the sniffing line and the snuffer was caught up in it. It was just an absolute mess. It’s such a relief to have it down. I need to go up the rig and have a look at the forestay, but there’s still a lot of sea on at the moment and it’s a bit lumpy. We’ve got about 15 knots at the moment, but it’s shifty and there’s still the odd wave that picks you up and throws you down. It should calm down by this afternoon and I’ve really got to go and have a look at the forestay as when it is wound that tight, you don’t really know if it has been turning. We’ve got the babystay rigged anyway to make sure the rig is OK with the kite and the main up. There’s nothing obvious we can see on the fittings, but I need to nip up the rig and have a look. The sail is probably reparable, but it was dark by the time we got it down last night, so we stuffed it in the bag and we’ll have a look at it when it gets light. We’re unlikely to need it as it’s our heavy-air sail. We’re waiting for a shift to the west, but I don’t see much to be gained by going south. The other boys are still going south, but maybe they’re just fed up with being in the north! It looks as though we will be gybing all the way down to St. Barts.”

04/11/09 - 13:33 - Felipe Cubillos (skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos): “Everything is good, there’s not a lot of wind, but no problems. It’s very light wind. I think these sort of conditions will hold all the way to St. Barts. We will not be stopping in St. Barts. There’s always a way to catch the group in front: the race only finishes on the finish line, so we will continue fighting.”

04/11/09 - 12:08 - Tanguy de Lamotte (skipper Initiatives-Novedia): “We left St Nazaire with a really good bottle of red wine given to us by friends.  Originally, we had decided to open the bottle at St. Barts, but as the race went on, we thought maybe the first day of offwind sailing would be a good occasion. So, 24 hours with the kite up, 120 miles ahead of Giovanni  and under 500 miles to St. Barts…I think we now deserve a drink!”

04/11/09 - 10:48 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): "Light trade wind sailing, though the night brought the most enormous cumulomonsters, spectacular in the moonlight, sucking all the wind from miles around, and taking their time to liberate us. There is not much wind, but leftover swell, so progress is slow."

04/11/09 - 10:37 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009

General synopsis by November 4, 2009 at 00h
Low 1002 hPa 46N58W, moving toward Greenland. 
High 1030 hPa 38N36W, with litle move. 
High 1030 hPa 47N34W, moving slowly south and merging with previous high.
High 1027 hPa 41N84W moving east, expected 1026 hPa 40N68W by 05/00UTC then 1032 hPa 46N47W by 06/00UTC.

Weather forecast from November 4, 2009 at 9UTC to November 6, 2009 at 00UTC
South of COLORADO
East 15/20 kt decreasing 12/17 kt by 04/15 UTC then 10/15 kt by 05/06 UTC. Sea moderate. Squalls decreasing.
 
Northeast of ALIZES OUEST  
East or Northeast 15/20 kt, decreasing East 10/15 kt by 04/21 UTC, locally 7/10 kt in south. Sea moderate. Squalls.
 
Northwest of ALIZES OUEST  
East 10/15 kt decreasing 8/12 kt by 04/15 UTC then increasing 10/15 kt by 05/00UTC. Sea moderate. Rain and thundersqualls gusts 30 kt, decreasing.
 
South of ALIZES OUEST  
East 8/12 kt in north and 12/17 kt in south. Sea moderate. Thundersqualls gusts 30 kt, decreasing. 
 
Northeast of EST ANTILLES (20N27N 50W55W) 
East or Southeast 6/10 kt in north and East 8/12 kt in south increasing 8/12 kt in north and 10/15 kt in south by 05/12 UTC. Sea moderate. Rain and thunder squalls decreasing. 
 
Northwest of EST ANTILLES (20N25N 55W60W):
East or Southeast 6/10 kt increasing East 10/15 kt from south by 04/21 UTC then decreasing 8/12 kt by 05/18UTC. Sea moderate. Showers and squalls. 
 
South of EST ANTILLES
East 11/16 kt. Sea moderate. Rain and thunder squalls gusts 30 kt in west. Showers and squalls. 
 
NORD ANTILLES  
East 8/12 kt increasing 10/15 kt by 04/21 UTC then decreasing 8/10 kt in west by 05/18 UTC. Sea moderate in Atlantic ocean, slight in Caribbean sea. Showers and squalls, more fréquent in west. 
 
East of HISPANIOLA : 
Northeast 10/15 kt veering East 8/12 kt by 05/09UTC then decreasing 8/10 kt by 05/18UTC. Sea slight. Showers and squalls. 

Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None

Tropical activity : none.

on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 09? UTC

Arnaud Turck

Météo-France

04/11/09 - 10:08 - In the past 24 hours, the race leaders, Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia, have squeezed an extra 10 miles into their lead. At 0800 GMT this morning, Lamotte and Hardy are 420 miles north-east of the mandatory race gate off St. Barts with a 121 mile lead over Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d'Ali on Telecom Italia. Both the Italian team in 2nd and Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm on Cheminées Poujoulat in 3rd have a pit stop...   Read

03/11/09 - 19:49 - Are they going to call into Saint Bart's or not ? Current fleet leaders have a comfortable 120 mile lead over second placed Italians Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d'Ali (Telecom Italia), Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) and Damien Seguin and Armel Tripon (Cargill-MTTM). A three hour stop in Gustavia (compulsory minimum stopover under the Solidaire du Chocolat rules), would mean losing just thirty miles or so. Being able to...   Read

03/11/09 - 13:52 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): “The breeze has dropped off a bit after sunrise. During the night we had gusts up to 28-30 knots and we were absolutely flying along. It’s now dry on the boat for the first time in the race. The interior is pretty dry although there were big waves coming over the deck last night. We still have a lot of housekeeping to do. There’s still kit everywhere, boots, foulies etc. We had a bit of an issue with lost time and miles yesterday so we’ve been trying to grapple them back and keep an eye on Sail4Cancer and take some miles out of them.”

03/11/09 - 13:51 - Shaun Murphy (co-skipper ORBIS): “It’s getting a lot flatter, but the odd big roller comes in and lifts up the back of the boat. Generally, about 90 percent of the time, the sea is no more than three metres, but it’s just the big rollers that come from two directions with different lengths.”

03/11/09 - 13:50 - Nicko Brennan (co-skipper Sail4Cancer): “We’ve slowed down a bit this morning and there are some very big clouds around, so we may be in a bit of a hole for a while. It’s been up and down a bit and it’s hard trying to work out what the wind is going to do after this and what sails to go with. We just need to decide how we position ourselves with the other guys and we’ve just seen that Telecom Italia and Cheminées Poujoulat have sailed a long way south in the last sched, so we’ll have a look at what’s making them do that and also cover the boats behind us as we have 40 Degrees 40 or 50 miles behind us and a bit further south. We’ve been taking it fairly easy sail plan-wise in the last day or so with a fractional kite and a couple of reefs trying not to break anything, but still going quite fast in some good breeze, but it still gets stressful when it’s 35 knots even with that sail configuration. It would be nice if it settled down to 15 knots downwind and we could get on and try and fix our watermaker which has been problematic the whole time. We took 30 days of food, so we should be fine with that, but it’s the watermaker that is the big issue for us. Because we carry a watermaker, we only have to carry enough water for half the race and it should be enough to get us to St. Barts and we haven’t made much water yet. Wrighty is working on it and we have a manual way of making water, but if we can’t fix it, we have to consider a three hour stop in St. Barts to get water for the following 1,500 miles. When the seat state calms down, we can have a proper look at the watermaker.”

03/11/09 - 10:41 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009


General synopsis by November 3, 2009 at 00h
Low 1005 hPa 35N59W, moving north, expected 1005 hPa 42N57W by 04/00 UTC, then merging with next low. 
Low 1012 hPa 37N70W moving northeast and deepening, expected 996 hPa over Newfoundland by 04/06 UTC.
High 1033 hPa 38N29W, expected 1029 hPa 39N37W by 04/00 UTC then merging at end with next High. 
High expected 1034 hPa over the north of Newfoundland, moving quickly southeast, expected 1030 hPa 41N28W by 05/00 UTC.

Weather forecast from November 3, 2009 at 9UTC to November 5, 2009 at 00UTC
East of COLORADO
East or Northeast 17/22 kt veering East 15/20 kt by 04/12 UTC. Sea rough becoming moderate. 
 
Southwest quarter of COLORADO
East or Southeast 15/20 kt decreasing 10/15 kt by 04/03 UTC then backing East 5/10 kt in west at the end. Sea moderate. Rain and thundersqualls gusts 30/35 kt, decreasing tomorrow.
 
West of METEOR 
Northeast 15/20 kt veering East by 04/12 UTC. Sea rough becoming soon moderate. 
 
Northeast of ALIZES OUEST  
East or Northeast 17/22 kt decreasing 15/20 kt by 03/15 UTC then 10/15 kt by 04/03 UTC. Sea rough becoming moderate. Squalls decreasing.
 
Northwest of ALIZES OUEST  
East or Southeast 15/20 kt, decreasing 12/17 kt by 03/18 UTC, then 10/15 kt by 04/06 UTC and backing East or Northeast from 04/12 UTC. Sea rough becoming moderate. Rain and thundersqualls gusts 30/35 kt, decreasing tomorrow.
 
South of ALIZES OUEST  
East 15/20 kt decreasing 11/16 kt by 04/00 UTC. Sea rough in a Northeast swell, becoming moderate. Thundersqualls gusts 30 kt in west. 
 
Northeast of EST ANTILLES (20N27N 50W55W)
Southeast 10/15 kt decreasing East or Southeast 8/12 kt from south soon, then increasing East 15 kt in south at the end. Sea rough decreasing soon. Rain and thundersqualls gusts 30/35 kt.
 
Northwest of EST ANTILLES (20N25N 55W60W):
Southeast 7/12 kt backing East 10/15 kt from south by 03/21 UTC. Sea moderate. Rain and thundersqualls.
 
South of EST ANTILLES
East 13/18 kt. Sea rough in a long Northeast swell, decreasing soon. Rain and thundersqualls gusts 30 kt in west. 
 
NORD ANTILLES  
East 10/15 kt. Sea rough in a long Northeast swell, decreasing soon. Sacttered squalls increasing from east.

Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None

Tropical activity :
Low 35N59W  :  end of threat for this system  to become a tropical storm.

on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 08? UTC

Arnaud Turck

Météo-France

03/11/09 - 10:05 - While the race leaders Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia continue to hold a 110 mile lead and guide the fleet to the mandatory race gate off St. Barts approximately 600 miles south-west of the French duo's Class40, the front runners are not immune from the effects of the storms in the first two weeks at sea. Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm on Cheminées Poujoulat have reported major mainsail damage and have been without...   Read

03/11/09 - 01:21 -

Daniel Bravo Silva - CHILI (Desafio Cabo de Hornos) : « We don’t know how much wind we’ve got out here, but it must be around 20 knots. We’re sailing fast. It’s comfortable and everything’s fine. We’re going to sail with the rest of the fleet and I think that positions are going to remain as they are now. We’ve managed to rest and the boat isn’t slamming about too much. »

Adrien Hardy - FRA (Initiatives-Novedia) : « Form now on, things are going to change a little. We’ll be a bit more laid back. We try to get our heads together twice a day about the weather and the chart table. Tanguy and I both seem to handle the tricky moments the right way. We’ve not got any serious worries for the time being. »

Bruno Jourdren - FRA (Cheminées Poujoulat) : « We’re okay, but we still haven’t seen the sun yet. As we are soaked through, we are hoping to see some sun as we sail south. It’s more comfortable now that we are not on the wind any more, but there are still some squalls. A 50-knot squall yesterday! We’re keeping oru damp clothes on to keep the few dry ones we have. We’re covered in spots and have got infections. »

Mike West - UK (Keysource) « Things were going really well until we took out our A4 headsail and it rolled round the stay. Whatever we try, it makes no difference. We’re sailing with the main and staysail as we try and work out what we can do to sort things out. Seas state is rough and we have tried to repair several times but it’s not possible. This is a tough race. The sea is really horrible. This is not what we expected at all. 30 knots and cross seas. We’re going to have to speed up to negotiate that. » 

02/11/09 - 23:39 - Two weeks into the race and men and machines are showing signs of fatigue. Almost all of the Class 40s have had technical problems of one sort or another. Right now, the crews have to try and think three days ahead to work out how best to approach the passage of Saint Bart's and even decide whether making a pitstop is necessary.   Read

02/11/09 - 12:58 - Daniel Bravo Silva (co-skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos): “We don’t know how much wind we have but I think it’s around 20 knots and we’re reaching at 90 degrees, so we’re going quite fast, it’s comfortable and everything is fine. I think we’re going to sail more together with the rest of the fleet although I think, more or less, we’ll keep our position. We’re in perfect condition, we’ve slept well and we’re sailing in a direction so the boat isn’t slamming all of the time.”

02/11/09 - 12:57 - Mike West (skipper Keysource): “We did really well overnight until we wrapped our A4 round the forestay. We’ve been trying everything, but we’re sailing under main and staysail trying to work out how to get the thing down. It’s an awful sea state here and we’ve tried to up the rig a couple of times, but it’s just not possible. So it’s a bit of a problem for us at the moment. We were giving all the boys a run for their money locally and we’ll try and get this fixed and see where we go from there, but we’re a bit worried about any damage to the forestay at the moment as it’s pretty nasty. It’s just a shame we didn’t take a video as we’ve tried all sorts of elegant ways to get the sail down and we’ll keep trying. It’s a really tough race. The sea state in the south is just terrible and it’s nothing like we expected and it’s a bit like the Channel in 30 knots, really confused, cross-seas, all over the place, really horrible. You have to keep going fast just to negotiate it. We had two really good Atlantic Rollers and we just got turned-over on a massive wave: at the bottom of the wave it just kicked us round and broached us and that’s when the wrap occurred.”

02/11/09 - 11:17 - Patrice Carpentier (skipper Crédit Maritime): “Many apologies for not being in contact, but the road we have travelled down in the past week has been very badly paved.  Since yesterday, things have become much easier onboard. Stuck high in north, we’re still dreaming of  the Trade Winds. Currently, we start our descent towards the south and will try to avoid any windless zones and lose too much ground to the southerners. Since Cascais, the hunting season is now underway  and although the road ahead is long, a sailor always survives on hope.”

02/11/09 - 10:54 - ?Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009


General synopsis by November 2, 2009 at 00h
Low 996 hPa 33N57W, moving northwest. Positions expected 1004 hPa 35N58W by 03/00 UTC, then 1005 hPa 41N56W by 04/00 UTC. This low has a high potential (over 50%) to become a tropical storm during the next 48 hours. 
Low 1014 hPa 35N75W moving northeast and deepening, expected 999 hPa 45N60W by 04/00 UTC.
High 1036 hPa 40N33W moving slowly south, expected 1029 hPa 37N33W by 04/00 UTC. Extending with a ridge southwest from Azores to north of Leeward islands. 
New high expected 1034 hPa over the north de Newfoundland by 03/00 UTC, then moving quickly southeast : expected 
1030 hPa 47N 35W by 04/00 UTC.

Weather forecast from November 2, 2009 at 9UTC to November 4, 2009 at 00UTC
West of IRVING
Northeast 12/18 kt increasing 17/22 kt by 02/18 UTC. Sea moderate or rough, cross by North swell. 
 
East of COLORADO
East 15/20 kt, but Southeast 5/10 kt in north, backing Northeast 15/20 kt by 02/18 UTC, then 17/22 kt in south by 03/09 UTC. Sea moderate or rough. 
 
Quart Southwest of COLORADO
Southeast 15/20 kt. Sea rough and cross, decreasing. Rain and thundersqualls, decreasing.
 
West of METEOR 
Northeast 20/25 kt gusts 30kt decreasing 17/22 kt by 02/18 UTC then 15/20 kt by 03/06 UTC. Sea rough becoming moderate. 
 
West of CAPE VERDE
Northeast 22/27 kt gusts 30/35 kt decreasing 17/22 kt by 02/18 UTC then East or Northeast 15/20 kt by 03/06 UTC. Sea rough becoming moderate. 
 
Northeast of ALIZES OUEST  
East or Northeast 20/25 kt gusts 30 kt decreasing 18/22 kt by 02/18 UTC then 15/20 kt by 03/15 UTC. Sea rough decreasing. 
 
Northwest of ALIZES OUEST  
East or Southeast 17/22 kt, locally Southeast 10/15 kt in north till 02/21 UTC, decreasing 15 kt by 03/18 UTC, locally 10 kt in south. Sea rough and cross decreasing. Rain and thundersqualls, decreasing.
 
South of ALIZES OUEST  
East 17/22 kt, decreasing 15/20 kt by 03/15 UTC, locally 10/12 kt in northwest. Sea rough, decreasing at the end. Squalls in west, decreasing. 
 
Northeast of EST ANTILLES 
South 17/22 kt gusts 30kt backing Southeast 12/17 kt by 02/21 UTC, decreasing 7/13 kt by 03/15 UTC then backing East at the end. Sea rough decreasing soon. Rain and thundersqualls.
 
South of EST ANTILLES
Southeast 15/20 kt, locally 10 kt in north at first, backing East 13/18 kt by 03/03 UTC. Sea rough in a long North or Northeast swell, decreasing. Rain and thunder squalls.
 
NORD ANTILLES  
Southeast 10/15 kt backing East le 02/21 UTC. Sea rough in a long Northeast swell. Scattered squalls.

Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None

Tropical activity :
The low 996 hPa 33N57W at 02/00 UTC has a high potential (over 50%) to become a tropical storm during the next 48 hours. No influence over the race path is expected.

on Monday, November 2, 2009 at 09? UTC

Arnaud Turck


Météo-France

02/11/09 - 10:26 - Peter Harding (skipper 40 Degrees): “Yesterday the wind finally turned and we started making some real progress to our destination reaching at speeds between 10 and 17 knots covering some 250 miles in the last 24 hours. The wind continued to back throughout the day and evening, finally giving us the sailing we all dream about. We're still wearing full oilies as there is plenty of spray and water coming down the deck at these speeds. We missed out on the pyrotechnics last night as there was little build up of clouds in the day. Sadly, a rather slow turtle will start the day with a headache after he was run over in the afternoon, and an hour or so later we collided with a large fish swimming lazily some 6-8ft long, at 14 knots. When I looked behind he seemed OK. but probably a little dazed.”

02/11/09 - 10:22 - Jean-Edouard Criquioche (co-skipper Groupe Picoty): “A truly magic night: a full moon making the sea sparkle for as far as the eye can see and giving each wave an incredible variation in colour. The boat slips along – not quite quickly enough for my taste – but at least we’re moving. Ipod plugged in the ears, the helm is light and Groupe Picoty passes from one wave to the next without any violent shock or effort. After the total fight of the last storm with waves exploding onto the boat, the sea is now playing gently with us. During all the gales, there were times when I really wanted to be teleported off the boat to a waiting starship. I wanted to forget the constant stress of worrying about whether the boat or the mast would hold up and the continuous fight with each wave. I know the memories of the storms will never disappear and just have to be accepted. After a night like last night, it becomes much easier to accept such memories.”

02/11/09 - 09:50 - Over the weekend, the more easterly boats in the northern group of the fleet tucked into the Trade Winds while the western pack have yet to taste the north-east breeze. Although the endless headwinds have ceased, the 12 days of slamming upwind left a legacy for Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d'Ali on Telecom Italia with the failure of the upper swivel on their forestay furler. Fortunately, as the headstay crashed to the deck, the inner forestay held...   Read

01/11/09 - 18:00 -

Miranda Merron – UK (40 Degrees) : « We’re not sailing on the wind any more, but off the wind, with nice sunshine and wonderful moonlight at night. Idyllic compared to the first part of the race, with the exception of the waves which give us a thorough rinsing but at least the water’s warm. There was lightning last night and we were both up on deck to watch the firework display. At long last we are sailing in the right direction and have seen our first flying fish. He disappeared sharpish and so there was no sashimi for breakfast. We’re sailing well right now and Peter is at the helm. Ter’s still quite a way to go yet! » 

01/11/09 - 17:56 - Conditions have improved greatly this weekend and almost all of the fleet has sailed at an average of 10 knots en route for the Caribbean. Bad news for Friday's leaders. The Italians lost ground after their stay broke. At this rate, the first boats should reach Saint Bart's by next Saturday.   Read

01/11/09 - 11:49 -

« An electrical night throughout which we sailed on the edge of a high in the process of forming and which is trying to pull us into its calm zone. We’re having a job shaking it off. It’s doing its best to trick us with a line of stormy cumulonimbus. This translates as a puff of wind, the cloud passes over and is followed by a gust of wind as far as the next cloud. You get the impression they communicate with each other and send light signals out. There is lightning all over the place, but none of the sound effects, just the flashes of light. It’s not much use to us but it’s amazing to watch. Being positive about it, we’re making the most of the show » Jean-Edouard Criquioche (Groupe Picoty)  

01/11/09 - 11:42 - The majority of the 16 Class40s racing in La Solidaire du Chocolat are currently in running and reaching conditions with the southern group showing impressive speed averages as the trio of boats hook into the elusive North-Easterly Trade Winds. At the front of the fleet, Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia took the lead early on Sunday morning and at 0800 GMT today, the French duo have built a 20 mile lead over Giovanni...   Read

01/11/09 - 10:55 - ?Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009


General synopsis by November 1, 2009 at 00h
Low 1003 hPa 31N49W, moving northwest and deepening, expected 996 hPa 31N53W by 01/12 UTC, then 1007 hPa 35N58W by 03/00 UTC.
Low 1004 hPa off Britanny, etending with a trough to Azores Islands. Both moving quickly northeast. 
High 1033 hPa 42N38W moving southeast, expected 1033 hPa over Azores by 03/00 UTC. Extending with a ridge to Florida, weakening. 
High 1028 hPa 33N24W merging with previous high.


Weather forecast from November 1, 2009 at 9UTC to November 3, 2009 at 00UTC
West of ACORES
East or Northeast 10/15 kt becoming variable clockwise 3/7 kt in north by 02/00 UTC. Sea rough by Northwest swell, decreasing. Showers in west, decreasing. 
 
East of IRVING
Northeast 10/15kt increasing 15/20 kt by 01/21 UTC, decreasing 11/16 kt by 02/06 UTC, then increasing 17/22 kt by 02/18 UTC. Sea moderate becoming rough and cross by North. 
 
West of IRVING
Easterly 8/12kt, locally variable clockwise 3/7 kt in north at first, backing Northeast 10/15 kt by 01/21 UTC, increasing 15/20 kt by 02/09 UTC then 17/22 kt by 02/15 UTC. Sea moderate becoming rough and cross by North. Showers in west, decreasing. 
 
East of COLORADO
Southeast 15/25kt, locally 10 kt in north, backing East 15/20 kt in south by 01/18 UTC and becoming variable clockwise 3/7 kt in north, then backing Northeast 17/22 kt by 02/15 UTC. Sea rough, decreasing. Rain and thundersqualls, decreasing.
 
West of COLORADO
Southeast 20/30 kt gusts 35/4O kt decreasing 15/25 kt gusts 30 kt by 01/18 UTC then decreasing 15/20 kt by 02/03 UTC. Sea very rough and cross, decreasing. Rain and thundersqualls, decreasing tomorrow.
 
East of METEOR
Northeast 22/27 kt gusts 30/35 kt decreasing 17/22 kt by 02/12 UTC. Sea rough, cross by North at first, decreasing at the end. 
 
West of METEOR 
East 15/20 kt backing Northeast 20/25 kt by 01/18 UTC, increasing 22/27 kt gusts 30/35 kt by 02/00 UTC then decreasing 17/22 kt by 02/18 UTC. Sea rough, cross by North at first. 
 
CAPE VERDE
Northeast 22/27 kt gusts 30/35 kt decreasing 17/22 kt at the end. Sea rough, cross by North at first. 
 
Northeast of ALIZES OUEST : 
Southeast 17/22 kt backing East 17/22 kt by 01/18 UTC then increasing East or Northeast 20/25 kt gusts 30 kt by 02/06 UTC. Sea rough, cross by North at first. Showers and squalls, decreasing. 
 
Northwest of ALIZES OUEST : 
South 20/30 kt gusts 35/40 kt, backing Southeast 20/25 kt gusts 30/35 kt by 01/15UTC, decreasing 15/20 kt by 01/18 UTC, then backing East or Southeast 17/22 kt by 02/06 UTC. Sea rough and cross. Rain and thundersqualls, decreasing at the end.
 
South of ALIZES OUEST : 
East 17/22 kt, locally Southeast 22/28 kt in west till 02/03UTC. Sea rough, cross by North at first. squalls in west, decreasing. 
 
Northwest of EST ANTILLES : 
Northeast 10/20 kt becoming Variable 5/15 kt by 01/15 UTC, then becoming Southeast 10 kt by 02/00 UTC, and backing Northeast 5/10 kt at the end. Sea very rough or high, cross. Sea becoming moderate or rough. Showers and squalls.
 
Northeast of EST ANTILLES :
South 15/25 kt increasing 22/27 kt gusts 30/35 kt by 02/00 UTC then backing Southeast 15/20 kt by 02/12 UTC. Sea very rough or high, cross. Sea becoming moderate or rough. Showers and squalls.
 
South of EST ANTILLES : 
Southeast 15/20 kt increasing 20/25 kt gusts 30 kt by 01/21 UTC then backing East 15/20 kt by 02/12 UTC. Sea rough in long North swell. Showers and squalls.


Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None

Tropical activity : none.

on Sunday, November 1, 2009 at 09? UTC

Arnaud Turck

Météo-France

01/11/09 - 03:10 - 31/10/09 A change of rhythm is in progress for the sixteen Class 40s in the middle of the Atlantic. The low pressure system, so ominous in appearance, which was to affect the northerners, has decided to move over towards Newfoundland. Sea state will not be quite so bad and the winds will be a little more manageable. It's moving from north to south !   Read

31/10/09 - 11:34 - Finally, after 12 days of racing, the northern group in La Solidaire du Chocolat fleet have found fast reaching conditions. Overnight, the breeze shifted southerly and in the 0800 GMT position poll this morning, the boats are picking up the pace with Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia furthest south in second place making the best average at 10.5 knots, currently 24 miles behind the race leader, Giovanni Soldini and Pietro...   Read

31/10/09 - 10:53 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009


General synopsis by October 31, 2009 at 00h
Low 1002 hPa 28N47W, expected 1002 hPa 32N44W by 31/12 UTC, then moving west, expected 998 hPa 31N52W by 01/12UTC then 1000 hPa 33N55W by 02/00 UTC.
Low 1001 hPa 34N41W, moving northeast and filling.
Low 1005 hPa 38N31W, moving northeast and filling. 
High 1026 hPa 42N58W moving east and building, expected 1032 hPa 42N48W by 01/00 UTC then 1036 hPa 40N30W by 02/00UTC.
High 1024 hPa 33N17W moving west, expected 1028 hPa 34N24W by 01/00 UTC then merging with by previous High.


Weather forecast from October 31, 2009 at 9UTC to November 2, 2009 at 00UTC
South of ACORES
Southwest 18/22 kt gusts 30/35 kt decreasing 10/15 kt by 31/18 UTC, veering Northwest 5/10 kt by 01/03 UTC, then veering Northeast 15/20 kt by 01/12 UTC. Sea rough crossing a long Northwest swell, decreasing. Rain and thundersqualls in west. 
 
East of IRVING
South 5/15 kt by 30/18 UTC, becoming soon variable clockwise 3/7 kt,then becoming Northeast 10/15kt from south by 01/03 UTC, then increasing 15/20 kt by 01/18UTC. Sea rough in a long Northwest swell, decreasing. 
 
West of IRVING
South 15/20 kt decreasing 5/10 kt by 31/21 UTC, becoming variable clockwise 2/6 kt in north and Easterly 7/12 kt in south by 01/06 UTC, then backing Northeast 12/17kt by 01/18 UTC. Sea rough in a long Northwest swell, decreasing. Showers  in west.
 
East of COLORADO
Southwest or South 22/27 kt gusts 30/35 kt backing Southeast by 01/00 UTC, 15 or 30 kt  from east to west, gusts 30 kt, then decreasing 10/20 kt from east from 01/06 UTC, and backing East or Southeast at the end. Sea rough or very rough, cross, decreasing. Rain and thundersqualls, decreasing tomorrow.
 
West of COLORADO
Cyclonic 30/40 kt gusts 40/50 kt becoming Southeast 28/33 kt gusts 40/45 kt by 01/00 UTC. Sea very rough or high, cross, decreasing at the end. Rain and thundersqualls.
 
East of METEOR
East or Northeast 10/20 kt backing Northeast 15/20 kt by 31/21 UTC, increasing 20/25 kt by 01/12 UTC then 22/27 kt gusts 30/35 kt by 01/18 UTC. Sea rough in long Northwest swell, decreasing, crossing with Northeast. 
 
West of METEOR 
Southeast 13/18 kt backing East from 31/18 UTC, increasing 15/20 kt by 01/06 UTC then backing gradually Northeast, and increasing 20/25 kt by 01/18 UTC. Sea rough in long Northwest swell, decreasing, crossing with Northeast. Showers.
 
South of CANARIAS, CAP BLANC
Northeasterly 18/22 kt increasing 20/25 kt by 01/12 UTC. Sea rough in long Northwest swell, decreasing, crossing with Northeast.
 
East of CAPE VERDE
Northeast 18/22 kt increasing 20/25 kt by 01/03 UTC. Sea rough in long Northwest swell, decreasing, crossing with Northeast.
 
West of CAPE VERDE : 
East or Southeast 12/18 kt backing East 18/22 kt by 31/18 UTC then increasing East or Northeast 20/25 kt by 01/12 UTC. Sea moderate becoming rough in a long Northwest swell. Showers and squalls, decreasing tomorrow.
 
Northeast of ALIZES OUEST : 
South or southeast 20/25 kt gusts 30 kt decreasing Southeast 15/20 kt by 31/21 UTC then backing graudually East 18/22 kt from 01/12 UTC. Sea rough, cross. Showers and squalls. 
 
Northwest of ALIZES OUEST : 
Cyclonic 20/30 kt gusts 35/40 kt becoming South 20/30 kt gusts 35/40 kt by 01/00 UTC, then backing South or Southeast by 01/12 UTC and decreasing 18/22 kt at the end. Sea rough or very rough, cross. Rain and thunder squalls.
 
Further outlook for next 24 hours

Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None

Tropical activity : none.

on Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 09? UTC

Arnaud Turck

Météo-France

31/10/09 - 10:21 - Erik Nigon (skipper Axa Atout Coeur Pour Aides): "It’s Christmas, Easter, Showtime, my 21st birthday, 50th anniversary etc. all rolled into one. In short, we’re ‘in the zone’ and it’s paradise. Imagine you own 530hp Ferrari or an Aston Martin, but you spend your life grid-locked in town or stuck on B roads with, maybe, the occasional burst of speed on a four-lane motorway. Then, in a dream, an Enzo appears and says to you: ‘Come with me and for one week you can blast around a Formula 1 circuit’. So, for one exceptional week, you can test-out the beast on a racing circuit!”

31/10/09 - 10:08 - Paul Worswick (co-skipper Keysource): “All well on the boat, still making good speed west, think that we will be going a little faster today in the bigger winds. Yesterday was all quiet, we were making good progress then lost some breeze so took a dig south for more - feels like we've found plenty this morning - no idea how much, but probably early too mid-twenties at the moment. Finally passed 4,000 miles to go so at the current rate of progress we only have another 48 days to go!!!”

31/10/09 - 10:07 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): “Something quite novel is going to happen today, which is that after the better part of two weeks going upwind, we are going to be reaching - the wind going into the southeast. This means miles in more or less the right direction (ie the gate at St Barts), and a bit faster. It's almost sunrise, and there is not a cloud in the sky at the moment. It is very wet on deck, though the sea state is improving after another rough night, which was nicely lit up by the moon - just not quite enough to see the waves properly. Allegedly, conditions are only going to get better (we may even eventually find the Trade Winds...), which is just as well, as there is a great deal of drying out and housekeeping to be done. The beanbag has developed a leak, and so there are polystyrene balls everywhere as well. Catching up on sleep is also high on the list after yesterday's crash course in the black art of electronics - thanks very much to Alex, and Rob at B&G for your help!”

30/10/09 - 13:44 - “The Inmarsat has a bit of a problem, but everything is OK here. I think there’s about 25 knots of wind, but we don’t have wind instruments, and there are big waves. I think tonight we will maybe have the same.”
Jouni Romppanen (82 - Tieto)

30/10/09 - 13:43 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): “It is about 20-22 knots and we have problems with the autopilot and have spent many, many hours trying to sort it. I have to say Alex, our shore crew, and B&G have been incredibly helpful and have been doing everything they can to help us out. It’s just not very good timing with this weather coming and after almost two weeks of upwind stuff, we’re pretty tired-out. Sometimes we have a two hours on – two hours off watch system, but generally it’s whatever we can manage. It looks like the weather will be better tomorrow, but I’ll believe it when I see it.”

30/10/09 - 13:41 - Tim Wright (skipper Sail4Cancer): “It is a slightly different tactical call to us and the guys on Tieto, they’ve pushed down south a little bit more, and we’re eyeing-up what’s coming-up with the next weather system. We’ve got about 20-25 knots of breeze and quite a horrible sea. We’ve got two reefs and a reefed Solent and we’re just slamming our way through it at the moment, just keeping the boat together and trying to get through the breeze in the next 24 hours. The Solent damage we took earlier on is sorted, the halyard is OK but in these sort of conditions it’s a matter of just keeping it all together. The mainsail is OK, we just had one batten car that popped out and it has shredded the thread, so we’ve jury rigged that with glue and Dyneema and it seems to be holding. I cracked a rib early on in the race, and that’s pretty sore, but gradually getting better. We’ve taken a beating but we’re trying to preserve the crew and the boat and look after each other and work our way through it. We spend a reasonable amount of time together, chatting about the weather and tactics. It’s not possible to have any formal watch system but you just try and grab some sleep when you can and obviously with the amount of sail changes that are going on at the moment we tend to meet-up on a fairly regular basis.”

30/10/09 - 10:59 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009


General synopsis by October 30, 2009 at 00h
Low 1001 hPa 32N44W, expected 1004 hPa 36N33W by 31/00 UTC then 1011 hPa 40N29W by 01/00 UTC.
Low 1003 hPa 32N55W, expected 1000 hPa 28N48W by 31/00 UTC then 998 hPa 27N48W by 01/00 UTC.  
High 1023 hPa sur l'Espagne, extending with a ridge to Canary islands, expected 1028 hPa 34N23W by 01/00 UTC. 
High 1028 hPa 48N72W moving east and building, expected 1032 hPa 43N46W by 01/00 UTC.


Weather forecast from October 30, 2009 at 9UTC to November 1, 2009 at 00UTC
 East of ACORES
Southwest or  South 10/15 kt increasing Southwest 20/25 kt gusts 30/40 kt by 30/18 UTC, then decreasing 10/15 kt by 31/12 UTC. Sea rough in Northwest swell decreasing. Rain and thundersqualls. 
 
West of ACORES
Southwest 10/20kts becoming quickly from south cyclonic 25/30 kt gusts 40/45 kt, then becoming by 31/06 UTC Southwest 15/25 kt gusts 30/35 kt in south and Northeast 20/25 kt in north. Sea rough or very rough, cross by Northwest swell, decreasing. Rain and thundersqualls.
 
West of MADEIRA 
Southwest 12/17kt decreasing 7/12kt by 30/18 UTC then becoming variable clockwise 3/7 kt by 31/06 UTC then becoming Northeast 10/20 kt by 31/18 UTC. Sea rough in Northwest swell, decreasing. 
 
East of IRVING
Southwest 15/20 kt decreasing Southerly 10/15 kt by 30/18 UTC, becoming variable clockwise 3/7 kt by 31/15 UTC, locally Northeast 10/15kt in far south. Sea rough in Northwest swell, decreasing. Rain in north, decreasing. 
 
West of IRVING
Southwest 20/25kt gusts 30/40 kt decreasing South 15/20 kt by 31/06 UTC then backing Southeast 8/12kt from east by 31/18 UTC. Sea very rough, cross by Northwest swell, decreasing. Rain in north, decreasing.
 
East of COLORADO
Southwest 25/35 kt gusts 35/45 kt decreasing temporarily 20/25 kt gusts 30 kt by 30/18 UTC then increasing again South or Southwest 25/35 kt gusts 35/45 kt by 31/06 UTC, and backing Southeast 15/25 kt gusts 30 kt by 31/18 UTC. Sea very rough, cross. Rain and thunder squalls.
 
West of COLORADO
Cyclonic 30/35kt gusts 40/45kt becoming quickly from west Northeast 25/30 kt, then increasing 30/40 kt gusts 40/50 kt by 31/03 UTC. Sea very rough or high, cross. Rain and thundersqualls.
 
CANARIAS
Northeast 10/15 kt,locally variable clockwise 4/8 kt in northwest today, increasing 15/20 kt by 30/18 UTC then 17/22 kt by 31/06 UTC. Sea moderate becoming rough in Northwest long swell.
 
East of METEOR
South or Southeast 10/15 kt backing gradually Northeast 15 kt from southeast by 30/21 UTC, then increasing 15/20 kt by 30/18 UTC. Sea rough in Northwest long swell. 
 
West of METEOR 
Southwest or South 15/20 kt backing South by 31/00 UTC then backing Southeast 13/18 kt from south by 31/06 UTC. Sea rough or very rough in Northwest long swell. 
 
CAP BLANC, North of CAP TIMIRIS
Northeasterly 15/20 kt increasing 18/22 kt by 31/03 UTC. Sea moderate becoming rough and cross by Northwest long swell. 
 
East of CAPE VERDE
Northeast 15/20 kt increasing 18/22 kt le 31/09 UTC.Sea moderat. Sea becoming rough dans une longue houle of Northwest. Scattered showers.
 
West of CAPE VERDE : 
Southeasterly 10/15 kt,increasing 12/18 kt by 31/00 UTC then backing East from south by 31/06 UTC and increasing 18/22 kt by 31/18 UTC. Sea moderate becoming rough in Northwest long swell. Thundersqualls.
 
Northeast of ALIZES OUEST : 
Southwest 15/20 kt backing South or Southeast from east by 31/00 UTC then increasing 20/25 kt gusts 30 kt from 31/12 UTC. Sea becoming rough or very rough, cross. Showers and squalls. 
 
Northwest of ALIZES OUEST : 
Southwest 20/25 kt gusts 30 kt becoming cyclonic 20/30 kt gusts 35/40 kt by 31/00 UTC. Sea becoming rough or very rough, cross. Showers and squalls.
 
Further outlook for next 24 hours

Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : Northeasterly 30/35kt gusts 45 kt veering Southeast 30/35kt over COLORADO.

Tropical activity : none.

on Friday, October 30, 2009 at 09? UTC

Arnaud Turck

Météo-France

30/10/09 - 10:23 - With the centre of the next Low Pressure system currently located approximately 480 miles west of the northern group in La Solidaire du Chocolat fleet, the 11 Class40s south of the Azores continue to drop down through the North Atlantic away from the depression's track. Maintaining the lead, Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d'Ali on Telecom Italia hold the right hand side of the race course making 7.2 knots in the 0800 GMT position poll this morning,...   Read

29/10/09 - 21:32 -

« Our VMG is 10 knots. Everything’s fine, even if last night didn’t got that well. We had a tough time getting past the Canaries and finding the pressure. The weather is brilliant with a slight swell, a few white clouds here and there and the sun is making itself felt. Temperature is rather pleasant and it’s starting to get warm down below. When we opted south, we didn’t have any info about what was to follow. We’re not in the right flow yet either and are still having to hone things a bit. It should all fall into place over the next couple of days. A bit of air north of the Canaries, 7 knots so we hugged the coast. David has a big smile on his face at the helm. His French is improving too.
We’re pleased to have some wind now. We trying to get the right angle. We’ve gotta keep this up for two days and manage the wind shift correctly. We’ll be catching up with them but we are never the less a long way behind. We’ll get some canvas up and not let them sit easy for a second. I’m being optimistic as the race is not over yet. The other guys are about to go through a bit of a bad patch. I reckon we might gain some ground on the others but prefer to wait until we get to Saint Bart’s before making any further announcements! We’ve seen this sort of thing before. We’ve had a rough time. With a little low pressure hanging over the Cape Verde islands, I’d like to find the northerly wind so we can lien up bang smack where we ought to be. »  
 Arnaud Aubry (Adriatech) 

29/10/09 - 18:17 - Dive time for the northerners. A very bad series of low pressure system is set to pass through the fleet this weekend. Great motivation for a southern escapade. The eleven Class 40s which have passed the Azores have already understood that and are lining up on the same heading to avoid the worst of what is to come. Along the coast of Mauritania, euphoria is the order of the day. The trade winds have finally appeared.   Read

29/10/09 - 13:01 -

Felipe Cubillos (skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos): “Another typical day with a lot of wind, I don’t know how much because we have no wind instruments, but probably 30-35 knots. We’re very happy with no problems. It has been very tough, especially for the sails and for the boat. I’m wondering what will happen with the Open 60s next month in the Transat Jacques Vabre when they go to Costa Rica as they will find the same. It could be quite complicated and maybe they will put a gate in further south….I don’t know. My ankle makes it a little complicated to move around inside the boat, but it’s not hurting anymore, so it’s not a problem. It’s quite difficult to kill this guy!”      

29/10/09 - 12:59 - Jouni Romppanen (skipper Tieto): “We’re pretty tired right now after one more night of headwinds, not so much fun. We hope that after tonight, we might just get wind from some other direction. Otherwise, everything is OK. Sam is steering the boat and he is OK also. We don’t have any problems that limit us in a physical way although it’s been quite rough now for 11 or 12 days.”

29/10/09 - 12:57 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): "Somewhat unoriginally, we are still going upwind, and if we're lucky, this will only last another two days. Of course it wouldn't be complete without yet another low pressure system - which looks like it will be our special Friday night treat. The autopilot went on strike before dawn (can't blame it, I am quite tempted to do the same), but fortunately is working again. It is deceptive on deck - dry for a while, and then tons of water washing over the boat every so often. We haven't seen much wildlife at all, though I did return a (live) squid to the sea - despite having soya sauce and wasabi on board.”

29/10/09 - 11:45 - Yves Eclaret (skipper Vale Inco Nouvelle Calédonie): “Seeing what the north-westerly boats are going through, it’s slightly embarassing to say that we are sailing in shorts under a bright sun in a dry boat with no salt sores and it has been a great pleasure to sail under a bright moon, searching for breeze and hunting the phantom Trade Winds. I just want to assure those people supporting us that we will catch the group in front, believe me. In two days time we can put some coal in the boiler and take-off at full steam and we’re in excellent shape to do so!”

29/10/09 - 11:38 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009



General synopsis by October 29, 2009 at 00h
Low 977 hPa 47N39W moving northeast, expected 979 hPa 56N17W by 31/00h UTC.
Low 1005 hPa 40N/71W moving southeast, expected 998 hPa 32N43W by 31/00 UTC. Extending with a trough southeast, shifting to northeast tomorrow, where deepens a low expected 1004 hPa 33N53W by 29/12 UTC then 1000 hPa 37N35W by 31/00 UTC. 
High 1022 hPa over Spain, expected 1026 hPa by 31/00 UTC. Extending with a ridge to Canary islands, building. 
High 1018 hPa 28N68W moving west and weakening. 
tropical wave along 29W south of 19N moving west 10 kts.


Weather forecast from October 29, 2009 at 9UTC to October 31, 2009 at 00UTC
 
West of JOSEPHINE
Southwesterly 20/25kt gusts 35kt, decreasing 10/15 kt later, then backing South at the end. Sea rough or very rough, cross by Northwesterly swell. Rain or squalls.
 
East of ACORES
Southwest 25/30 kt gusts 35/40 kt, decreasing 20/25kt gusts 30 kt soon, then decreasing 10/15 kt later, and backing South 15/20 kt at the end. Sea rough or very rough, cross by Northwesterly swell. Rain and thundersqualls. 
 
West of ACORES
West or Southwest 25/30 kt gusts 35/40 kt, decreasing 15/20kt from south soon, then backing South 10/20 kt later, and becoming cyclonic 25/30 kt gusts 40/45 kt at the end. Sea very rough, locally high (wave 6 or 7m) in north at first, cross by Northwest swell. Rain and thundersqualls.
 
East of RIDGE
West or Northwest 25/30kt gusts 35/40kt, decreasing 20/25 kt gusts 30 kt soon, then Westerly 10/15 kt later, and veering Northeast 30/35 kt gusts 40/45 kt from 30/09 UTC. Sea very rough in Northwest swell, locally high (wave 6 or 7m) in north, decreasing. Showers, then thundersqualls.
 
East of MADEIRA
South or Southeast 5/10kt,  becoming variable clockwise 3/8 kt soon then becoming Northeast 10/15 kt at the end. Sea moderate becoming rough in Northwest swell.  
 
West of MADEIRA 
Southwest 15/20kt decreasing 10/15 kt later then backing South 5/10 kt at the end. Sea moderate becoming rough in Northwest swell. Rain in west.
 
East of IRVING
Southwest 20/25kt gusts 30/35 kt decreasing 14/18 kt later, locally 7/13 kt in far north, then backing South 15/20 kt at the end. Sea rough, cross by Northwest swell. Rain or squalls.
 
West of IRVING
West or Southwest 20/25kt gusts 30 kt, decreasing Southwest 10/15kt from south soon, backing South 20/25 kt gusts 30 kt later, then increasing South or Southwest 25/30 kt gusts 35/40 kt from 30/15 UTC. Sea rough or very rough, cross by Northwest swell. Rain and thundersqualls.
 
East of COLORADO
Westerly 15/20kt, temporarily 20/25kt in north at first, backing Southwest 20/25kt gusts 30/35 kt later, then increasing 30/35 kt gusts 40/50 kt from 30/12 UTC. Sea very rough in Northwest swell. Rain and thundersqualls.
 
West of COLORADO
West or Northwest 10/20k, becoming from west soon cyclonic 20/30kt gusts 30/40 kt, then again from west cyclonic 25/35 kt gusts 40/50 kt later, and becoming Northeast 25/30 kt at the end. Sea rough or very rough in Northerly swell. Rain and thunder squalls.
 
East of CANARIAS
Northeast 5/10 kt increasing 10/15 kt soon then 15/20 kt later. Sea slight or moderate.
 
West of CANARIAS
Variable clockwise 5/10kt, becoming Northeast 10/15 kt later then increasing 13/18 kt at the end. Sea moderate becoming rough in Northwest swell.
 
METEOR
Southwest 13/18kt backing Southeast 10/15 kt east later, and increasing South 15/20 kt gusts 30 kt in west at the end. Sea moderate becoming rough in Northwest swell. Rain in northwest later.
 
CAP BLANC, North of CAP TIMIRIS
Northeasterly 10/15kt, increasing 17/22 kt later. Sea moderate or rough cross by Northwest swell. Showers.
 
East of CAPE VERDE
East or Northeast 10/15kt, locally Southeast 5/10 kt in north at first, increasing Northeast 17/22 kt later. Sea moderate becoming rough in Northwest swell. Squalls au south, scattered showers.
 
West of CAPE VERDE : 
Southwesterly 10/15 kt, locally variable 5/10 kt in north at first. Sea moderate becoming rough in Northwest swell. Squalls au south, scattered showers.
 
North of ALIZES OUEST : 
Southwest 10/15 kt increasing 15/20 kt later then 20/25 kt gusts 30 kt from 30/12 UTC. Sea moderate becoming rough in North swell. Showers and squalls. 
 
 
Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : Wind cyclonic 30/35kt gusts 50 kt over COLORADO. Wind of Southwest 30/35 kt gusts 45/55 bds over ACORES.



Tropical activity : none.


on Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 09? UTC

Arnaud Turck

Météo-France

29/10/09 - 11:15 - Felipe Cubillos (skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos): “How much wind did we had in the storms? Well, we have no wind instruments now, but we did a round-the-world race without the gear and we’re pretty used to it. The shattered mainsail cars have been replaced with Spectra lashings and the system is working well, although the mainsail now looks as though it has been in a serious fight.  The Solent tack line was a bit more of a problem as we couldn’t hoist it completely, but we managed a repair and it’s now in good shape. Fixing the wind instruments? Not a hope. I remember some of the crews in the last-but-one Volvo Ocean Race saying the Atlantic leg was the worst and I have to concede they had a point. I really want to pay a tribute to Daniel: we had no idea that this race would be so tough and his endurance and motivation have been outstanding.”

29/10/09 - 10:58 - Davide Consorte (skipper Adriatech): “If the forecasts don’t lie, we’re into the long-awaited Trade Winds. We might carry them all the way  to St. Barts and catch up a bit with the northern group in the fleet.  We have a calm sea with breeze of 5-10 knots from the north, or north-east: it isn’t completely stable, but at least it has arrived.  Many sightings of dolphins and dorado. These are the last few hours of relaxation and we expect ten or 11 days until the gate at St. Barts.”

29/10/09 - 10:38 - Jacques Fournier (skipper Groupe Picoty): “The repair to our mainsail didn’t hold out in the gale and it has torn again and we are forced to sail with four reefs. We’re going to wait until it stops raining and the sail dries-out before attempting any further repairs.”

29/10/09 - 10:31 - Erik Nigon (skipper Axa Atout Coeur Pour Aides): “It looks as though Neptune has finally decided to let us through the Canaries. After three days of waiting, some stable breeze of 10 knots arrived and we should escape from the light breeze close to Africa. This breeze has enabled us to gain some miles on Adriatech and our three boats will have a personal race across th St. Barts.”

29/10/09 - 10:24 - Daniel Bravo Silva (co-skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos): “From a pleasant 13 knots of breeze and sunshine, the night turned into a hurricane of horror with gusts of 54 knots. Sitting through the storm having taken in all the reefs, we went through the entire and very rich vocabulary of curses that our language has given us when we began to hear a noise, similar – I imagine - to a locomotive coming of the tracks. Three of the mainsail cars had broken and about seven metres of sail was flapping madly in the hurricane.”

29/10/09 - 10:12 - Stephen Card (skipper ORBIS): “A pleasant night in calm breezes helped us prepare for yet another battering that is heading our way today. Hopefully heading into the depression on port tack until we get the big header and then tack onto starboard and head southwest will be the last time. Hmmm, I doubt it. Anyway, first turn of a winch when I came on watch and the main outhaul snapped. Easy fix in daylight. In the meantime, we're heading due west in 25 kts of breeze.”  

29/10/09 - 10:08 - Overnight the fleet leaders, Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d'Ali, on Telecom Italia have extended their lead over Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia by 35 miles and now hold a lead of 51 miles. Currently heading south-west, a little under 400 miles south-west of the Azores in the 0800 GMT position poll, Soldini and d'Ali are averaging the highest speed in the fleet of nine knots in westerly breeze of around 16 knots, while de...   Read

28/10/09 - 22:41 -

 Jean Edouard Criquioche – FR (Groupe Picoty) : « What a dreadful night ! A snapshackle linking the halyard to the Solent broke. Where to now captain? Up you go !! Second shinny up the mast in two weeks, this time with the option Operation Nighttime. Winds then started creeping upwards : 25, 30, 35 then 40 knots with gusts of up to 50 knots. And that was before the front came over. Then things went totally haywire !! The latest solution of the mobile Groupe Picoty R&D department sprung into action. We dragged warps behind to slow the boat.  Never done it before but read about it. Just had to get on with it! We grabbed two spinnaker sheets (20m long), and tied them onto mooring cleats aft. This created resistance and slowed the boat. Calmed us a bit too, we stopped worrying about seeing the mast come crashing down. »

Miranda Merron - UK (40 Degrees) : «  We were kept busy with the passage of the cold front. Not far off 39 knots ! Not to mention maintenance. Another busy night with the boat behaving like a bird, hopping from one wave to another before slamming down into a hole. Not good for the boat and not good for the crew. From now on, the behind the front, skies are blue and the sun is out. Not the trade winds, I know, but it’s a bit like it. Maybe a few days from now. It’s time to start reading the tea leaves! »

Thierry Bouchard – FR (Mistral Loisirs-Pole Santé Elior) : « We’re ok. A bit like someone who has woken, up in a marina whereas he ought to have been out on the water. A shame. We’re disappointed. Morale is all important when you are in a tough situation. There’s a knock-on effect the following day. Throughout the night, we could tell that we were not at ease at speed and that we had a problem with the main. At sunrise, we saw that the headboard had broken. There are still 3 500 miles to go. When you’re playing to win, it’s not possible to continue. Repairing at sea was not a possibility. We probably need to unstep the mast. We fought with our hearts and would have preferred the outcome to be different. But sometimes you just have to be fatalistic.  »

Bernard Stamm – FR (Cheminées Poujoulat) : « Since the start, we have had the choice between nervous depressions and dead calm. And the only calm we had did not show up on the weather files we had access to so we had a bit of a job avoiding it. Right now we’re in the middle of a cold front with 28 to 38 knots and on the lookout for the wind shift. Bruno is lying down, fully clothed and soaked to the skin. He’s trying to get some rest before the manoeuvre. »

Arnaud Aubry – FR (Adriatech) : « Not that brilliant at the moment. The odd puff at around 6-8 knots but nothing much. We readjust the whole caboodle each time the wind changes but nothing much happening this evening. The day ahead looks like one with nothing much in store. I hope the crossing itself will be  a bit livelier. Looks as if the trades are breathing more healthily over the next 48 h. Can’t wait to get on the right tack and put the turbo on ! » 

28/10/09 - 22:36 - Upwind again, bad weather again, squalls and uncertainty. The northerners are having to keep a low profile again after the passage of a rather violent front. There are important decisions to be made bearing in mind how the situation is likely to evolve two days from now. Off the Canaries, the southerners are still praying for wind. The 16 strong Class 40 fleet is as spread out as ever !   Read

28/10/09 - 12:55 - Stephen Card (skipper ORBIS): “We’ve got a bit of a squall on at the moment. We’ve got a lot of breeze here, 37 knots at the moment. We’ve been in this for about eight hours. We can’t see the end of the front at the moment, which is quite unusual. Everything is fine, but it’s uncomfortable as hell. We’re hoping for a shift, then we can tack and head south-west.”

28/10/09 - 12:26 - Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): “Have been rather preoccupied with the passage of the cold front (it delivered 39 knots), and doing some minor maintenance. It was a rather rough night, with the boat pretending to be a bird, getting airborne off waves on numerous occasions before plumetting into the trough beyond. Not good for boat or crew. However, post-front, the sky is blue and the sun is out. It does look like the Trade Winds will be established in a few days. The key is how to get to them without getting demolished by another low, or stuck in no wind. Time to read the tea leaves again!”

28/10/09 - 10:55 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009

General synopsis by October 28, 2009 at 00h
Low 977 hPa 51N and 43W moving southeast, expected 50N and 33W by 30/00utc.
Low relative 982 hPa 51N and 28W moving northwest. 
New low expected 1001 hPa 36N and 58W by 29/12utc, moving east/southeast, expected 997 hPa 34N and 49W by 30/00utc.
High 1020 hPa 30N and 62W, moving west weakening. 
Building ridge from Europe to Canarias.

Weather forecast from October 28, 2009 at 9UTC to October 30, 2009 at 00UTC
East of JOSEPHINE
Southwesterly 10/15kt backing South or Southwest between 29/00utc and 29/12utc. Sea moderate or rough in Northwesterly swell, decreasing. Showers at first.
 
West of JOSEPHINE
Southwesterly 15/20kt, but West or Southwest 10/15kt at first, increasing 20/25kt gusts 35kt. Sea becoming rough or very rough, cross in Northwesterly swell. Rain in northwest.
 
East of ACORES
Southwesterly 15/20kt, locally 20/25kt in southeast at first, increasing 23/28kt between 29/00utc and 29/12utc, then decreasing 15/20kt at end. Sea becoming rough or very rough in Northwesterly swell. Rain ou squalls. 
 
West of ACORES
West or Southwest 18/23kt increasing 23/28kt gusts 40kt until 29/06utc, and decreasing 15/20kt at end. Sea becoming very rough, cross in Northwesterly swell. squalls locally thundery.
 
East of RIDGE
Westerly 20/25kt increasing 25/30kt gusts 40kt until 29/00utc, then decreasing 10/20kt from south to north. Sea very rough in Northwesterly swell, locally high (wave 6 or 7m) in north. Squalls locally thundery.
 
MADEIRA
In far southest, South or Southeast 5/10kt becoming variable. Elsewhere, West or Southwest 10/15kt backing South or Southwest 15/20kt. Sea moderate or rough in Northwesterly swell. Showers at first.
 
East of IRVING
Southwesterly 18/23kt increasing 20/25kt gusts 35kt between 29/00utc and 29/12utc, and decreasing 15/20kt at end. Sea moderate becoming rough, cross in Northwesterly swell. Rain ou squalls.
 
West of IRVING
West or Southwest 10/15kt, but Northwest in north at first, increasing 20/25kt gusts 35kt until 29/06utc, then decreasing 10/15kt. Sea becoming rough or very rough in Northwesterly swell. Rain suivie d'showers.
 
East of COLORADO
Westerly 15/20kt increasing temporarily 20/25kt in north between 29/00utc and 29/12utc, then backing Southwest 10/15kt. Sea becoming rough or very rough in Northwesterly swell. Rain then squalls.
 
West of COLORADO
Northwesterly 10/20kt backing West or Southwest 20/25kt, and becoming locally cyclonic 20/30kt gusts 45kt in north. Sea becoming rough or very rough in Northerly swell. Thundersqualls at end.
 
TARFAYA, east of CANARIAS
Variable 5/10kt becoming East or Northeast juntil 29/00utc, then backing North or Northeast 12/18kt. Sea slight or moderate.
 
West of CANARIAS
Variable 5/10kt, becoming mainly Northeasterly in south. Sea moderate or rough in Northwesterly swell, decreasing.
 
METEOR
Westerly 5/10kt backing Southwesterly 10/15kt until 29/00utc, and increasing temporarily 13/18kt in northwest between 29/00utc and 29/12utc. Sea moderate or rough in Northwesterly swell. Rain in northwest.
 
CAP BLANC
Northeasterly 12/18kt, locally 5/10 kt in north at first. Sea rough in Northwesterly swell, decreasing. Showers.
 
East of CAPE VERDE
East or Northeast 5/15kt, locally variable in north at first. Sea rough in Northwesterly swell, decreasing. Showers.


Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : Cyclonic 30/35kt gusts 55kt over RIDGE and west of ACORES.
Southwesterly 30/35kt gusts 55kt over COLORADO.

Tropical activity
None

on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 09:35 UTC
Anne Couzinier

Météo-France

28/10/09 - 10:40 - Jean-Edouard Criquioche (co-skipper Groupe Picoty): "A truly horrific night and neither Jacques nor I have ever seen a sea so violent, but it has passed and we're OK and nothing is broken."

28/10/09 - 10:30 - Adrien Hardy (co-skipper Initiatives-Novedia): “Wind 15 knots from the south-west. The boat is slamming hard requiring one hand to grab the chart table, the other to type with…not easy. The guys in the north? Well, they must need both hands just to hold on. Running into light airs yesterday was bad for morale with the sails slapping around in a big old swell. Without doubt we went too far south and too close to the High Pressure: it’s complicated stuff this strategy and we will have to pay more attention to the GRIBs. We made three tacks during the night to use the windshifts and it was tough, so we put the autopilot on briefly, then we could both move the 500kg of food, water and sails to windward.” 

28/10/09 - 09:42 - At 1600 GMT on Tuesday, the race leaders, Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia, furthest south in the fleet's northern group, and the Itlalian duo of Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d'Ali on Telecom Italia, furthest west, tacked north-west simultaneously towards the cold front sweeping east across the Atlantic. By midnight GMT, the majority of the group _ with the exception of the Finnish team of Jouni Romppanen and Sam Öhman on...   Read

27/10/09 - 20:02 -

Giovanni Soldini – ITA (Telecom Italia) :  « We are dreaming of being in the trades. Looks like it’s not for right now. At the start, we set out south hoping to be at shelter from the rotten weather but that didn’t work. Our timing was out, we were behind schedule. We headed west finally before the wind turned and a second spot of low pressure forced us north-west. That’s how we wound up in the northern part of the fleet. Over the past couple of days, I realize that we made the right choice. We had to move north. We can’t wait to get some downwind sailing in under the sun. We’ve not had any problems worth mentioning. The boat is fine. In the hours ahead, there is a sticky depression on its way bringing a lot of wind along with it. I hope it’ll blow over quickly. The real question is trying to figure out quite where the next low pressure system will start to form. »

Denis Lazat – FRA (Plan, les Enfants Changeront le Monde) : « Last night was supposed to be calmer than the ones before it. We had got used to the idea that the watches would be calmer and that we’d be able to get some sleep in. Alas, that was not the case. The wind hopped about all over the show, in terms of strength and direction. We were up all night manœuvring. And not always for a great result either! In the end, enormous stormy formations loomed overhead bang smack on our track and put paid to our idea of gaining ground on our fellow competitors. We’re brave but are not gluttons for punishment. We reckoned it was better to head off at an angle which meant steering a course 90° from the actual route ! »

Tanguy de Lamotte – FRA (Initiatives-Novedia) : « For the time being, we are in weak conditions. It’s stressful as the others have a different weather set altogether. I’m sure we’ll all end up coming together. The race is starting to look a little more real. This is the stress that comes with being in the lead. We’re doing a little more west than south as we could tell that things were lightening up. Our plan is to head off south for the next installment but it’s not one hundred percent sure yet. It depends on the high. »

27/10/09 - 19:58 - Although Tuesday will have been a pleasant day after the series of storms which have swept through the fleet, Wednesday will mark the start of another spot of bad weather. The mainsail attachment on Thierry Bouchard and Oliver Krauss' boat has borne the brunt of the bad weather, forcing the team to deviate to Horta (Azores).   Read

27/10/09 - 13:47 - Thierry Bouchard (skipper Pole Santé Elior-Mistral Loisirs): “It is with tears in my eyes that I have to confirm we are retiring from the race. We are now heading for Horta under motor and do not require any assistance. I had been planning to spend about ten days in Progreso with the family, so I’ll be there at the finish, but the method of getting there will be slightly different.”

27/10/09 - 13:42 - Stephen Card (skipper ORBIS): “We’re pretty much becalmed at the moment. We got most of the jobs done in about ten hours yesterday repairing the main and reefing lines and when we’re all set to go, the wind disappears. Currently we have 6 knots TWS. At least the living conditions are getting better and we actually have some dry oilies and we’re wearing shorts finally. I think we’re probably a bit south for the weather coming up and we’ve done a complete swap: where we were the most northerly boat before getting all the gales, we’re now south. If the breeze comes, we’re even better prepared than we were at the beginning of the race. What was going to break has already broken and been repaired. We’re going to get to Mexico, don’t worry, even if we have to paddle.” 

27/10/09 - 13:41 - Tim Wright (skipper Sail4Cancer): “The breeze has lightened up quite a lot. There’s a thing in the sky that we think might be the sun! The sea has also settled down quite a lot and lengthened-out a bit, so there’s less slamming. Large foresail up and full main and just trucking along. We’re still thrashing into headwinds and ever-hopeful that the wind will come round a bit. It’s real shame that Thierry has had to pull out. We’ve had a few bits and pieces go wrong, but I’m really sorry for Thierry. About three nights ago the halyard for the Solent blew out, so we’ve been using our fractional spinnaker halyard and having to drop the Solent whenever we tack, then relaunch it and we’re hoping to go up the mast in the next hour and sort it out and look at the fractional halyard as it’s getting quite a bit of chafe. We’ll sort out the wind instruments while we’re up there. Nicko’s good and on the helm at the moment. Both of us are gradually removing layers and he’s just extracted his feet from his boots for the first time since the start, so it’s a good job I’m a long way away on the telephone. Since the start it hasn’t really been an option to take foulies off.”

27/10/09 - 11:08 - Pole Santé Elior-Mistral Loisirs of Thierry Bouchard and Oliver Krauss is currently heading for Horta in the Azores. “We’ve got a problem with the mast track at the top of the mast and we are forced to sail with two reefs,” Bouchard reported earlier.

27/10/09 - 10:37 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009

General synopsis by October 27, 2009 at 00h
Low 985 hPa 51N and 26W moving northeast and filling.
Low 986 hPa 54N and 45W moving southeast, expected 975 hPa 48N and 38W by 29/00utc.
Relative low expected 985 hPa 46N and 31W by 27/12utc, moving northeast, expected 981 hPa 51N and 26W by 28/00utc, then moving northwest and merging with previous low. 
High 1023 hPa 31N and 62W, weakening with litle move. Associated ridge extending southeast.

Weather forecast from October 27, 2009 at 9UTC to October 29, 2009 at 00UTC
East of JOSEPHINE
Southerly 5/10kt veering Southwest 10/15kt between 28/00utc and 28/12utc. Sea moderate or rough in Northwesterly swell, decreasing. squalls.
 
West of JOSEPHINE
Southwesterly 10/15kt, backing Southwest 20/30kt from south to north until 28/06utc, locally 30/35kt gusts 45kt in northwest, then decreasing 15/20kt. Sea moderate or rough in Northwesterly swell. Rain or showers.
 
East of ACORES
West or Southwest 10/15kt backing Southwest 20/30kt gusts 40kt from south to north until 28/06utc, then decreasing 15/20kt. Sea rough becoming cross in Northwesterly swell. Rain ou showers. 
 
West of ACORES
West or Southwest 20/25kt backing Southwest 30/35kt gusts 50kt until 28/00utc, and veering Westerly 20/30kt from south to north until 28/12utc. Sea rough or very rough becoming cross in Northwesterly swell. Rain then showers.
 
East of RIDGE
Westerly 25/30kt gusts 40kt, veering West or Northwest until 28/00utc, locally 30/35kt gusts 45kt in north. Sea rough or very rough in Northwesterly swell, becoming high (wave 6 or 7m) in north. Rain then squalls.
 
AGADIR, TARFAYA
North or Northwest 5/10kt veering Northeasterly until 28/00utc. Sea moderate or rough in Northwesterly swell, decreasing. Showers.
 
MADEIRA
In far northwest, Northerly 5/10kt backing Southwest 13/18kt. Elsewhere, Southwesterly 10/15kt, locally variable 5/10kt in far southest, decreasing 5/10kt at end. Sea rough in Northwesterly swell, decreasing. Showers or squalls.
 
East of IRVING
Northwest 5/10kt backing West or Southwest 10/20kt from south to north until 28/06utc, then backing Southwest. Sea rough becoming cross in Northwesterly swell, decreasing. Showers.
 
West of IRVING
West or Northwest 10/15kt backing Westerly 10/20kt until 28/00utc en increasing locally 20/25kt in northwest, then veering temporarily Northwest in northwest. Sea rough becoming cross in Northwesterly swell. Rain.
 
East of COLORADO
Westerly 15/25kt veering North or Northwest 10/15kt from west between 28/00utc and 28/12utc, and backing Westerly 10/20kt from south to north. Sea rough in Northwesterly swell. Scattered showers, rain in north at end.
 
East of CANARIAS
Variable 5/10kt, North or Northeast prevailing in south. Sea moderate or rough in Northwesterly swell, decreasing. Showers.
 
West of CANARIAS
Southwest 5/10kt veering North or Northwest between 28/00utc and 28/12utc, then becoming variable. Sea becoming rough in Northwesterly swell, decreasing. Showers.
 
METEOR
North or Northwest 5/10kt backing Southwesterly, en increasing locally 10/15kt in northwest. Sea rough in Northwesterly swell, decreasing. Scattered showers.
 
CAP BLANC
North or Northeast 5/15kt from north to south, locally variable in far northwest. Sea moderate or rough in Northwesterly swell. Showers.
 
Northeast of CAPE VERDE
Variable 5/10kt becoming Easterly at end. Sea rough in Northwesterly swell, decreasing at end. Showers.

Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : None

Tropical activity
None

on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 09? UTC
Anne Couzinier

Météo-France

27/10/09 - 10:13 - Jean-Edouard Criquioche (co-skipper Groupe Picoty): “So, this is how it goes. You come off watch and have to hunt around for the kettle which has flown off the stove in the last jump from the top of a wave.  You find it…and the handle is broken…great. Then you have to handpump water from the tank into the kettle which takes two hands while you have to hang onto something, so gripping or wedging your knees to maintain balance is important.  You then try and light the stove and the lighter is damp…****! After 20 trips around the boat searching for a lighter in numerous bags, the kettle gets airborne again and you're back to square one! Finally, the water is hot, but where are the two cups? On deck, obviously, stuck in a tail bag. Then pouring the water, it spills on your hand and you realise that it is really, really hot!”

27/10/09 - 09:59 - While the Low Pressure system that has hammered the fleet shifts eastwards, blowing warm air up from the south and providing deceptively mild conditions for areas of Western Europe, the Solidaire du Chocolat's northern group have reached less harsh conditions south of the Azores as they race into lighter breeze. Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy continue to lead on Initiatives-Novedia with a 55 mile margin over Damien Seguin and Armel Tripon on...   Read

26/10/09 - 23:52 -

Facts and figures :

One week into the race (start off St-Nazaire on 18th October at 17h50) :

-         1200 miles covered, a little more than 1/ 5 of the distance,

-         7.2 knots average speed,

-         3 low pressure systems, SW to W/ NW, with winds of 25/30 knots, gusting up to 45/50 knots, heavy to very heavy seas (4 to 6 metres),

-         7 retired gear failure,

-         17 crews still in the race,

-         1st week dominated by Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm(Cheminée Poujoulat) and Thierry Bouchard and Oliver Krauss (Mistral Loisirs – Pole Santé Elior)

-         Since Saturday morning, Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy(Initiatives Novédia) have moved into the lead

2 options :

-         WEST : 12 boats, 7th day upwind,

-         SOUTH : 5 boats, approximately 700 miles more,

Remaining to be covered :

-         2300 miles to Saint Bart’s, approx 2 weeks,

-         3800 miles to Progreso, more than 3 weeks

26/10/09 - 23:50 -

26/10/09 - 20:31 - Spread out between the Azores, the Canaries and Portugal ! Heavy seas north, light air south and medium breezes east. And although the competitors on the Class 40s are still concentrating hard, they have had a bit much of having the bow slam constantly. Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy are holding on to their leader position taken two days ago.   Read

26/10/09 - 13:29 - Paul Worswick (co-skipper Keysource): “Really nice sailing down here in shorts and working on our tans. Being 750 miles behind isn’t the ideal position, but we’ll see what happens when we get a bit further south. We’ve got good breeze at the moment and we’re moving, but when we get passed the Canary Islands we’ll start really moving. Looking at the guys up north…you just think ‘yuk’. We’re in really thick mist at the moment with visibility of 150 yards. Our AIS is on the blink and maybe our antenna got knocked in one of the storms, but we’ve got our Active Echo on as there a few ships about. We’re both OK. The first few days were hell on earth, but we’re banking some sleep and eating well and apart from some electrical issues, the boat’s OK.”

26/10/09 - 13:28 - Sam Öhman (co-skipper Tieto): “We are making about 7.5 knots, upwind. We don’t know how much wind as the instrument is broken, but I think it’s about 25 knots. We are going to keep heading this direction for about another 200 miles. We have maybe one or two days more going upwind.”

26/10/09 - 13:27 - Nicholas Brennan (co-skipper Sail4Cancer): “Moderate short sea – slamming. No boats in sight. No damage to report. Busy night tacking through squalls and resisting the temptation to drop into Punta del Guarda for a beer!”

26/10/09 - 11:29 - As the Low Pressure system continues to sit due north of the Azores, the northern group in La Solidaire du Chocolat fleet have taken two different options. Race leaders Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia dropped south after passing through the Azores Archipelago and at 0800 GMT lead the fleet by 45 miles as the French duo find westerly breeze. "Passing through the islands was stunning," says De Lamotte. "Good breeze and...   Read

26/10/09 - 10:56 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009

General synopsis by October 26, 2009 at 00h
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : Southwesterly 30/35kt gust 45kt over ACORES.
Westerly 30/35kt gust 45kt over RIDGE

Weather forecast from October 26, 2009 at 9UTC to October 28, 2009 at 00UTC
SAO VICENTE
Easterly 5/10kt veering South or Southeast until 27 00utc, and becoming temporarily variable between 00h and 12h tu. Sea moderate becoming rough in Northwesterly swell.
 
JOSEPHINE
In far est, Southerly 5/10kt. Elsewhere, Southwesterly 18/23kt, veering Westerly 5/10kt in west until 27/06hutc, then backing South or Southwest 10/20kt from south to north. Sea becoming rough in Northwesterly swell, or locally very rough in northwest. squalls locally thundery in west, decreasing.
 
East of ACORES
Westerly 15/25kt from south to north decreasing 10/20kt until 27/06utc, then backing Southwest and increasing 25/35kt gusts 55kt in north. Sea rough or very rough in Northwesterly swell, decreasing. Rain or squalls.
 
West of ACORES, southwest of ALTAIR
Northwest 23/28kt decreasing 15/20kt until 27 /00utc, then backing Southwest 25/35kt gusts 50kt from south to north. Sea very rough in Northwesterly swell, temporarily high (wave 6 or 7m) at first, decreasing. Rain ou squalls.
 
East of RIDGE
Northwest 20/30kt from south to north backing Westerly 15/20kt until 27/00utc, then Southwest 25/35kt gusts 45kt until 27/12hutc, then veering Northwesterly. Sea very rough in Northwesterly swell, temporarily high (wave 6 or 7m) at first, decreasing. Rain then showers.
 
CASABLANCA, AGADIR
Variable 5/10kt, mainly Northeasterly at first, becoming mainly Westerly at end. Sea moderate becoming rough in Northwesterly swell. 
 
MADEIRA
Southwest 13/18kt, locally variable 5/10kt in far southest, decreasing 5/10kt until 27/06utc, and becoming locally variable in far northwest. Sea becoming rough in Northwesterly swell. Squalls locally thundery in west.
 
IRVING
Northwesterly 15/20kt decreasing 10/15kt until 27/06utc, then backing Southwest and increasing locally 15/25kt in northwest. Sea very rough in Northwesterly swell, decreasing. Squalls locally thundery, decreasing.
 
East of COLORADO
North or Northwest 15/20kt decreasing 10/15kt until 27/00utc, then backing Westerly 15/25kt in north. Sea very rough in Northwesterly swell, decreasing. Rain.
 
TARFAYA
Variable 5/10kt. Sea becoming moderate or rough in Northwesterly swell.
 
CANARIAS
Variable 5/10kt, mainly North or Northwest in south, becoming  mainly West or Southwest in west until 27/00utc. Sea becoming moderate or rough in Northwesterly swell. Scattered showers.
 
East of METEOR
West or Southwest 5/10kt backing North or Northwest from west. Sea becoming rough in Northwesterly swell. Squalls locally thundery.
 
CAP BLANC
North or Northeast 5/15kt from north to south, locally variable in far northwest. Sea becoming rough in Northwesterly swell. Scattered showers.
 
Northeast of CAPE VERDE
Variable 5/10kt. Sea becoming rough in Northwesterly swell.

Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : Southwesterly 30/35kt gust 45kt over ACORES.
Westerly 30/35kt gust 45kt over RIDGE

Tropical activity
None

on Monday, October 26, 2009 at 09? UTC
Anne Couzinier

Météo-France

25/10/09 - 15:55 - Damien Seguin (skipper Cargill - MTTM): "So, the first week is over and what a week it has been! One week going upwind and at least three or four more days of beating to go. We're now at the Azores and our good strategy will give us a new start to the race inside these remote islands. Last night we had a superb starry sky and this morning there's even a little sun. After the approaching Low Pressure system, we hope to dive south."

25/10/09 - 11:49 - Miranda Merron (so-skipper 40 Degrees): "At the risk of sounding slightly repetitive, 40 Degrees is still slamming upwind. Nearly a week into the race, and that is pretty much all we've been doing. This is most definitely not in the brochure, and we look on with envy at the playmates who have gone for the sunshine route. Looking on the bright side, it isn't cold, and it isn't raining. It is rare when racing to not have at least one issue per day (or night - so much more interesting!), and last night's involved the autopilot amongst other things. We never did find what the gremlin was, but it is behaving again."

25/10/09 - 10:39 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009


General synopsis by October 25, 2009 at 00h
Low 975 hPa 46N and 37W  moving east/northeast and filling, expected 980 hPa 47N and 31W by 26/00utc, then 984 hPa 49N and 26W by 27/00utc.
High 1022 hPa 37N and 13W moving northeast. 
High expected 1027 hPa 35N and 54W by 26/00utc, moving southeast and weakening, expected 1022 hPa 31N and 57W by 27/00utc.

Weather forecast from October 25, 2009 at 9UTC to October 27, 2009 at 00UTC
East of ALTAIR
South or Southwest 25/30kt gusts 45kt veering West or Southwest 20/25kt gusts 35kt between 26/12utc and 27/00utc. Sea becoming very rough or temporarily high (wave 5 or 7m) in Westerly swell. Rain ou squalls.
 
SAO VICENTE
North or Northeast 8/13kt, but variable 3/8kt in far north at first, veering South or Southeast 5/10kt between 26/00utc and 27/00utc. Sea becoming moderate or rough in Northwesterly swell.
 
JOSEPHINE
In far southest, East or Northeast 5/10kt veering South or Southeast 3/8kt at end. Elsewhere, South or Southwest 18/23kt, veering West or Southwest at end in west. Sea becoming rough or very rough in Northwesterly swell. Rain ou squalls locally thundery in west.
 
East of ACORES
Southwest 23/28kt gusts 40kt decreasing 15/25kt from south to north until 26/00utc, then veering Westerly 10/20kt from south to north.  Sea becoming rough or very rough in Northwesterly swell. Rain or squalls.
 
West of ACORES
Westerly 25/35kt gusts 55kt from south to north, decreasing 20/30kt gusts 40kt from south to north until 26/00utc, then veering Northwest 20/25kt. Sea very rough or high (wave 6 or 8m) in Northwesterly swell, decreasing. Squalls.
 
East of RIDGE
Northwest 25/35kt gusts 45kt from south to north, decreasing 15/25kt gusts 35kt, and backing Westerly at end. Sea high (wave 6 or 8m) in Northwesterly swell, decreasing. Squalls.
 
CASABLANCA, AGADIR
Northeasterly 10/15kt veering Easterly 5/10kt between 26/00utc and 26/12utc, then becoming variable. Sea becoming moderate in Northwesterly swell. 
 
Southeast of MADEIRA
East or Northeast 5/15kt becoming variable 3/8nd between 26/12utc and 27/00utc. Sea becoming moderate or rough in Northwesterly swell.
 
Northwest of MADEIRA
South or Southwest 5/15kt. Sea becoming moderate or rough in Northwesterly swell. Thundersqualls.
 
East of IRVING
Southwest 13/18kt decreasing 10/15kt until 26/00utc, then veering Northwesterly from west. Sea becoming rough or very rough in Northwesterly swell. Thundersqualls.
 
West of IRVING
West or Northwest 13/18kt veering Northwest 15/20kt until 26/12utc, then North or Northwest 13/18kt. Sea becoming very rough in Northwesterly swell.
 
East of COLORADO
North or Northwest 15/25kt from south to north decreasing 13/18kt. Sea rough or very rough in Northwesterly swell.
 
TARFAYA
North or Northeast 5/10kt, temporarily 8/13 at first. Sea becoming variable between 26/06utc and 26/12utc. Sea slight or moderate.
 
CANARIAS
Northeasterly 5/10kt becoming variable in west between 26/00utc and 26/12utc, and backing mainly Northerly in east at end. Sea slight or moderate becoming rough in west in Northwesterly swell.

Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : Southwesterly 30/35kt over RIDGE and west of ACORES.

Tropical activity
None

on Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 09? UTC
Anne Couzinier

Météo-France

25/10/09 - 09:53 - Patrice Carpentier and Victor Maldonado on Credit Maritime have pulled into Cascais to continue autopilot repairs

25/10/09 - 09:49 - Tim Wright (skipper Sail4Cancer): “No boats in sight. Making good progress on repairs and continuing to push on upwind through fronts, broken Solent halyard to add to jobs list. A brief visit from a whale mid-morning.”

25/10/09 - 09:47 - Mike West (skipper Keysource): “Keysource finally passed the high off SW Portugal this afternoon after a day in very light airs and are again making good progress south under spinnaker. The weather was wonderful today and it is shorts on deck tonight so far!”

25/10/09 - 09:46 - Felipe Cubillos (skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos): “At 0200 this morning, when it was blowing around 40 knots, I decided to try and grab some sleep and put on my MP3 player to try and block out the endless noise of the storm. Then a strange sound occurred. First I thought it was something James Blunt was producing in the headphones, but I went up on deck and both Daniel and I could hear a very loud foghorn very close, but no lights. It was very like the sound we heard in the Fastnet Race rounding the famous rock. I kept looking to leeward under the sail expecting to see a wall of steel blocking our path, but nothing.  It was one of the most terrifying times of my life. I can only think that perhaps the halyards or some part of the boat’s structure was resonating and producing the foghorn sound."

25/10/09 - 09:40 - Following a third storm on Friday night when blasts of 35 knots tore through the boats heading west to the Azores, the first leadership change since the start of the race became clear in the early position reports on Saturday morning with Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia taking the lead. By midday GMT, de Lamotte and Hardy had increased their lead over second place Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm on Cheminées Poujoulat...   Read

24/10/09 - 23:49 - Six days after the start, the 17-strong fleet of boats still remaining has spilt in two. Twelve boats have opted west, taking them close to the gate at Saint Bart's but inevitably sailing head on through a series of active low pressure systems. Five boats have opted south in search of more comfortable runs downwind, but also in the hope of latching onto the trade winds. As a new storm is expected around the Azores, race manager Bernard Duval...   Read

24/10/09 - 18:57 -

Tanguy de Lamotte contacted the race press service by satellite telephone early this afternoon to give us a news update. Clearly in a good mood, the skipper of Initiatives Novédia just wanted to share how happy he was to be out on the water and also the fact that he and Adrien Hardy are out in the lead today.

" Morale on board is high. We’re satisfied with our strategy and the course we have opted to steer. Right now it’s pouring down and very cloudy overhead. It’s been raining since 8 this morning. You could be forgiven for thinking that we were in the Doldrums. Suddenly there are gusts of up to 35 knots, then nothing at all. It’s odd. We managed to fly our spinnaker this morning for the first time since we left Saint Nazaire. Nice while it lasted – for ten minutes! We are still spending all our time manoeuvring up wind. It feels like the Québec/Saint-Malo race but close hauled. I reckon we must be putting in the same number of hours upwind as we did in the Québec/Saint-Malo downwind !"

24/10/09 - 14:34 - Scuffles up front ! Yet another low has beaten down on the western wonders leaders the fleet of the Solidaire du Chocolat through a zone of transition. Suddenly lacking wind, Stamm-Jourden (Cheminées Poujoulat) and Bouchard-Krauss (Mistral Loisir-Pôle Santé Elior) could do nothing but sit and watch as the teams offset south came back in force through the rankings. At the 10h position report, the young Thierry de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on...   Read

24/10/09 - 11:23 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009

General synopsis by October 24, 2009 at 00h
Low 981 hPa 53N and 31W moving northeast and filling. 
Low 988 hPa 51N and 16W moving northeast and filling.
Low 983 hPa 45N and 47W moving east and deepening, expected 973 hPa 46N and 37W by 25 à 00h tu, then filling, expected 979 hPa 47N and 31W by 26/00utc.
New low expected 1015 hPa north Morocco by 26/00utc.   
High 1022 hPa 37N and 10W slowly weakening with little move. 
New high expected 1025 hPa 35N and 53W by 26/00utc.

Weather forecast from October 24, 2009 at 9UTC to October 26, 2009 at 00UTC
East of CHARCOT
Mainly West or Southwest 5/10kt, backing Southerly 15/20kt until 25/06utc, then veering South or Southwest. Sea moderate or rough in Westerly swell. Rain or showers.
 
West of CHARCOT
West or Southwest 8/13kt, locally variable in south, backing Southerly 15/20kt gusts 35kt until 25/06utc, increasing 25/30kt gusts 45kt until 25/12utc, then veering South or Southwest 18/23kt. Sea rough in Westerly swell becoming very rough. Rain or squalls.
 
East of ALTAIR
South or Southwest 18/23kt increasing Southerly 25/35kt gusts 55kt until 25/06utc, and veering Southwest until 25/12utc. Sea rough becoming very rough or high ( wave 6 or 8m) in Westerly swell. Rain or showers.
 
PORTO
Southwesterly 10/15kt, locally 5/10kt in southeast, decreasing 5/10kt, and becoming locally variable 3/6kt in southeast. Sea moderate. Rain.
 
SAO VICENTE
North or Northeast 8/13kt, but variable 3/8kt in northwest. Sea slight or moderate.
 
JOSEPHINE
in far southest, East or Northeast 5/10kt. Elsewhere, South or Southwest 15/20kt, increasing 18/23kt gusts 35kt between 25/00utc and 25/12utc. Sea moderate becoming rough in northwest. Showers or squalls locally thundery in west.
 
East of ACORES
Variable 10/20kt becoming Southwest 15/20kt until 25/00utc, locally 20/25kt gusts 35 in north, and increasing temporarily 25/3Okt gusts 40kt in north betwwen 25/00utc and 25/12utc. Sea moderate becoming rough or very rough in Northwest swell. Rain, showers or squalls locally thundery at first.
 
West of ACORES
Southwest 25/35kt gusts 55kt from south to north, veering Westerly until 25/06utc,then decreasing 20/30kt gusts 40kt from south to north. Sea becoming high (wave 6 or 8m) in Northwest swell. Showers ou squalls locally thundery.
 
CASABLANCA, AGADIR
Northeasterly 13/18kt, decreasing 10/15kt between 25/00utc and 25/12utc. Sea slight or moderate. 
 
MADEIRA
In southeast, East or Northeast 5/10kt, locally 10/15kt in far southest. In northwest, South or Southwest 5/10kt, locally 10/15kt in far northwest. Sea moderate. squalls in northwest at end.
 
East of IRVING
Southwest 10/15kt. Sea becoming moderate or rough in Northwest swell. Thundersqualls.
 
West of IRVING
Variable 5/15kt becoming West or Southwest 10/20kt until 25/00utc, locally 20/25kt gusts 35kt in north, then veering Northwesterly 15/20kt from northwest. Sea becoming rough or very rough in Northwest swell. Rain.
 
Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : Southwesterly 30/35kt gusts 50kt over ALTAIR.

Tropical activity
None

on Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 08? UTC
Anne Couzinier

Météo-France

24/10/09 - 11:16 - Nicko Brennan (co-skipper Sail4Cancer): "Some techncal difficulties and damage, so repairs have kept us busy in the night. The carbowand for the wind instruments at the top of the mast has broken and at the same time taken off our VHF and Windex ariels. We have also had a very minor electrical fire but have successfully located the cause and repaired all damage. Also sustained some minor damage to the Solent which we have repaired short term while hoping that one day in the coming month we may get a chance to fly a spinnaker and make a more permanent repair! Crew in good spirits if a little sore!"

24/10/09 - 10:16 - Peter Harding (skipper 40 Degrees): “Yesterday morning I came on deck to be blessed with clear blue skies and 14 knots of wind still on the nose. As the day progressed, the dry suit came off, much to my relief and was replaced with a pair of shorts, but sadly this was short lived as the wind began to increase it was back to a full set of oilies. Early evening I went below for a couple of hours well earned rest and ended up wearing the drysuit again as the inside of the boat seemed wetter than outside due to a couple of leaks that just happen to be situated above the bunk on the weather side. As the nights go by, we are seeing an ever increasing moon and once again were blessed with amazing sky full of stars in a very dark sky. All night we were still going upwind for what seems like a lifetime now but hopefully the wind gods will smile on us and shortly we hope for champagne sailing in the trades.”

24/10/09 - 10:08 - Stephen Card (skipper ORBIS): “All is well onboard, we have had 24 hours of very nice sailing where we can at last think a little about boat speed. Today we are taking the opportunity of getting a bit back south nearer the rhumb line. On the first windy night, the Windex was blown clean off the top of the mast, so now the B&G system only works on course and we blew the power supply for the onboard computer so that we now have to wire in a laptop. Apart from that, our biggest concern is that we may run out of Earl Grey tea.”

24/10/09 - 10:06 - Bernard Stamm (co-skipper  Cheminées Poujoulat): “So, the third storm has passed through with the unstable  breeze topping out at 32 knots and big seas.  We now have a short break with less wind before the next big blow. I hope this is the last one as I think we have all earned a change in the weather.”

24/10/09 - 10:04 - Erik Nigon (skipper Axa Atout Coeur Pour Aides): “A bit of a gloomy mood on the boat overnight with the knowledge that we have left the low pressure behind us, but are now faced with a second night of light breeze. We have no regrets when we look at what is heading towards our friends in the west, but our trip south is off to a shaky start. A double ration of chocolate on board tonight!”

24/10/09 - 10:02 - Yves Ecarlat (skipper  Vale Inco Nouvelle Calédonie): “During the pre-race medical briefing, the doctor advised us that prehistoric man survived on 1,600 calories/day. This deprivation enabled him to roam the ancient plains in a constant state of alertness and avoid any encounters with sabre-toothed tigers or other ravenous wild beasts. Well, I conclude that our ancestors were deranged! Last night I ate a tartiflette (thank you SuperU!) and this morning I can report that there wasn’t a drooling carnivore prowling around the cabin. I tell you this in the name of advancing science…”

24/10/09 - 10:00 - Denis Lazat (skipper Plan): “Last night there was very unstable wind. Ten knots, then 25 knots under the clouds. Ballast…reef….genoa under strain…the crew also. Then calm, so shake out the reefs, empty the ballast…on and on about every hour or so. We knew this chocolate adventure would involve clouds. We now know a lot about clouds! Grey clouds = rain; white clouds = wind squall. Clouds make the boat groan and the skipper grind his teeth!”

23/10/09 - 13:25 - Felipe Cubillos (skipper Desafio Cabo de Hornos): “We will we gain some more miles soon. I think the weather will be the same, but increase a little bit. We want to be in the top five boats by the Azores, that’s our prediction. Then pass all the other boats in the second part of the race! We had a problem yesterday that the engine didn’t start and the batteries weren’t working, which was quite complicated. Some wires had become disconnected with all the movement in the boat. We’re not electrical experts, but we played around with the wires and – magically – it started working again. We also had to drop the main this morning because four of the cars were destroyed. Probably one and a half hours without main. Not a big problem. Everything is OK now, no big problems. Everything is dry and we’ve eaten well.”

23/10/09 - 11:59 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009


General synopsis by October 23, 2009 at 00h
Low 984 hPa 50N and 33W moving northeast and filling. 
Low 1003 hPa 40N and 31W, moving northeast and deepening, expected 998 hPa 43N and 24W by 23/12utc, then 988 hPa 50N and 16W by 24/00utc, then moving Northeast.
New low expected  983 hPa 45N47W by 24/00utc, moving east and deepening, expected 976 hPa 46N and 37W by 25/00utc.   
High 1020 hPa 34N and 14W moving Northeast, expected 38N and 12W by 24/00utc, then with little move. Associated trough extending Southwestwards.

Weather forecast from October 23, 2009 at 9UTC to October 25, 2009 at 00UTC
IROISE, YEU
Southwest 18/23kt, increasing 20/25kt until 24/12utc, then veering West 10/25kt. Sea moderate or rough. Rain or showers.
 
East of CHARCOT
Southwest 18/23kt increasing 25/30kt gusts 50kt until 24/00utc, veering West 5/10kt until 24/12utc, then becoming variable. Sea moderate or rough. Rain ou showers.
 
West of CHARCOT
Southwest 30/35kt gusts 55kt veering Westerly 18/23kt gusts 40kt until 24/00utc, veering Westerly 7/12kt until 24/12utc, and becoming variable in south, then backing South 10/20kt from south to north. Sea rough in Westerly swell. Rain or squalls.
 
East of ALTAIR
Westerly 25/30kt gusts 45kt backing Southwest 10/15kt between 24/00utc and 24/12utc, then Southerly 20/30kt gusts 40kt. Sea rough in Westerly swell. Showers or squalls.
 
PORTO,
Southwesterly 13/18kt decreasing 10/15kt at end. Sea moderate. Showers.
 
SAO VICENTE
In northwest, Southwesterly 5/10kt becoming variable 3/8kt between 24/12utc and 25/00utc. In southeast, East or Northeast 5/10kt backing North or Northeast 10/15kt. Sea moderate, locally rough at first.
 
JOSEPHINE
Southwest 15/20kt, locally 25/30kt gusts 50kt in northwest, decreasing 18/23kt gusts 35kt until 24/00utc, then 13/18kt until 24/12utc, and becoming locally variable 3/8kt in far northwest. Sea moderate, localy rough in northwest, decreasing. Showers ou squalls.
 
East of ACORES
Southwest 25/30kt gusts 50kt decreasing 10/15kt until 24/03utc, and veering locally Northerly in north, becoming variable 3/8kt until 24/12utc, then becoming South or Southwest 13/18kt. Sea moderate or rough decreasing. Showers or squalls locally thundery.
 
West of ACORES
Northwest 15/20kt backing Westerly 10/15kt until 24/00utc, then Southwest 25/35kt gusts 50kt from south to north. Sea rough becoming rough or very rough. Showers or squalls locally thundery.
 
CASABLANCA, AGADIR
Northeasterly 13/18kt. Sea rough in Westerly swell, decreasing. 
 
MADEIRA
In southeast, East or Northeast 5/10kt, locally 10/15kt in far southest. In northwest, South or Southwest 5/10kt, locally 10/15kt in far northwest. Sea moderate, locally rough at first.
 
East of IRVING
Southwest 18/23kt decreasing 10/15kt until 24/00utc. Sea moderate. Thundersqualls.
 
West of IRVING
Northerly 8/13k. Sea becoming variable 5/10kt le 24 entre 00h and 12h tu, then becoming West or Southwest 15/20kt. Sea moderate or rough decreasing. Thundersqualls.
 
Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : Southwesterly 30/35kt over ALTAIR, veering Westerly 35/40kt gusts 60kt in west.
Westerly 30/35kt in west of ACORES.

Tropical activity
None

on Friday, October 23, 2009 at 09? UTC
Anne Couzinier

Météo-France

23/10/09 - 11:27 - At 1600 GMT on Thursday, the leading three boats in the fleet tacked onto port with Cheminées Poujoulat of Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm in first place, Pole Sante Elior-Mistral Loisirs of Thierry Bouchard and Oliver Krauss in second and Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy's Initiatives-Novedia in third separated by just under 18 miles. A few hours later, Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d'Ali's Telecom Italia, Tim Wright and Nicholas Brennan's...   Read

22/10/09 - 20:17 - The Spanish duo of Gonzalo Botin and Javier de la Plaza are heading Tales towards Lisbon to make autopilot repairs

22/10/09 - 13:44 - The fourth night at sea for the 18 Class40s in La Solidaire du Chocolat has been a second test of endurance and courage for the 36 sailors as 45 knot north-westerly gusts tore through the fleet.   Read

22/10/09 - 11:31 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009


General synopsis by October 22, 2009 at 00h
Low 980 hPa just Southwest Ireland moving northwest and filling.
Low 986 hPa 48N and 40W, moving northeast, expected 983 hPa 50N and 33W by 23/00h utc, then 979 hPa 52N and 31W by 24/00h utc. Associated trough extending southwest, with deepening low, expected 1003 hPa 30N and 31W by 23/00h utc, moving northwest, expected 1000 hPa 47N and 20W by 23/12h utc, then 992 hPa 51N and 19W by 24/00h utc. 
High 1018 hPa 30N and 27W moving Nord-east and building, expected 1024 hPa over Spain by 24/00h utc. Assocated ridge extending southeast.

Weather forecast from October 22, 2009 at 9UTC to October 24, 2009 at 00UTC
FINISTERRE
West 13/18kt backing Southwest 18/23kt gusts 35kt until 23/00h utc, and then increasing 20/25kt gusts 40kt. Sea rough or very rough in Northwest swell decreasing. Rain ou showers.
 
PORTO,
Northwesterly 13/18kt backing Southwest 10/15kt until 23/00h utc, then increasing 15/20kt in northwest. Sea rough or very rough in Northwest swell decreasing. Rain ou showers.
 
SAO VICENTE
Northwesterly 13/18kt backing Southwest 8/13 in northwest until 23/06h utc, and veering Northeast 5/10 in southeast. Sea rough or very rough in Northwest swell decreasing. Rain ou showers.
 
East of CHARCOT
Westerly 13/18kt backing Southwest 18/23kt gusts 35kt until 23/00h utc, and increasing 23/28 kt gusts 45kt between 23/12h utc and 24/00h utc. Sea rough or very rough in Northwest swell decreasing. Rain ou showers.
 
West of CHARCOT
Southwest 15/20kt gusts 35kt increasing 20/25kt gusts 40kt until 23/00h utc, backing South or Southwest 30/35kt gusts 50kt until 23/15h utc, then veering Westerly 15/20kt gusts 35kt. Sea rough. Rain ou squalls.
 
JOSEPHINE
West or Southwest 10/15kt, but locally Northwest in east, backing Southwest 13/18kt until 23/12h utc, locally 23/28kt gusts 45kt in northwest, then decreasing 15/20kt in northwest. Sea rough or very rough in Northwest swell decreasing. Rain ou showers.
 
East of ACORES
Southwest 15/20kt increasing 25/30kt gusts 45 kt between 23/00 and 23/12h utc, then veering North or Northwest 10/15kt from west, locally Southwest 13/18kt in southeast. Sea moderate or rough. Rain ou squalls.
 
West of ACORES
Southwest 20/25kt veering Northwesterly 18/23kt from west until 23/12h utc, then backing Westerly 5/10kt. Sea moderate or rough. Thundersqualls.
 
MADEIRA
Variable clockwise 5/10kt, locally South or Southwest in northwest, becoming Northeast 10/15kt in southeast until 23/00h utc, then increasing 13/18kt everywhere. Sea rough in Northwest swell, decreasing.
 
East of IRVING
South or Southwest 10/15 kt increasing 15/20kt until 23/12h utc, temporarily 20/25kt gusts 35kt in north. Sea moderate or rough decreasing. Rain or squalls at end.
 
IROISE, YEU :
West or Southwest 10/15kt. Sea rough. 
 
ROCHEBONNE :
West or Northwest 10/20kt, locally 20/25kt in southwest, backing West or Southwest at end. Sea rough.
 
PAZENN :
Northwest 20/25kt backing Southwest overnight, and increasing 25/30kt in south at end. Rafales. Sea rough or very rough. 

Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : Southwesterly 30/35kt in west ACORES.

Tropical activity
None

on Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 07? UTC
Anne Couzinier

Météo-France

22/10/09 - 00:27 -

"Everything is fine on board Plan, Les enfants changeront le monde ! The boat’s been slamming about for three days now and it rained all day today : tropical rain in terms of intensity but Nordic rain for its temperature! I’d signed up for downwind sailing south, not upwind boat-breaking seas in the cold! Message for Jacques Fournier : I want my Class 40 subs back ! When I think about how the Minis were under spinnaker down to Madeira. It’s not fair! There’s quite a list of small things here and there, but nothing serious in itself. Latest event on board is the active echo sounder antenna we installed at great expense just before the start has disappeared, no doubt pulled off by the sea. I guess that’s not the sort of thing which is covered by the guarantee! That’s all for today , except to say that sea sickness, which was starting to diminish, is coming back with a vengeance! "

22/10/09 - 00:26 -

Extract from log of Erik Nigon on Axa Atout Coeur pour Aides.
"We just haven’t found time to breathe since Monday evening. One squall after another since yesterday and not nice ones at that as we’ve had to lower the main 67 or 8 times already. It’s off again with 30 knots and it’s gonna get worse tonight. We’re sick of this heading. There’s every chance that we’ll head south tonight in spite of the fact that we really ought to continue upwind and then steer with the shift NW to SW over to the Azores. Taking the tourist route via the Canaries is a big option as it adds 300 miles to our course and we’re not cure that there’s an awful lot of wind east of Madeira but that’s holiday for you !
And then who knows – we might not be alone ...
As for minor details, we’ve still got problems with the ballast and the aerial is not going to get back into position on its own. I’ll be up the mast as soon as things calm down a bit. (I’m not far off dreaming about that, me, who cannot normally stand calm weather !)   
Winds have been appalling, shifting from 4 to 40 knots in the squalls with a swell of 6-8 m, with wind holes between two waves.  
At the moment,  Pacpac (alias Marc Jouany) is at the helm while I’m down below bent double as I have fallen backwards on the same ribs I hurt last year. I have to avoid coughing and laughing for 10 days or so if it’s the same thing again. My notes will be longer when we’re no longer in survival mode. Time to rest now. Thanks for all the messages and comments. We love the compilation of the day. Works wonders on the morale !"

21/10/09 - 19:47 - Pascal Doin and co-skipper Laurent Mermod have announced they are retiring from the race. Autopilot problems have forced this hard decision and PHR is currently heading for Quiberon

21/10/09 - 15:12 - With the retirement of Yvan Noblet and Damien Guillou on Appart City after sustaining mainsail and rudder damage followed by the American duo of MacKenzie Davis and Brian Harris retiring with profound electrical problems onboard Amhas, and the British duo of Richard Tolkien and Neal Brewer pulling out with structural damage around the mast foot on Orca, 19 Class40's are still racing in La Solidaire du Chocolat.   Read

21/10/09 - 12:38 - Yves Ecarlat (Vale Inco-Nouvelle Caledonie): "Our main is detroyed between the second and third reef. Without a proper repair, we had to race to La Coruña with just staysail and three reefs…not so bad when there were gusts of 40 knots! We have got the whole repair underway. A vehicle was ready and to take the mainsail to the sailmakers and as soon as it dried out, work began.  We hope to be back at sea on Wednesday night, but this pit stop might cost us 24-30 hours."

21/10/09 - 12:20 - Paul Worswick (co-skipper Keysource): “We are OK on board. Been pretty horrrible again the last 24 hours and niether of us feel great, but I guess we're not alone there! Jobs list is getting longer, but it has been so rough that we have put-off tackling the electronics issues until we get to calmer weather. We have been using our back-up pilot since Monday, but only has standard compass and NMEA network is down, so we have no instruments. Been sailing her on boat speed for now and manually plotting our position on Deckman. Hope we can get this working in the coming days. We miss the wind info…that’s for sure! Today we are focusing on getting some rest and food and keeping rolling and hopefully staying in touch with the main body of the fleet. So, basically: a very tired, old and wet West and Worswick.... with no wind which is most unusual…”

21/10/09 - 12:13 - Felipe Cubillos (Desafio Cabo de Hornos): "Winds oscillate between the 10 wind knots and 45, so the choice of sails is complicated. As ‘Murphy’s Law’ is king in sailing, if we fly the storm jib with three reefs in the main, the breeze drops to 10 knots. If we have full main and Solent, the wind shoots up to 45 knots! We know that this hell will only last for the next 24 hours and that all the other boats are in the same conditions. Our wind instruments have failed since a knock-down in 35 knots. It’s hard to describe the chaos of a broach in the middle of the night. As we were trying to sort things out, I banged my head and – according to Daniel – I  started to bleed. It doesn’t hurt too much and there isn’t much blood. With five boats already retired from the race, our bright red boat is in the thick of the fight and Daniel is shaping up very well in his first ocean crossing!"

21/10/09 - 12:07 - ?Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009

General synopsis by October 21, 2009 at 00h
Low 974 hPa 51N and 16W moving east, expected 978 hPa just southwest Ireland by 22/00h UTC, then moving northwest, expected 991 hPa 56N 14W by 23/00h UTC.
Relative low 1001 hPa 46N and 32W moving quickly southeast 40nds and deepening, expected 997 hPa 42N and 19W by 21/12h UTC, then moving east, expected 993 hPa in north of  Portugal by 22/00h UTC, then moving east. Associated gusts  55 nds in southern partr of this low. 
New low expected 986 hPa 48N and 33W by 22/12h UTC, moving northeast, expected 989 hPa 49N and 27W by 23/00h UTC.
High 1019 hPa 33N and 39W moving southeast, expected 1018 hPa 30N and 27W by 22/00h UTC, then moving Northeast and building, expected 1020 hPa 33N and 14W by 23/00h UTC.

Weather forecast from October 21, 2009 at 9UTC to October 23, 2009 at 00UTC
FINISTERRE
West or Southwest 20/25kt veering Northwest 25/30kt gusts 40kt until 22/00h UTC, backing West 15/20kt until 22/12 UTC, then Southwest 18/23kt gusts 35kt. Sea very rough in Northwest swell, or locally high (wave atteignant 6m) in northwest at first, decreasing. Showers ou squalls, then rain.
 
PORTO, North of SAO VICENTE
Westerly 15/20kt backing West or Southwest 30/35kt gusts 55kt between 21/18h UTC and 21/21h UTC, veering Northwest 18/23kt gusts 35kt until 22/06h UTC, then backing Southwest 13/18kt. Sea very rough in Northwest swell, decreasing. Rain ou showers.
 
East of CHARCOT
Westerly 23/28kt gusts 40kt veering Northwest 25/30kt until 21/21h UTC, temporarily 30/35kt gusts 55kt in south, decreasing 20/25kt gusts 35kt until 22/06h UTC, then backing Southwest 15/20kt. Sea very rough or high (wave 6 or 7m) in Northwest swell, decreasing. Rain ou squalls.
 
West of CHARCOT
West or Northwest 23/28kt gusts 40kt, temporarily 30/35kt gusts 55kt in south, decreasing 18/23kt gusts 35kt until 22/00h UTC, then backing Southwest 22/28kt gusts 40kt from southwest. Sea very rough or high (wave 6 or 7m) in Northwest swell, decreasing. Rain ou squalls.
 
East of ALTAIR
West or Northwest 23/28kt gusts 40kt, locally 30/35kt gusts 50kt in southeast at first, backing Southwest between 22/00h and 22/12h UTC, then increasing 25/30kt gusts 45kt. Sea very rough decreasing. Rain ou squalls.
 
JOSEPHINE
Westerly 20/25kt, locally 30/35kt gusts 55kt in north, decreasing 18/23kt gusts 40kt betwwen 22/00h UTC and 22/06h UTC, then backing Southwest from west. Rain ou showers. Sea very rough or locally high in north (wave 6m) in Northwest swell, decreasing. Rain ou showers.
 
East of ACORES
Westerly 15/20kt locally 25/30kt gusts 45kt in northeast at first, backing Southwest between 22/00h and 22/12h UTC. Sea becoming rough or very rough in Northwest swell decreasing. Showers.
 
ANTIFER :
Southerly 15/20kt, occasionally 20/26 in west. Slight or moderate.
 
CASQUETS, OUESSANT :
Southerly 15/20kt, locally 25/30kt in west, then veering South or Southwest 15/25kt overnight. Gusts. Rough ot very rough in Westerly swell.
 
IROISE, YEU :
Southwest 15/25kt, occasionally 25/30 in west. Rough ot very rough, cross in Westerly swell.
 
ROCHEBONNE :
Southwesterly 15/25kt. Rough ot very rough, cross in Northwesterly swell.
 
PAZENN :
Southwest 25/30kt veering West or Northwest 20/25kt overnight. Gusts. Very rough or high in Northwesterly swell.
 
Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : West to Southwest 30/35kt pour ALTAIR, CHARCOT.

Tropical activity
None.

on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 09? UTC
Anne Couzinier

Météo-France

20/10/09 - 22:56 - Yves Eclaret and Lionel Regnier on board Vale Inco Nouvelle Calédonie are heading for La Coruna to make mainsail repairs. Currently 30 miles from the Spanish port and making five knots, their ETA is 0400-0500 Wednesday

20/10/09 - 22:17 - "We are retiring due to electronics problems with the charging systems, autopilots and wind wands," explains skipper MacKenzie Davis.  "All are well.  We are headed back to La Trinite sur Mer and do not require assistance."

20/10/09 - 19:37 - The news came in around 17h40 this evening. After having described this morning how they had come through the worst of the storm without too much damage, Yvan Noblet and Damien Guillou, have announced they are calling it a day with a tear in the mainsail above the second reef point and a problem of port rudder. Heading now for their home port, they have not requested assistance. « We thought about repairing the main, but the place where it is...   Read

20/10/09 - 17:45 - With the mainsail torn below the second reef and damage sustained to the port rudder, Yvan Noblet and Damien Guillou have taken the hard decision to retire from the race. Appart City is now heading for Lorient

20/10/09 - 15:22 - Jouni Romppannen (Tieto): "So far we’ve been doing quite well, but this is really tough and we have to work all the time. But, we have no problems at all, apart from the physical side. We are a little bit tired, but I guess we’re in the same position as all the other guys are right now. It’s just eat-sleep-sail, basically! It’s very disappointing [2 boats retiring]. We all wanted the whole fleet to be over in Mexico, but it’s part of sailing and it was quite nasty weather last night. We have to care we don’t hurt ourselves or our boat."

20/10/09 - 15:20 - Felipe Cubillos (Desafio Cabo de Hornos): "We just want to let everybody know we’re OK. We’ve had one of the hardest nights and there’s still a couple of heavy days ahead. Every manoeuvre on deck left us soaked and there was little point in changing into dry clothes as the same would happen a couple of hours later."

20/10/09 - 15:12 - With the earlier news of Marc Lepesqueux and Jean-Charles Monnet on Les Conquérants de Normandie-Caen la Mer retiring followed by Benoît Parnaudeau and Stanislas Maslard abandoning the race on Entreprendre En Coopératives, there is sad news that a third Class40, Orca of Richard Tolkien and Neal Brewer, has just retired with concern for the structure of the deck around the mast foot.   Read

20/10/09 - 12:18 - Denis Lazat (PLAN):"The front has gone through, which is a very good thing! All would be well onboard if the front hadn’t left a few unpleasant gifts for us: genorosity that kept us constantly busy as we continued under three reefs and storm jib. A massive drop in temperature; an outbreak of seasickness during which we both spent time with a bucket calling for ‘Raoul!’ some minor, non-serious damage. Sorting the boat out will have to wait until things calm down."

20/10/09 - 12:10 - Miranda Merron (40 Degrees): “The sea started to build yesterday afternoon, and the front went through just before midnight. We had changed to the storm jib when the wind was at 30 knots plus and the boat was quite OK with 42 knots. Needless to say, the accompanying sea state has taken its toll. There will be housekeeping chores inside  the boat once daylight comes! It was fortunate that we crossed the Cape Finisterre - Ushant shipping during the day yesterday, as that could have been a little exciting in the night. So, although we were spared something similar to crossing a motorway in horizontal rain and zero visibilty, the autopilot chose the windiest and roughest couple of hours to misbehave, which did add a little excitement. Starlit now, the evil weather of a few hours ago but a distant memory. Still in drysuits though..."

20/10/09 - 11:51 - Weather forecast
over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009


General synopsis by October 20, 2009 at 00h
Low 971 hPa 54N and 19W moving southeast and filling slowly, expected 973 hPa 52N and 16W by 21/00h utc, then 980 hPa 52N and 12W by 22/00h utc. Associated cold front extending from cap Finisterre to Ireland and moving east.
Relative low expected 1002 hPa 46N and 32W by 21/00h utc, moving quickly southeast 38kts and deepening, expected 998 hPa 42N 20W by 21/12h utc, then 41N and 11W by 22/00h utc.
High 1024 hPa 46N and 41W moving southeast and weakening, expected 1018 hPa 30N and 28W by 22/00h utc.








Weather forecast from October 20, 2009 at 9UTC to October 22, 2009 at 00UTC
PAZENN
West or Southwest 20/25kt gusts 35kt increasing 25/30kt gusts 40kt until 21/00h utc. Sea becoming very rough or high (wave 5 or 7 m)in Northwesterly swell. squalls.
 
FINISTERRE
West or Southwest 18/23kt gusts 35kt increasing 23/28kt gusts 40kt until 21/00h utc. Sea becoming very rough or locally high (wave 6 or 7 m) in northwest in Northwesterly swell. Showers ou squalls.
 
PORTO
West or Northwest 15/20kt gusts 30 kt, increasing temporarily 18/23kt gusts 35kt between 21/00h utc and 21/12h utc, and becoming cyclonic between 21/18h utc and 22/00h utc, locally Westerly 30/35kt gusts 50kt in south. Sea becoming very rough in Northwesterly swell. Showers ou squalls.
 
East of ROMEO
Westerly 25/30kt gusts 45kt increasing 30/35kt gusts 50kt until 21/00h utc, then decreasing 23/28kt gusts 40kt. Sea becoming high or very high (wave 8 or 10m) in Northwesterly swell. squalls.
 
East of CHARCOT
West or Northwest 25/30kt gusts 40kt decreasing 23/28kt gusts 40kt between 21/00h utc and 21/12h utc, then increasing 30/35kt gusts 55kt in south between 21/12h utc and 22/00h utc. Sea becoming high (wave 6 or 8m) in Northwesterly swell. Rain ou squalls.
 
West of CHARCOT
Northwest 30/35kt gusts 45kt decreasing 25/30kt gusts 40kt from south between 20/18h utc and le 21/06h utc, increasing Westerly 30/35kt gusts 55kt in south until 21/12h utc, then backing Westerly 18/23kt gusts 45kt everywhere. Sea becoming high (wave 6 or 8m) in Northwesterly swell. Rain ou squalls.
 
East of ALTAIR
Northwesterly 25/35kt gusts 45kt from south to north, backing West 30/40kt gusts 55kt between 21/00h utc and 21/12h utc, then decreasing 23/28kt gusts 40kt. Sea very rough or high decreasing. Rain ou squalls.
 
JOSEPHINE
Northwesterly 18/23kt backing West between 21/09h utc and 22/00h utc, and temporarily increasing 30/35kt gusts 55kt in north from west. Rain ou showers. Sea moderate or rough becoming very rough or locally high in north (wave 6m) in Northwesterly swell.
 
East of ACORES
North or Northwest 15/20kt backing Westerly until 21/12h utc, and increasing locally 25/30kt gusts 40kt in far northeast, then backing West or Southwest 13/18kt. Sea becoming rough or very rough in Northwesterly swell. Rain ou showers.


Further outlook for next 24 hours
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : Vent of Westerly 30/35kt over FARADAY, ALTAIR.
 
Tropical activity
None.

on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 09? UTC
Anne Couzinier

Météo-France

20/10/09 - 11:10 - With La Solidaire du Chocolat Class40 fleet through the brutal cold front, the 0800 GMT position poll shows the entire fleet dropping south on starboard tack in 25 knot westerlies. While the majority of the boats have survived the immense breeze of Monday night and early this morning with diverse damage, there are two casualties heading east towards France.   Read

19/10/09 - 19:29 -

Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) : « We had a nice night sailing downwind in light air to start off with, picking up gradually. We tried to keep abreast of sail changes and take turns to rest. We’re doing our best to understand the system ahead to anticipate how we are going to react, particularly for sail changes and shortening sail and gear breakages. We have to fix everything in the boat so that nothing shifts about. Cloud overhead, a spot of sun but you can see the change on its way. The sea is beginning to get rough with every other wave ending up on deck. »

Pascal Douin (PHR) : « We are sticking to our westerly option. In view of the forecasts, we’re pushing on ahead to latch onto the shift of the front tonight. We’re trying to get on as best we can. We are just behind Cargill-MTTM (Damien Seguin-Armel Tripon, ed’s note). Right now, Laurent i shaving a whale of a time at the helm, we’re surfing along with top speeds of 17 knots. All weather information sources agree about the front on its way. The wind will start to back and then we will have to bear the brunt of the situation. We’re in for a rough night but that is part of the deal. »

19/10/09 - 15:10 - For the 24 Class40's competing in La Solidaire du Chocolat, the first night at sea has been a period of calm, allowing the skippers an opportunity to prepare their boats for the oncoming front heading into the Bay of Biscay.   Read

19/10/09 - 10:10 -                                      Weather forecast
                 over race area of Solidaire Chocolat 2009

General synopsis by October 19, 2009 at 00h
Low 983 hPa 55N and 30W moving southeast and deepening, expected 969 hPa 53N and 18W by
20/00h utc,then filling slowly, expected 973 hPa 52N and 16W by 21/00h utc. Associated cold front
reaching cape Finisterre on night, moving east 28/30nds, and crossing Bay of Biscay tomorrow.
High 1023 hPa over Germany moving east.






Weather forecast from October 19, 2009 at 9UTC to October 21, 2009 at 00UTC
West of YEU, West of ROCHEBONNE:
Southeast 18/23kt veering Southwest 20/25kt until 20/00h utc, backing South or Southwest 30/35kt
gusts 45kt between 00h and 09h utc, then veering West or Southwest 15/20kt gusts 35 kt. Sea
becoming rough or very rough. Rain then showers.
East of YEU, East of ROCHEBONNE:
Southeast 15/20kt veering South or Southwest until 20/00h utc, backing Southerly 25/30kt gusts
40kt between 00h and 09h utc, then decreasing 15/20kt. Sea moderate becoming locally rough. Rain
then showers.
West of CANTABRICO
Southerly 15/20kt veering Southwest 23/28kt until 18h utc, increasing 30/35kt gusts 45kt until 20
or 03utc, veering West or Southwest 15/20kt until 12h utc, then increasing 20/25kt gusts 35 kt. Sea
becoming rough or very rough. Rain then showers.
PAZENN
Southerly 20/25kt backing South or Southwest 30/35kt gusts 50kt until 20/00h utc, veering West or
Southwest 15/20kt until 12h utc, then backing Southwest 23/28kt gusts 40 kt. Sea rough or very
rough, croisée. Sea becoming high (wave 6 or 8 m) in west. Rain then showers or squalls.
FINISTERRE
Southwest 25/30 kt gusts 40kt, increasing 30/35kt gusts 55kt until 20/00h utc, veering West or
Southwest 18/23kt until 12h utc, then increasing 23/28kt gusts 45 kt. Sea rough or very rough,
cross. Sea becoming high (wave 6 or 7 m) in northwest. Rain then showers.
East of ROMEO
South or Southwest 30/35kt gusts 50kt veering Westerly 25/30kt until 18h utc, then increasing
30/35kt gusts 45kt. Sea becoming high or very high (wave 8 or 10m) in Northwest swell. Rain then
squalls.
East of CHARCOT
Southwest 25/30kt gusts 50kt veering West or Northwest 23/28kt until 20/00h utc, then increasing
25/30kt gusts 40 kt. Sea becoming high (wave 6 or 8m) in Northwest swell. Rain then showers.
PORTO
West or Southwest 13/18kt backing Southwest 23/28kt until 20/00h utc gusts 40 kt, veering West or
Northwest 20/25kt until 12h utc, then decreasing 15/20kt gusts 40 kt. Sea moderate becoming very
rough in Northwest swell. Rain then showers.

Further outlook for next 24 hour
Strong wind warning (> 33 kt) : Westerly 30/35kt over CHARCOT, ALTAIR

Tropical activity
None

on Monday, October 19, 2009 at 08? UTC
Anne Couzinier
Météo-France

19/10/09 - 09:10 - After the enthusiasm of the public ashore in Saint Nazaire, the 48 sailors of the Solidaire du Chocolat got down to business. Clement conditions are giving the fleet the time to take a nice deep breath before facing up to the storm that lies ahead. Setting the pace are Jourdren-Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) are ahead of Bouchard-Krauss (Pôle Elior Santé) followed by the Spanish duo, Botin-De la Plaza (Tales Villa Esperanza).   Read

18/10/09 - 18:10 - The Race Committee indicated that the start of the first edition of the Solitaire du Chocolat will be fired at 17h50. The 24 boats will be in race start procedure conditions from 17h42.

18/10/09 - 18:10 - The 24 Class40 yachts of the inaugural La Solidaire du Chocolat transatlantic race are now heading west into the teeth of a brutal Low Pressure system that is forecast to sweep over the fleet in the Bay of Biscay on Monday and into early Tuesday.   Read

18/10/09 - 18:10 -

At 16h45 on Sunday, a cargo vessel had to pass through the entrance channel on her way to Donges. The Solidaire du Chocolat Race Management decided to delay the start of the race for the 24 Class 40s by half an hour. The boats have to be towed out of the lock onto the race starting area off the east jetty in Saint Nazaire. There was also a slight problem with the hydraulics of the gates which meant that the mechanics of the opening and closing operations were slowed.

18/10/09 - 17:10 -

At 17h30 on Saturday, a decentralized cooperation agreement was signed between the state of Yucatan, the Pays de la Loire region and the town of Saint Nazaire. The agreement concerns the domains of research, agriculture, training, new technology and sustainable tourism. This protocol was consolidated in the presence of Joël Batteux, mayor of Saint Nazaire, Reina Quinta, mayor of Progreso, M Poblano, head of economic affairs at the Mexican embassy, Juan Martin, secretary of state for tourism in the Yucatan and Jacques Auxiette, CEO of the Région des Pays de la Loire. This cooperation agreement will be put into effect very quickly. A delegation will be sent over to the Yucatan for the finish of the race.

18/10/09 - 17:10 -

The « Toiles Enchantées » had an ambassador by 18h30 on Saturday with the ex-Robin des Bois PEF, less well known as Pierre-François Martin Laval. The actor-director is also sailing mad and regularly accompanies the association on film showing organized in hospitals. Alongside Jacques Fournier, skipper of Groupe Picoty and President of the Class 40, and Jean-Edouard Criquioche, co-skipper and cinema owner behind the partnership, the film maker named the boat in the company of Gisèle Tsobanian, President of the « Toiles Enchantées », who will be receiving the donation from the Picoty group, the patron supporting the association.

18/10/09 - 17:10 - With just a few hours left before the start, the 48 skippers of the first edition of the Solidaire du Chocolat met for a final weather briefing session. Weather reports indicate the imminent arrival of two deep low pressure zones 24 hours into the race. The organizers and the race management have multiplied the number of safety messages. From 14h00 onwards, the 24 Class 40s will leave the dock of the submarine base and make their way out to the...   Read

18/10/09 - 12:10 - The first week of the race is likely to be agitated and decisive ! Once the Loire estuary is behind them, the fleet will be heading out into the Bay of Biscay which going to start out choppy and then become quite rough. The twenty-four boats will have to position themselves to face a low pressure system and this choice of route is highly likely to determine the strategic options as far as the Caribbean. In Saint Nazaire, the two ambassadors of...   Read

17/10/09 - 09:10 - Ten nations are represented in this first edition of the Solidaire du Chocolat, proof that in fewer than four seasons, the Class 40 has managed to communicate its concept across the world. This confirms the simplicity of the 40 foot formula (12.19m) and the attraction of ocean racing for yachtsmen, particularly for two-handed races liek this one from Saint-Nazaire to Progreso.   Read

15/10/09 - 21:10 - Need to take to the waves ? Fancy sailing 5 000 miles on the longest ever transatlantic yacht race from Nantes Saint-Nazaire  to the Yucatan, exploring little known waters of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico ? Curious to experience and share in the solidarity of this human adventure sailing alongside the 24 crews entered representing 10 nationalities? What about having to make major strategic decisions and daring weather options? Register now to be on the virtual starting line of the Solidaire du Chocolat game hosted by France 3 at : http://regate-virtuelle.france3.fr/transat_FTVI.php

10/10/09 - 14:10 - The boats entered in the Solidaire du Chocolat settling into their quarters, docked under the Anne de Bretagne bridge in the heart of the city of Nantes. The heart is beating to the rythm of a unique ocean race. 24 forty-foot monohulls and their crew of 48 yachtsmen are to be welcomed in the Village Solidaire race village from 5 pm on Friday evening onwards. The big family making up this Mexican bound transatlantic race to the Yucatan has grown...   Read

21/07/09 - 12:07 - Last February (20 - 27) a French delegation including Damien Grimont, co-organiser of Solidaire du Chocolat, and two other representatives from the organisation visited the Yucatan peninsular on a fact-finding mission. Their conclusions were extremely positive, demonstrating that the project has advanced quickly on the other side of the Atlantic.   Read