Artemis Transat - Day 2

Light winds, thick fog and heavy traffic marked the first day of the Artemis Transat, and race strategist Jean-Luc Nélias's take of the situation is that it will be a good race: "The race looks complex with many possible changes of leader." There's no doubt that the sloppy weather and shipping have put all skippers immediately on alert, and the differing strategies are spreading out the fleet - there's no easing into this race, not this year at least. Welcome to sleep deprivation, welcome to constantly changing conditions, welcome to the Artemis Transat!

YachtPals member Dee Caffari (currently 11th) reports: “The light conditions plagued us as we reached the Eddystone and I had to concentrate hard to keep the boat moving. Just after the final hour of favourable tide had gone I reached the Lizard gate, I still had a few boats in sight but visibility was closing in fast. At one stage last night I could not see the top of my mast. Fog is spooky and I watched my radar well as there was still a lot of shipping close by.

“This morning it is now about a boat length’s visibility and already I have had my first test. Once again I have had trouble with my power onboard, my fingers are crossed that this does not plague me all the way across, especially as now is not the time to be without a radar!

YachtPals' Loïck Peyron is currently in sixth place, having strategized that a more Northern route will pay off, and he's been hard at work to prove it. “We’ve been through her entire sail wardrobe! The wind has been very shifty and it still is, which requires a fair amount of work on deck. We switched to gennaker overnight before hoisting our spinnaker.” Loïck takes it in stride, with the attitude of a two-time Artemis champion: “There’s no point being overly irritated today, we’ll have to wait till the situation settles down and concentrate on the conditions we encounter along the way for the time being.”

As of 1600 UCT (GMT) the standings are:

1- BT Distance to finish 2669 nm
2- Foncia Distance to leader 3,7 nm
3- PRB DTL 7,2 nm
4- Generali DTL 9,9 nm
5- Brit Air Eighty DTL 14,2 nm
6- Gitana Eighty DTL 14,7 nm
7- Safran DTL 22,1 nm
8- Roxy DTL 43 nm
9- Akena Verandas DTL 46,4 nm
10- Cervin EnR DTL 55,6 nm
11- Aviva DTL 57,1 nm
12- Pakea Bizkaia 2009 DTL 66 nm
13- Spirit of Weymouth DTL 108 nm

Photo Credits: Artemis Transat, Aviva Ocean Racing, Gitana S.A.

• Video 1: Artemis Transat Day 2
• Video 2: Artemis Transat Start, Plymouth, U.K.