Depressions in store for Transat Jacques Vabre

(Mark Lloyd)

A triple whammy of weather depressions is in store for the 14 60-footers and six multihulls which left Le Havre yesterday on the 4,730-mile Transat Jacques Vabre to Puerto Limon, Costa Rica .

But the winds may be favourable for the British quartet of Sam Davies and Sidney Gavignet in Artemis, Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson in Aviva, Alex Thomson and Ross Daniel in Hugo Boss and the privately-financed Mike Golding and Javier Sanso.

First casualty was the 50-foot trimaran Actual, which pitch-poled and capsized 22 miles north of Cherbourg , but co-skippers Jean le Cam and Yevs le Blevec were reported safe inside the upturned central hull, awaiting rescue but not needing emergency help.

In Nice, racing had to be suspended in the Louis Vuitton Trophy because of unstable winds, leaving Britain’s America;s Cup team Origin, skippered by Ben Ainslie, languishing in the clubhouse instead of racing against the Italian Azzura team, but knowing it had a win over Synergy of Russia in the bag from the first day.

In New York a series of meetings was underway involving international rules experts mandated to advise Justice Shirley Kornreich on the running of the next America’s Cup and between the Swiss defender, Alinghi and American challenger BMW Oracle over the choice of venue.

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