Four Days to Go Before the Off!
With the start of the Transat 650 in only four days, I’m sure that the tension in La Rochelle is building quickly as the skippers go through their final preperations for the race.
Transat competitors need to be in LaRochelle a week before the the race starts to deal with all of the administrative and required activities. Clay Burkhalter of Team Acadia describes some of the things skippers are dealing with this week:
“Each day from now until the start of the race, everyone will be busy finishing up last minute projects, double checking spares and loading on supplies. The docks will be a very busy place. The last couple of days before the race the activities in the race village become more formal… there will be a presentation of skippers to the public and on Friday the 14th, a big 30th anniversary party (this is the 15th running of the biannual race).”
Skippers must also attend mandatory meetings on safety at sea, procedures for high seas rescue, race instructions and weather. I can only imagine the nervous tension that must be hanging over the docks at the moment!
The official race site is www.transat650.org (French only I’m afraid) and there is a race tracker set up for the race here.
I’ll try and provide more links and news as I here what is happening in France.