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French fervour at Transat 2001

BAHIA, Brazil -- Since the first race in 1993, the Transat Jacques Vabre has become a classic in the yachting calendar.

And in France, where sailing is a national obsession, the excitement of a Transat start is hard to beat. The crowds, the skippers, the boats, they were all in Le Havre for the start.

The course takes the fleet of 14 multihulls and 19 monohulls from Le Havre to Bahia, Brazil. With their speed advantage the multihulls must round Ascension Island too, sailing more than 5,000 nautical miles.

With only two crew allowed onboard, racing night and day for more than two weeks, the Transat pushes everything possible to the limit.

This year the honours in the multihulls went to Frenchman Franck Cammas and Swiss Steve Ravussin in Groupama.

Britain's Ellen Macarthur and France's Alain Gautier on Kingfisher-Foncia pushed hard early. But having led for most of the race, a broken bowsprit and hydraulic problems forced them to settle for second.

Fujifilm, with Frenchmen Loick Peyron and Loick le Mignon, came third.

In the monohulls, French duo Rolan Jourdain and Gael le Cleac'h brought Sill Plein Fruit home first.

There was a fierce scrap for second, as Britain's Mike Golding and Irishman Marcus Hutchinson in Ecover edged out Australian Nick Moloney and Britain's Mark Turner in Casto-Darty-But.

Competitors' thoughts

Mike Golding (Great Britain) A boat like Ecover is an extremely light trans-ocean racing yacht. When you get her out and all the sails up, the boat is very powerful. There's more power there than you can use. It's a great feeling when it's all in control but it very quickly goes from being all in control to all out of control and we have to be aware of that.

Nick Moloney (Australia) I hope the fear factor is going to be up there actually because I think it's an aspect of off-shore sailing that is part of the reason a few of us go there. We all enjoy a bit of action, a bit of anxiety, a little bit of stress. For me, a guy coming from Australia, to come and do this huge French event is really something else.

Ellen MacArthur (Great Britain) I've spent a lot of time training on the weather. I've crossed the equator three times quite recently and all of that time at sea plays a big part in being ready for a race like this. I don't have the same multihull experience as Alain Gautier and I'm not the best helmsman of a multihull of the people here in the fleet. You have to take everything in perspective and not make the wrong decisions and make sure you keep the boat just on the edge.

Michel Desjoyeaux (Belgium) For sure the boat is the last one launched. It's an advantage because when you make a new boat it's because you wanted to make one faster than all the others before. But also we didn't sail a lot before the race. I think we will have the toolbox ready to be used.