P E T I T   B A T E A U   2 0 0 4   N E W S

Petit Bateau 2004 Race Report
Report - Leg1 - Leg 2 - Leg 3 - Photos - Entries - About

MICHEL KLEINJANS - ROARING FORTY
WINS THE ANA CUP 1ST OVERALL PB2004
Pictured above at the start of leg 3 Gijon - Camaret

The inaugural PB2004 single handed race, starting from Mylor YC Falmouth on the 17th of July, was won by Michel Kleinjans' Open 40 - Roaring Forty. Fresh from breaking the single handed Round Britain and Ireland record, Michel won 2 of the 3 legs. Beating Ronny Nollett‘s Open 40 - La Promesse into second place. Ronny won the final leg into Camaret. The course from Falmouth to Kinsale, Ireland; Kinsale to Gijon, Spain; and finally Gijon to Camaret, France, a total distance of 1000 miles, was a great success. With close racing and very hospitable stopover ports, all a perfect recipe for an action packed 2 weeks.

Class 2 boats up to 35’ was won by Olivier Desport - Calisson, Olivier was a series class winner in the 2001 Mini Transat race. He won all three legs in his JOD35. Second place was not so easy with a tough battle between Pierre-Yves Chatelin in his Figaro 1 - Destination Calais, Mary Falk’s beautifully prepared Open 35 - QII and Paul Peggs' modified JOD35 - Audacious fought to the end and was finally decided in the last miles in favour of Audacious.

Leg One
The race started in 20 knots SW, this was the strongest wind seen during the entire race. The two Open 40’s Roaring Forty and La Promesse soon pulled out ahead of the fleet, followed by Leon Bart on his 35’ trimaran Hound Van Hout, but within half hour the wind died away to a light variable breeze leaving the fleet struggling to clear the Lizard. Later the wind veered to NW increasing to force 3 as the fleet reached Lands End. Now with a beat to Kinsale the tactical decision was to either tack on the shifts or hold on to port tack and wait for the forecasted light winds to back. During the first night there was no time for snatching any sleep as the Irish Sea was busier than the M25, a vast number of boats returning from Cork week were sailing in the opposite direction. Neither tactical decision seemed to have a major benefit and “Roaring Forty” was the first to cross the line in a time of 31hrs 27mins followed 2hrs later by La Promesse. 3rd in class 1 was Nico Budel sailing Hayai, a Beneteau 40.7 from Holland. First to finish in class 2 Calisson in a time of 34hrs 56mins followed 40 minutes later in a very close finish by Audacious only a few boat lengths ahead of Destination Calais. Kinsale YC made the competitors very welcome and a great 2 day stopover was enjoyed by all. The fleet also said good bye to Stuart MacDonald - Red Alert 00D 34 who made the trip down from the Clyde to do the first leg only, due to work commitments.

Leg 2
The fleet set off on the 2nd leg to Gijon in 15 knots from the SW. Some boats: Calisson, Destination Calais and Alices Mirror, a stretched Open 30 with many Atlantic crossings to her name and sailed by Jerry Freeman, all sailed high on starboard tack keeping to the rum line, while others including the two Open 40s and Audacious footed more towards the French coast in a hope of getting more breeze and a better angle but on the second day the wind shut off and everyone was left with sails flogging in a big swell. On the 3rd day the breeze filled in from the east and spinnakers and reachers where hoisted and a good day and night of fast reaching was enjoyed. The first boat to finish was again Roaring Forty in a time of 79hrs 51mins followed again 2hrs latter by La Promesse. First class 2 boat Calisson spent 4 hours a short distance from the finish line with no wind, finally finishing in 97hrs 50mins. Once again, 2hrs 25mins later, there was a nail biting finish for 2nd and 3rd in class 2 with QII beating Audacious to the line by 200m after swapping places many times over the previous couple of days.

Hot and sunny Gijon was also a great stopover. With a Mayor's reception and some great trophies donated by the town they could not have been more hospitable. Also we had one more entry joining the race, Belgium sailmaker Ian Wittevrongel had sailed non-stop from Boulogne France in his J92 Jaraella to make the final leg.

Leg 3
Leg 3 start was postponed 1 hour while waiting for the breeze to fill in and with only light winds forecast it looked like the passage to Camaret was going to be a slow one. Once clear of the bay and with what little sea breeze there was now died away. It was slow progress for first night. But by the morning of the second day 10-14 knots of breeze filled in from the west giving the fleet a pleasant spinnaker reach for most of the day. With Open 40s ahead, QII managed to build a small lead in class 2 followed by Destination Calais, who had broken his tiller and could only steer with autopilot. Jaraella was lying 3rd. During the night the wind suddenly shifted to the North and gradually dropped in strength throughout day three. But the Open 40s managed to get to the finish line before the wind dropped completely, this time it was La Promesse who crossed the line first in a time of 52 hrs 4mins followed an hour later by Roaring Forty.

Class 2 had to struggle on through the night in light winds and adverse tides before again Calissson manage to get across the line in 65hrs 39mins.

Two hours later Destination Calais came in to take 2nd place. QII and Audacious where fighting it out again, this time for 3rd place on the leg and 2nd overall. Audacious got its revenge from the previous stage and managed to finish just ahead of QII.

Prize giving and party time was at the Hotel Vauban in Camaret, with pictures and signed posters of sailing superstars such as Eric Taberly, Peter Blake and may more adorning the walls. It was a fitting place to end the first Petit Bateau single handed race.

The Petit Bateau 2004 was a great success, with many competitors calling for a PB2005 race!!

Many thanks to our sponsors:

QUANTUM SAILS

EURONAV

HYDE SAILS

Town of GIJON

Prize Sponsors

Hosts

Mylor Yacht Club