Artemis Transat gets underway

The start of the 2008 Artemis Transat got underway yesterday from Plymouth with one of the cleanest starts to the race in its 48 year history.

The fleet, dodging past a flotilla of 300 spectator boats, sailed into a light south easterly breeze allowing a couple of uneventful days to settle into the race.

However the winds will not allow the skippers to gain much sleep from the next couple of days as they will need constant sail changes and course adjustments to make the most of the winds.

As of 1100 BST today Seb Josse, sailing BT, has a slender lead over Vincent Riou, on PRB, and Michel Desjoyeaux, sailing Fonica, of 32 mins and 36 mins respectively.

With a low pressure system building to the west of Ireland the first boats to get a hint of the new winds would start to build a decent lead over the following pack, possibly making them uncatchable.

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12/05/2008 14:49:33