DPPI
Single - handed transatlantic race for Monohulls and Class 40's from UK to USA. Golding won the IMOCA Open 60 Class in 2004 finishing in Boston 12 days, 15 hours, 18 minutes and 8 seconds later. ECOVER averaged 9.23 knots during the race.
Sailing the 2,800 mile course from Plymouth to Boston, Golding took two days off the 12 year old record for the single-handed passage east to west across the North Atlantic!
About The Transat - text and video taken from www.ocevents.org
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1265939831/bctid1427347900
OC Events have officially announced today that there will be a 2008 edition of The Transat, formerly the OSTAR, the first ever single-handed ocean race that began in 1960...OC Events have officially announced today that there will be a 2008 edition of The Transat, formerly the OSTAR, the first ever single-handed ocean race that began in 1960.
This will be the 13th edition of the race and although the sport of sailing has come a long way since 1960, the oceanic challenge remains the same. The race has always generated great deal of media and public interest but it is the sailors themselves who have become the legends. In 1960 only five boats started the race and Sir Francis Chichester won in just over 40 days. Four years later, it was Frenchman Eric Tabarly who stole the line honours, instantly becoming a national hero and awarded the Légion d'Honneur by General de Gaulle.
The Transat 2008 will run from a UK port to a North American port, in May 2008. A number of city bids are under consideration, and in particular in the UK the shortlist has been narrowed down to two - including Plymouth, the city from which the race has started ever since Sir Winston Churchill agreed to host the race as Commodore of the Royal Western Yacht Club. “We have been very pleased with the response to our tender document. The quality of city bids returned has been excellent and as a result we have had to extend the decision date for the host start city but a decision will be made before the 1st May to allow us complete the evaluation work,” commented John McKenna, Commercial Director from OC Events.
The Transat is known for its demands on both the skipper and their boats as they race against the prevailing winds across the North Atlantic which, even in early summer, can propel huge storms and gale force winds into the paths of the competing boats. Then as the fleet close on the Newfoundland coast, the threat of icebergs becomes a reality making the final section of this 2,800-mile race a stressful one for the skippers who are already in a state of mental and physical exhaustion.
As it has always done, The Transat 2008 will see the very best of the worlds ocean racing skippers competing. The Notice of Race will be published in May, defining the other invited classes, exact course, dates and conditions. The Transat was 'saved' by OC Events in 2004, but in 2008 is set to be restored to its former glory as 'the' original transatlantic race, the toughest of them all - the North Atlantic Alone.
Mike Golding, the UK’s most experienced single handed sailor, will not be racing The Artemis Transat, a race from Plymouth to Boston that is to start on the 11th May 2008.
ECOVER 3’s replacement carbon keel blade will not be ready sufficiently early to safely allow the team to compete in this tough transatlantic event without compromising the campaign’s goals. This is in spite of a huge effort made by JMV Industries (the keel builder) and HDS (the keel designer). Mike Golding commented: “Everyone has done everything possible to make this schedule, we even initiated the design of this new keel several weeks before it was confirmed that ECOVER 3’s original steel keel blade was both unsafe and un-repairable. We always knew that our back was against the wall and, whilst our withdrawal from The Artemis Transat is disappointing it is not entirely unexpected. Everyone involved in the work on this keel has done everything possible to make it happen for us in time but we just cannot make the ends meet – we must accept it and move on.”
The double IMOCA world champion continues to focus his attention on the Vendée Globe, which starts in November 2008. This single-handed, non-stop round the world race is considered to be the Everest of sailing. Golding is the only Briton to have successfully completed the race twice, in the last event finishing in 3rd place. This time the goal is to do better!
“Our focus remains on the Vendée Globe. It is the most demanding yacht race in the yachting calendar and ECOVER 3 must be 150% competitive to even think about the main prize,” commented Golding this morning.
Golding’s ECOVER 3 was in refit in Palma at the beginning of the year and is now at JMV industries in Cherbourg. The revised schedule will see the yacht launched for sailing trials in mid May.
“Naturally I am personally very sad not to be in The Artemis Transat, it’s the real “grand-daddy” of all the Open races. Together with ECOVER 2 we won this event in 2004 and personally, I think we could have won it this time – it’s a ‘Mike Golding’ sort of event. But we do need to stay focused on the Vendée Globe and we will develop our schedule so that we test the refitted and reconfigured boat in all possible conditions”.
