Crews enjoy La Rochelle ahead of first transat - Race News

Crews enjoy La Rochelle ahead of first transat

21 September 2007

The entire Clipper fleet is now berthed in the Bassin des Chalutiers in the centre of La Rochelle where the ten crews are busy with deep cleans and maintenance ahead of their transatlantic race to Salvador.

After the prize giving ceremony at the Hotel de Ville on Thursday evening crews headed out to enjoy some the local nightlife after their first three-day race from Liverpool. At the ceremony Vice Mayor Marc Parnedeau welcomed the teams to La Rochelle. ‘It is a great honour to welcome the Clipper Fleet to La Rochelle and we hope it won’t be the last time.’

Hull & Humber received the first of the yellow first-place pennants of Clipper 07-08, and Liverpool 08 and Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper picked up their second and third place pennants respectively. Afterwards, the crews sampled pineau, a local fortified wine produced south of La Rochelle.

Yesterday Clipper Operations Director Colin de Mowbray was admitted to hospital in La Rochelle after experiencing chest pains. He is now comfortable and in good spirits after a night of rest and treatment for heart problems.

If there such a place as a good place to be taken ill, it is in a Clipper stopover. With many of the boats having one or more medical professionals onboard, there is always help at hand. Within minutes of being taken ill yesterday Nova Scotia crew member Dr Lucy Mendham was on the scene to assess Colin and accompany him to hospital. Former Clipper 2002 crew member Ruth Dalton, who is an experienced A&E cardiac nurse with fluent French, was also on hand to assist with translation at the hospital. Race Chairman Sir Robin said: ‘The wonderful thing about the Clipper Race is the people who take part. We are very grateful to Lucy, Ruth and the other crew members who were so willing to help yesterday.’

Colin reports that he is getting excellent medical care at the Centre Hospitalier de la Rochelle. In fact, so good that he has decided to swap allegiances for today’s Rugby World Cup match between France and Ireland this afternoon.

‘I’ve decided to back French rugger team to show how impressed I am with treatment I have received,’ he said. It is hoped that Colin will be able to return to the UK on Monday.

Meanwhile, Jamaica Skipper Simon Bradley and his crew are preparing for Race 2 from La Rochelle to Salvador after retiring from Race 1. Commenting on the medical evacuation of crew member Dinshaw Avari, he said:

‘I would like to thank everybody for the very kind words and thoughts and that have been pouring in since our incident the other night. We are so very pleased that the injuries sustained during the accidental gybe were not as serious as were first thought. As Skipper of Jamaica I can’t praise the crew highly enough for the way in which they all conducted themselves in the aftermath of the event.

‘Their prompt and selfless actions helped to turn a potentially very nasty incident into a manageable situation. We would like to pass on our thanks to all parties involved, in particular Falmouth Coastguard, Rescue Helicopter 193, the RNLI Penlee Lifeboat and the Clipper Race Office, they dealt with the situation in a cool, calm and highly professional manner - thank you.’

Dinshaw has now been discharged from hospital and is hoping to rejoin the crew of Jamaica later in the race.

Race 2 from La Rochelle to Salvador starts at 1600 local time (1400 GMTY) on Sunday. The boats will slip their moorings at the Bassin des Chalutiers at 1330 local time (1430 GMT).