Lanzarote-Grenada: 3000 nautical miles, 30 boats, one destination: will it be a record-breaking transat?

3000 nautical miles, 30 boats and one goal: the 8th RORC Transatlantic Race is underway! The organising Royal Ocean Racing Club sent the fleet out on Saturday lunchtime in two fields - separated into multihulls and monohulls - on the course to Grenada. The Transatlantic Classic began under cloudy skies and in choppy seas off Lanzarote. The weather forecasts promised a fast race. The starts were broadcast live. The organisers did not shine with good pictures, but with the extremely informative commentator and Vendée Globe skipper Pip Hare at the microphone.

Pip Hare was not only able to report on various prominent compatriots in action - including Vendée Globe star Alex Thomson, who is crossing the Atlantic for the first time as co-skipper of a crew on the Gunboat 68 "Tosca", and also Finn Olympic champion Giles Scott on Peter Cunningham's MOD70 "PowerPlay" - but also provided knowledgeable insights into almost all the other participating teams and a good technical overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the boats. Alex Thomson opens a new chapter with his entry just a few weeks after his temporary retirement from the Imoca Circuit and the sale of the "Hugo Boss" to the Swiss Alan Roura. The pictures of the likeable Brit show how well the new territory seems to be doing him.

Shortly before the start, Thomson said: "I'm already looking forward to the first few days in which Ken Howery and I will immerse ourselves in our watch system with the crew on 'Tosca'. Yesterday we organised the catering for the race. The meals will be a little different to what I'm used to. And I might even get a shower at some point! I hope you will all follow us via Homepage of the organisers (please click!) and will be happy to keep you up to date." Click here for the race tracker of the race (please click!).

There were no surprises in the intermediate standings after the first few hours of the race: As expected, the MOD70 "Argo" was in the lead ahead of Giovanni Soldini's Multi 70 "Maserati" and the MOD70 "PowerPlay". All three had set off at speeds in excess of 25 knots. The monohull favourite "Comanche" with skipper Mitch Booth and professional crew followed just behind, ploughing through the field of monohull yachts like a huge dark wall at the start. Both the multihulls and the record chaser "Comanche" have a good chance of beating the records of the Atlantic Ocean Marathon. The record for monohull yachts is 10 days, 5 hours and 47 minutes. Before the start, "Comanche" navigator Will Oxley predicted that his team might be able to complete the course in eight days.

The British-German trio on the approximately two-decade-old Imoca "Rosalba" had bad luck at the start: Skipper Richard Tolkien, Neal Brewer and Frank Sturm from the Cöpenicker Segler-Verein had to deal with a problem with the main halyard swivel. However, the crew was able to fix the problem quickly and initially ranked 26th in the "Line Honours" interim ranking based on time sailed.

Ocean Race record holder Bouwe Bekking and his crew on the Volvo Ocean 70 "L4 Trifork" got off to a much better start, holding on to fifth place in this initial phase. The two-handed crew on the smallest of the 30 Transat boats at ten metres in length, the British JPK 10.10 "Jangada", fearlessly chased after the field in 29th place late on Saturday afternoon at a speed of just under eight knots. Co-skipper Richard Palmer had said before the start of the race: "We are a small boat on a big ocean. If you look at the weather, we will find ourselves in big waves. Our light boat will be rocked around a lot more than the bigger competitors. The biggest challenge for us is fatigue. With a two-man crew, staying awake is the toughest test."