Beautiful south?

And so as the finish line gets closer, and the strategic battle among the 40-footers becomes increasingly uncertain. The first boats should arrive in Fort de France next Monday or Tuesday, but it's still impossible to say who has the advantage. The dice are very much rolling but this Thursday morning it is the Normandy pair Guillaume Pirouelle and Cedric Château (Seafrigo-Sogestran) which are holding the lead, coming in from the south making three knots faster than Corentin Douguet and Axel Tréhin (SNSM Faites un Don) who are now 300 miles to the north of Pirouelle and Château. 

In the north it has been tricky in changeable conditions "Yesterday, Legallais, Alternative Sailing – Les Construction du Belon, Solano, and Influence 2 were dropped," analyzes Amélie Juvien, race director. "They got caught in a squall or a windless zone. We can see that they are trying to head south to catch up." 

For the past two days, we’ve been getting eaten alive by the high-pressure system, and we can see that we don’t have much of an escape route,” Fabien Delahaye (Legallais) confided yesterday from ninth place, now 120 nautical miles directly behind SNSM. 

“You have to choose your side and find the right compromise."

On the other side of the chessboard, on the southern route, Seafrigo-Sogestran and Les Invincibles also have a lead over the rest of their group, which is now more than 170 miles ahead. “We’re steering all day to make sure we don’t let anything slip by,” assures William Mathelin-Moreaux (Les Invincibles). “We have to stay focused and in good shape until the end.” In order to keep up the pace, their pursuers, Bleu Blanc Planète Location and Amarris, have opted for an even more southerly route. “We’re seeing that this other option has emerged,” analyzes Amélie. They realized that following the same track as the two leaders was pointless. What's interesting is that they have speed at the moment, that they're managing to maintain their rhythm in the trade winds.”

In fifth place, to the SE of Seafrigo, Achille Nebout (Amarris) explains, "The trade winds are a bit weaker, we need to try and make the most of the wind shifts to gain distance," he adds. Having suffered from a migraine, he says he's "feeling better" and discusses the challenges ahead: "We have the wind right on our axis, so we're continuing to tack. We have to choose between looking for a wind shift further west or more pressure and wind to the south. We're trying to find the right compromise between the two!"

"A low-pressure system passing to the north will cause the trade winds to die down," explains Amélie from Race Direction. "The consequence is that there will be windless zones, pockets of calm along the route." 

The luckiest and most astute will manage to avoid them, while others could be significantly delayed. For those sailing south, however, the trade winds are more established, but they will face a series of gybes all the way to Martinique.

Meantime there are concerns about managing food, water, and energy, which must be carefully allocated until the very end. "We mustn't forget that some of them still have a week to ten days of sailing ahead of them," adds Amélie. "Of course, it's starting to feel a bit long, but we're used to it," smiles Achille. "We have everything we need on board!" According to routing and estimates, the first boats could arrive on Monday evening (local time, Monday night/Tuesday morning in mainland France) and the following day (Tuesday the 18th). But until then, there's still a lot to do!