Deja vu Class 40s restart in Galicia, Ultims stuck in Doldrums, IMOCAs chasing 11th Hour breakaway, trades for Ocean 50

Martinique remains the objective but right now the race is wide open and nearly one week nothing is decided, there are as many teams on the water could realistically hope to win as there were back in Le Havre before the start!

ULTIM: Doldrums, the eternal cycle

The attack by Sodebo Ultim 3, which made numerous gybes through the islands, and Actual Ultim 4's passage to the east animated the tracking all day yesterday, but they had no impact, or even negative consequences, on the rankings of these two contenders. As Maxi Banque Populaire XI emerges from the Cape Verde archipelago, which it crossed through the middle, the various options have mainly reinforced SVR Lazartigue's western position, where, according to the books, the Doldrums are least active. What will happen today? "It's not starting very well!" “We got through the first squalls well,” replied Tom Laperche this morning, his voice a little weary. “But now we’re completely stopped and the sails are flapping around…” One eye on the dials, the other on the positions which, at the time of the radio call, showed Sodebo entering the Intertropical Convergence Zone more easily, the skipper of SVR Lazartigue seemed preoccupied: “We’re looking at the satellite images, of course, but the clouds are forming so fast that it’s very unpredictable. It’s like trying to guess where the first bubble will burst in a boiling pot!” Indeed, Sodebo has been almost twice as fast over the last four hours, averaging 15 knots as they approach, compared to less than 9 knots for SVR Lazartigue…

Keeping a cool head in the sweltering heat and having a bit of luck will be key to getting out of this rather substantial Doldrums as quickly as possible. This is Tom Laperche's sixth passage; Franck Cammas has lost count, and the two men undoubtedly have the most agile ULTIM to navigate the light winds. But since these boats can reach 30 knots as soon as the breeze returns, gaps can open up and close very quickly.

With a 100-mile lateral separation, the leaders know they need to maintain as much of their lead as possible because the reaching leg that awaits them towards San Pedro and San Paolo will be more favorable to the competitors positioned to the east, who will benefit from a better angle. Soon at the halfway point of this TRANSAT CAFÉ L'OR, the ULTIM battle is far from over.

IMOCA: Go the girls!

They're giving the IMOCA skippers a run for their money! With 11th Hour Racing still in the lead and Team Snef - Teamwork climbing onto the podium, two women are now at the helm of mixed crews, at the forefront of the TRANSAT CAFÉ L’OR. A first in the history of offshore racing at this stage of the competition. Leading the ‘charge’ is Italian-American Frankie Clapcich sailing with Will Harris on 11^th Hour Racing and in third is Switzerland’s Justine Mettraux racing with ex Figaro and Class40 ace Xavier Macaire on TeamWork-Team Snef. 

And what a competition it is! With the regrouping at the entrance to the ridge, the top nine boats are within 30 miles of each other. After 2,000 miles of racing, the IMOCAs are starting the second chapter of their transatlantic race, neck and neck. The leading boats have crossed to the right side of the ridge and are sailing this morning in a light northeasterly breeze of around ten knots, heading south. The South is the key to success in this Atlantic, disrupted by multiple fronts that are pushing the trade winds against the wind and wreaking havoc on the wind patterns, as Will Harris explains: “We have 24 hours of wind ahead of us, and we expect it to pick up considerably behind us. We’ll continue heading south because the trade winds will then be disrupted by a low-pressure system to our north. It will act as a buffer, but we could also get going again sooner, let’s see!”

Leading the 11th Hour Racing race for 36 hours, the Briton is keeping a cool head and has no intention of changing their approach: “We have gone around the Canaries waypoint in the lead and so that is above our expectations and so we are definitely happy with that. We are just really working hard to get the boat foiling, we have around 12 knots and in that early acceleration mode it is always a little harder for us but we are trying to make the most of it and get away from the others and yes making our plan a bit. There are a lot of different options up ahead for the trade winds and so we have to make our own plan and stick to it. But it is pretty cool to be in the lead.”

He reports, “ We have 12 knots of wind and we are just getting up on the foils, but every little gust can give you three knots more boatspeed. It is not nothing and you have to really work for it. The sun is coming up and we will see the sails again. It was a lot lighter past the waypoint we were really hoping to escape nicely but we had to float around in four or five knots of wind and the other guys still had seven or eight knots. That was a bit frustrating. We watched the others a lot when we were upwind to see where they were going to tack, it is useful to see what the others were thinking. Now for this straight line stuff we just have to go as fast as we can. We know we have our strengths and weaknesses but we just have to go as fast as we can. We are going to keep going and if they start going faster behind us, that’s life!”

Looking at the weather to come for them he explains, “The trade winds are starting to re-establish themselves this afternoon which will be nice. The first 24 hours should be in some pretty decent breeze and then it is going to start to fade away a bit as the days go on. We have a low pressure developing on the back of the one we have just been fighting to get ahead of. And that is going to affect the straight lines and so we have to negotiate that. I think that will be on Tuesday. The second half we see some really nice flow and so that will be a really nice speed test. There is not really a binary choice which way to go, it will be in these small choice when to gybe and things like that that will make the difference.” 

“It is going well with Frankie, I am a bit more on the nav side and she takes her time to manage the boat, the speed and things like that. Looking at the weather takes more time, but we are really enjoying sailing with each other, we have really nice teamwork on board it is fun as well, and since we have been in the lead it is so nice we have kept it very natural, just carried on sailing as normal.”

Behind this leading pair, who are sailing with a 20-mile advantage over the chasing pack, the favourites are pushing hard, but everything is still to play for. This is the case for Charal and Macif Santé Prévoyance, while Allagrande Mapei has to bide its time in these sluggish conditions, not the kind Koch-Finot Conq designs prefer.” 

These conditions should allow Association Petit Princes-Queguiner to avoid losing too much time during their pit stop in Fuerteventura. Elodie Bonafous and Yann Eliès are expected there by their team for a minimum four-hour stopover to properly repair their keel trunk, which is preventing them from canting the appendage beyond 18 degrees…

Ocean Fifty: Edenred, in control at Cape Verde

This is the big winner of the first week. Edenred, the latest Ocean Fifty launched, skippered by a crew new to ocean multihull racing, is setting the pace and widening the gap mile after mile on its competitors. Viabilis (Baptiste Hulin-Thomas Rouxel) is holding on best, 50 miles behind, and behind them, the gap should be considered in light of the remaining distance to Fort-de-France. 2,200 miles to go, the route is still long, but Edenred's cushion will allow them to control the race in a trade wind that is starting to establish itself and will leave few options for pulling ahead. "We'll still have to gybe after the last waypoint to move a little further south and avoid the wind shadow of the highest islands," explained Manu Le Roch this morning, understandably very pleased with the situation: "Yesterday, everyone sailed well, and we can see that we're a bit faster than the others, which is a good sign. It will allow us to control the race without taking too many risks, either in terms of sailing or strategy. So far, Basile has been flawless in that regard, and we're confident for the rest of the race. Nothing is stopping us from going fast!"

Ahead of the pre-start routing, the Ocean Fifty boats are sailing in ideal conditions for light multihulls, with medium downwind conditions and manageable seas. Be careful of excessive speed in the trade winds, which will strengthen mid-week on the route to Fort-de-France!

Class40: 39 boats at the start, close at the top 

The Courbon brothers (RDT Logistic-Forvis Mazars) are still about 100 miles off the Spanish coast and have 72 hours to reach the starting line of the second leg, which will begin today at 1 p.m. A British-style start (open course, no turning buoy) for the 39 Class40s moored in La Coruña, starting from the end of the breakwater in 10 knots of wind from the southwest. "The slight wind shift to the right in the mid-afternoon will allow the competitors to make a short tack to the north before heading west," explains Pierre-Yves Guillerm, who is monitoring the passage of depressions over the Atlantic that could affect the competitors even though they are currently south of the Azores.

“The northern routes remain the winning ones,” says Yann Château of Race Control, “but if we slightly adjust the polar diagrams to account for the sea state on the direct route, the southern route becomes the winner. In short, it looks very open!”

With relatively small gaps between the leaders of the first leg – two hours between the top 10 – it’s truly a new race for everyone, especially since the Galician stopover will have allowed each boat to be fully prepared and there are still 3,200 miles to go to Fort-de-France. The ETA for the leading boats is November 14th.

Look at the map tracker !