The floodgates are opening

ULTIM: The Hour of the Dolphins

While Sodebo Ultim 3 just crossed the finish line at 7:40 a.m., Fort-de-France now awaits Actual Ultim 4, early this morning Anthony Marchand and Julien Villion still had 300 nautical miles to make to the finish line

Ocean Fifty: Denouement This Afternoon

Which will be the second multihull to win the TRANSAT CAFÉ L’OR Le Havre Normandie?
Yesterday at this same time, Viabilis Oceans was leading the fleet by 30 miles. This morning, that's roughly the same gap they are behind Wewise. 

What happened? Late yesterday morning (the end of the night for sailors), squalls clearly hampered Viablis’ Baptiste Hulin and Thomas Rouxel, forcing them to gybe four times. At the same time Pierre Quiroga and Gaston Morvan sailed straight on starboard tack. The latter took the lead in the early afternoon and extended their advantage throughout the rest of the day, making shorter gybes to stay between their rival and Martinique. "Since Cape Verde, we've been trying to sail in the middle with Gaston, to give ourselves the option of breaking away in a squall if necessary. The others were often sailing further upwind than us, and we clawed back mile after mile by sailing downwind a bit better,” Wewise’s Pierre Quiroga confided this morning during the radio check-in. Life isn't exactly smooth sailing for the leading duo off Barbados either, during a night of intense activity: “Tonight was hell with very strong squalls. It's stressful for the rankings but also for safety. Just because it's hot doesn't mean a trimaran can't capsize!” added the skipper.

IMOCA: Charal reigns supreme

Charal continues to extend its lead and is now firmly in control of the race, which could end in the middle of the night. Jérémie Beyou and Morgan Lagravière increased their lead and this morning controls the race with a 112-mile advantage, less than 500 miles from the finish. "Everything is going well." All day yesterday, the trade winds were very stable, the sea a bit choppy, but now it's settled down nicely and we're sailing smoothly. We're sticking to our course. We're attacking the day while we can see clearly, and at night, we try to match our speed to that of our pursuers," said Jérémie, his voice hoarse but his mind clear this morning during the radio check-in. "We've been working hard for the last three days with Morgan. When we swap over, there are the usual exchanges and a smile or two, nothing more. We're in our own little world!" added Beyou

From November 2nd to 3rd, halfway between the Canary Islands and Cape Verde, they were poised to make a sharp turn towards the Antilles to take the lead. They maintained a narrow advantage until November 4th in a very close race with the return of Macif Santé Prévoyance. Sam Goodchild and Lois Berrehar were only 25 miles behind the leaders 48 hours ago. Since then, Charal has only increased its lead and this morning controls the race with a 112-mile advantage, less than 500 miles from the finish. "Everything is going well. All day yesterday, the trade winds were very stable, the sea a bit choppy, but now it's settled down nicely and we're sailing smoothly. We're sticking to our course. We're attacking during the day while we can see clearly, and at night, we try to match our speed to that of our pursuers," said Jérémie, his voice hoarse but his mind clear, this morning during the radio check-in. A strategy that pays off, with the reward for the invested efforts: “We’ve been working hard with Morgan for the past three days. When we run into each other, we exchange the facts and maybe a smile or two, nothing more. We’re just checking Actual’s trajectory to see what wind conditions they have because they’re not far ahead, but otherwise, we haven’t followed the other classes’ races.” Should they win into Martinique. It would be Beyou’s second victory on the Route du Café (his first alongside Jean-Pierre Dick in 2011) and Morgan Lagravière’s third consecutive win!

Class40: The weather is unforgiving, SNSM still lead

The Class40s have been suffering. Five boats have retired, two are heading towards the European coast, and several others are making repairs after 72 very rough hours to continue their journey.

After La Coruña there have been very different strategies A group of eight boats took the northernmost possible route passing inside the waypoint to be left to starboard in the Azores.

Led by the SNSM this group is currently crossing its third front, which probably explains the radio silence this morning. They could then head almost directly towards the Antilles in a northwesterly flow behind them. Just like in the good old days of the North-South routes, the main group, led this morning by Seafrigo Sogestran, initially accelerated away from the direct route at the foot of the fronts and has since yesterday been crossing a ridge of high pressure, where they can begin to dream of the beginnings of trade winds.

Spread out over 600 miles laterally, the gap between the leaders of the two groups is 300 miles this morning. SNSM Faites un Don is therefore still the solid leader of this race. Before speculating on the outcome of the North-South battle, which could take almost a week to resolve, the SNSM duo of Corentin Douguet and Axel Tréhin are keeping a group of four boats at bay, ranging from Legallais (Fabien Delahaye and Pierre Leboucher) to TrimControl (Alexandre Le Gallais and Michel Desjoyeaux). These five are within a little over 60 miles of each other. In the south, Guillaume Pirouelle and Cédric Château (Seafrigo-Sogestran) have gained a slight advantage over Amarris (Achille Nebout-Gildas Mahé) and Bleu Blanc Planète Location (Quentin Le Nabour-Thierry Chabagny).

It goes without saying that in winds of 30-35 knots the leaders aregetting south of Horta and the light downwind conditions for the group heading towards the Canary Islands, which have already forced sailors to shed their boots and foul-weather gear, the weather contrast is striking.