News, from the east For various reasons the Transatlantic routes are unusual

ULTIM: African adventure

Mile after mile, SVR Lazartigue continues to pull away from the three other ULTIMs.

From 65 miles yesterday at 0800hrs SVR Lazartigue’s lead has peaked at 120 miles this morning over the second-place boat. SVR is (slightly) faster and, so far, hasn't made any mistakes, allowing its pursuers to take risks that, for the moment, aren't paying off, as illustrated by Sodebo Ultim's passage yesterday between La Palma and La Gomera in the Canary Islands. Knowing that the key lies to the east, Thomas Coville and Benjamin Schwartz wanted to be the first to move east, but given the very tight angles of their gybes, they paid the price for the wind shadows exiting the archipelago. "It was impressive at the beginning," commented Tom Laperche this morning. "They took advantage of the acceleration entering the islands and made a lot of gains for a few hours, but the exit was tougher." As a result, Sodebo has lost a good part of its lead over Actual Ultim 4, which is now only ten miles behind. As for the Maxi Banque Populaire XI, its westward position is now a disadvantage as it needs to seek out the pressure in the east.

For the four ULTIMs, the last gybe point before heading truly south is near Dakhla, the Moroccan paradise for kitesurfing and wing foiling. Realigned with its competitors, the blue and white Maxi has lost a good twenty miles in this new pattern. "Everyone will head for the coast because in a poorly established trade wind, that's where there's still an airflow resulting from the temperature difference between land and sea," explained Tom Laperche this morning. The leader also planned "to increase [his] lead throughout the day with the wind that's starting to fill in. The sky is still clear and we're expecting the trade wind cumulus clouds!" “That’s it,” concluded the skipper of SVR Lazartigue, clearly pleased to be in the lead, with his sights set on the Cape Verde archipelago, 600 miles away, which he should round tomorrow morning.

Ocean Fifty: A new start in the trade winds

Basile Bourgnon was audibly in high spirits this morning. After a day of uncertainty, skirting the Moroccan coast and leaving his pursuers to the west, Edenred 5’s strategy finally paid off last night: “I wasn’t feeling overconfident but the wind picked up earlier for us and we came out in front. So far, all my wishes are coming true on this transatlantic race. Manu and I have the mojo!”

Still in the lead with a 20-mile advantage over Wewise and Solidaires en Peloton, Edenred 5, has in turn seen saw Viabilis Océans and Le Rire Medecin Lamotte coming back from behind to be very much in contention. It's a fresh start for the Ocean Fifty class as they enter the trade winds. "It's a bit of a tough break for us in some respects, but they deserve it. We pushed ourselves hard at the beginning to get ahead, and they struggled in the front we didn't get," commented Basile, quite pleased to be back to speeds closer to 20 knots than 10 under full mainsail and gennaker. It's safe to say the gap will continue to widen with the two boats a little further behind,  Upwind by Merconcept and Mon Bonnet Rose, which were still struggling between the Canary Islands and the coast.

IMOCA: Change of leader in the top five

After Charal's excellent day yesterday, the IMOCA fleet is led this morning by MACIF Santé Prévoyance, which regained the lead overnight. What happened? "We made the choice to stay to the west yesterday." “With Loïs, we didn’t follow Allagrande Mapei and Charal’s final jibe, and we found ourselves in a more favorable position when the wind eased,” Sam Goodchild explained during the radio call. However, the night wasn’t entirely restful on the Verdier design: “We broke a hook (the hook that holds the sail to the mast) yesterday morning and spent 45 minutes retrieving the sail from the water, which fortunately isn’t damaged,” Sam recounted. “I had the exact same problem during the Vendée Globe, and I really appreciated having Loïs with me this time.” Loïs Berrehar, whose birthday it is today, can savor, at 32, being in the lead of this Transat Café L’Or just as Goodchild celebrated his 35^th birthday in November last year leading the Vendée Globe. 

Reporting in in English Goodchild said, “It is good to be back into the lead this morning primarily because of the positioning we had to the west yesterday, even if yesterday was a tough day having our big headsail drop in the water in the morning and taking 45 minutes to get it out yesterday morning, then spending the whole evening in less wind going slower than everyone else, so we kind of hoped we would get back on terms we did not actually expect to get past them, we did not actually think we would overtake them. We got more than we bargained for which is great. And now we are going past Madeira which is 80 or 90 miles to windward, hoping to get away to the west of its wind shadow. There is not a lot of wind as it is and we are heading south and there is not a lot of wind between now and the trade winds in the south. So we are trying to get across that ridge as quickly as possible and get into the trade winds. It is going south with us and so we are probably going to see quite a big regrouping of the fleet or at least a bunch of us as we pile into this ridge, we are trying to get east of it to go around the Canaries, so a lot less wind and lot less waves than the first couple of days. It will be good to get some proper rest, dry stuff and have a proper check of the boat, sort things out so that when we hit the trade winds we are at 100%.” 

 This morning on the Atlantic, it’s the class of large monohulls that is experiencing the biggest weather contrasts. While a small group of five boats, from Macif Santé Prévoyance to Switzerland’s Justine Mettraux and Xavier Macaire (TeamWork Team Snef), is preparing to cross the ridge today, the second group is sailing upwind at high speed in the distance into a SW’ly flow from the low-pressure system. Further behind Fortinet Best Western to Coup de Pouce, will have to battle increasingly strong upwind winds and will be pushed towards Gibraltar. Far behind, Paprec Arkea and MSIG Europe, who valiantly set out to attack the front, could fall behind it by midday. A perilous maneuver in over 30 knots of average wind with gusts up to 45, which will force them to accelerate significantly, with all the dangers inherent in this kind of fast leg in the rough seas behind the front.

Spread out over 600 miles from North to South, the fleet is starting to form into small groups. The P’tits Doudous are in port in Cascais with a number of issues related to the newness of the new boat and intend to do everything possible to resume the race at 100% of their potential.

Class40: Shelter from the storm….

 

Thirty-three competitors are in the port of La Coruña this morning following the victorious arrival yesterday of SNSM. The Race Committee hopes to be able to restart the fleet on Saturday at midday and is keeping a close eye on the nine competitors still at sea. "We sent them a specific weather bulletin yesterday. We expect three competitors to arrive in the next few hours. Behind them, the situation is different for Martinique Horizon and the other boats."

75 miles from the finish, the duo Jean-Yves Aglaé and Moane Mangattale will see the wind strengthen considerably, peaking at 6 p.m. "They will have gusts of up to 45 knots," predicts Pierre Yves Guilherm, the race meteorologist, "but it's from the southwest, and the sea will remain manageable near the coast."

Behind the Martinique Class40, the competitors have turned east and should remain in a part of the Bay of Biscay sheltered from the worst of the wind and sea. Which port will they reach is the question, as is their ability to reach the starting line of the second leg. "They have 72 hours after the starting gun to cross the line," reminds Francis Le Goff. Since they will likely be outside the time limit for the first leg, "they can use all means, including the engine, to reach A Coruña as quickly as possible after the gale has passed," concludes the Race Director, who is already keeping an eye on Saturday's weather forecast to see how the Class40s can get back on track.