No free rides

ULTIM

The combination of yesterday’s light winds zone followed by upwind sailing today has kept the ULTIM leaders closer than might be expected. Thomas Coville and Benjamin Schwarz’s dogged determination sees their Sodebo Ultim 3 just 45 miles behind consistent leaders Tom Laperche and Franck Cammas’ SVR Lazartigue whilst Anthony Marchand and Julian Villion on Actual 3, the 2021 race winner as Gitana 17, are close behind too. Looking like they might be able to work a more westerly course Armel Le Cléac'h and Seb Josse were making almost ten knots faster than the leaders. The Banque Populaire XI duo, winners in 2023, will have every chance of catching miles back on the leaders after making a quick pitstop in Lorient to replace a rudder early on Monday.

OCEAN 50 

Racing some 220 nautical miles north of the Canaries the leading Ocean 50s are upwind on the south easterly side of the cut off low. Leaders since the start are Pierre Quiroga and Gaston Morvan (Wewise) who continued to hold their margin after a tough night negotiating thundery squalls and big windshifts. From second placed Edenred Basile Bourgnon reported this morning, “Last night was extremely demanding, with big thunderstorms everywhere, winds that shifted frequently... we certainly didn't get any sleep. We're getting ready to tackle the depression this afternoon, we're rolling out our plan. Actually we have eaten very, very little since the beginning, it's disgusting. We must have had only one dish each.”

IMOCA 

Escaping out of the high pressure ridge and setting up for the cut off low, which remains hard to model and predict its evolution, the lead of the 18 boat fleet has changed several times as the top group follow their strategy trying to get to the fast downwind conditions on the west of it. Jérémie Béyou and Morgan Lagravière (Charal) are credited with the lead this Tuesday afternoon but the key over coming hours is not to get too close to the centre of the system but to sail the shortest, fastest miles to get to the northerly wind. On fourth placed 11th Hour Racing, one of four boats to have ‘led’ today, Frankie Clapcich explained this afternoon, “We are pointing SW trying to get the best angle to approach the cut off low which is in front of Cape Finisterre at the moment, we are sailing nicely downwind in 15-16kts of wind, we are expecting the wind to drop a little. And then we will slowly we will need to manage to get on the other side of this low pressure which should then be a good, fast downwind. We will see up to 30kts maybe a little more depending on how the low is moving. So, so far so good We are in the front pack which is nice. We had to do a couple of sail changes which were really tiring for both of us, we are

taking shifts to get rest and one of us is always on watch taking care of the boat making sure we are going fast enough.”

Britain’s Sam Goodchild and French co-skipper Loïs Berrehar on Macif Santé Prévoyance are third but significantly quicker whilst Italy’s Ambrogio Beccaria’s Allegrande Mapei is second at 12 miles off the lead.

Goodchild said this morning, “By late this evening we will be fairly solidly heading south, that is what we are aiming for. We are happy to still be at the front of the pack but with Mapei, Charal and 11th Hour not far behind it is hard to not be looking over our shoulders. I feel that might be the case for a while now, he conditions around this depression are not going to be very easy for us.”

Meanwhile Vendée Globe runner up Yoann Richomme and his co-pilot Corentin Horeau are putting their everything into being focused and positive after their repairs back in Le Havre saw them restart Monday lunch time. They are 340 miles behind the leaders

Richomme said, “It's definitely not easy to get back into the race. We know we'll probably never catch up with the leaders. Despite everything, there are places to move up, there's experience to be gained. So, it's still not necessarily an unpleasant moment, a bit long and sometimes monotonous, crossing the Atlantic without being in full competition. But our goal is to get back into the competition around the Canaries, let's say. We hope that the scenario predicted today, or potentially, a significant slowdown up front around the Canaries, will materialize and that we'll be able to close the gap a little and then try to play at the end of the course. We're trying to keep the boat moving as best we can, to relax, to think about something else. And also to keep an eye on this storm, which is strong.”

CLASS 40

While all three classes are routing down the course, past the Canaries and looking to long term strategies, for the Class40s their focus is only on the coming hours. The first boats are due into La Coruña first thing Wednesday. They were still fighting out of the sticky light winds of the Biscay high pressure ridge this afternoon. Achille Nebout and Gildas Mahé (Amarris) had a tiny lead with 170 miles to go. Spanish duo Pep Costa and Pablo Santurde (VSF Sports) were well positioned in sixth, slightly more to the east of the leaders.

Catalan Costa said today, “Everything is going well we are about to tack, we are in light winds and about to tack, we are waiting for the new southerly winds so we are focused on when the first windshift is coming. We had a good night, sailing as we wanted and we did not miss any steps and so we are happy how it happened and we caught up a lot on the head of the fleet. And that is super nice for this final stretch into La Coruña. We are trying to keep our focus and not miss out on anything into La Coruña as everything can come into play on the second leg. This transition is a very, very complicated one. It is very light winds and very shifty. This SE’ly wind we are getting into will transition to a NW’ly wind at the end of a very little low pressure so there will be a finish in the W’ly wind and so we need to do the right things. We have some little things to repair. We have a little job list. But we are looking forwards to getting a little extra rest in La Coruña, being in Spain will be not bad!”

Italian duo Andrea Fornaro and Alessandro Torresani (Influence 2) are 17th just ahead of the Spanish-French all female duo Aina Bauzá Roig – from Puerto Andratx, Mallorca – and Axelle Pillaine – the Cap Pour Elles girls who are having a great first leg on their first ever TRANSAT CAFÉ L’OR.

“We have done the best we could with the wind we had, we will be upwind into the finish but I am looking forwards to stopping in Spain to eat well and get a little sun maybe!” smiled Bauzá Roig

It’s been a tough few days for Germany’s Sanni Beucke who is 25th on Alderan with her French co-skipper Sacha Laniece, “It has been really tough since the start and this is the first time the wind has dropped and so this is the first time we can eat proper food and sleep. We have a few issues on board. I injured my knee. So we have had many issues and were thinking if we can’t get through this front how are we going to finish, so it has been challenging. I hurt my knee yesterday morning but I can stand on it I can walk but I need to get some checks in La Coruña,”