The race
in brief

While the Ocean Fifty leaders have made it through the toughest stages and are sailing across a manageable Bay of Biscay, for the 64 duos who started today tonight in the Channel is going to be tough. The Ultims could pass the tip of Brittany around 0200hrs UTC Monday morning. And it will be later in the morning for the first IMOCAs then and later for the Class40s, which are going to endure the worst of a brutal phase.

After tens of thousands of well-wishers and spectators gathered around Le Havre’s Vauban docks ito send off the skippers in perfect sunshine, the three divisions which started the TRANSAT CAFÉ L’OR Normandie Le Havre this afternoon were then reated to muscular wind conditions and leaden skies as they made a fast start to what should be an express exit from the English Channel.