The race
in brief

At 12:00 UTC (13:00 HF), the IMOCA Paprec Arkéa officially rejoined the TRANSAT CAFÉ L'OR race, just under 22 hours behind the rest of the fleet. With weather conditions continuing to deteriorate, the stakes are now elsewhere for the two skippers: self-sacrifice, communication, learning... while leaving as many of their comrades in their wake as possible!

They left the Paul Vatine basin, buoyed by the energy of their team and the encouragement of the Le Havre locals who had come to see them off, before setting sail again for a Channel crossing that promises to be as challenging as ever: "The first few hours will be quite windy, in conditions similar to those experienced by the rest of the fleet, with a big storm off the coast of Spain to watch out for. It's not the same race anymore, we'll have several tough elements to negotiate, but we're going to push hard to move up as many places as possible: that will be our new challenge!"

The violent front that is expected to hit the Class40s at the entrance to the Bay of Biscay is indeed a concern for Yoann and Corentin, who will be keeping a very close eye on how the situation develops. All the while keeping in mind the new objective of their Atlantic crossing: to reach the other side, catching up with as many competitors as possible and with the satisfaction of an adventure rich in lessons learned!

Armel Le Cléac'h and Sébastien Josse resumed racing around 11:45 a.m local time (UTC+1) after a technical stopover at their technical base in Lorient that began at 6:00 a.m. The two skippers had to deal with a rudder problem on Sunday evening. Fully mobilized, Team Banque Populaire replaced the rudder and carried out all necessary repairs so that the skippers can use their Ultim to its full potentia once againl.

After a particularly rough first night on the Transat Café L’Or seeing gusts of over 50 knots and rough seas with waves of four meters, Conrad Colman and Mathieu Blanchard have been struggling badly  loss of their radar as well as problems with the autopilot.  Lacking a relay on the helm and valuable information concerning the weather conditions forecast off the coast of Spain, with the arrival of a particularly violent front, the duo preferred to play it safe and decided to stop in Roscoff in Finistère.

The MSIG Europe technical team is mobilized on site to diagnose the fault and allow a return to sea as soon as possible. The objective: to preserve the boat and the crew before resuming the race in the best possible conditions!

Yoann Richomme and Corentin Horeau will be able to resume racing in the Transat Café L'Or on Monday, October 27. Less than 24 hours after returning to Le Havre following a collision with a navigation buoy, the two sailors were able to count on a remarkable show of solidarity and the titanic efforts of their technical team, who worked tirelessly throughout the night to get their boat back in working order.

Having already demonstrated their expertise during the express refit between races, the Paprec Arkéa team once again showed unfailing efficiency and rigor: in just one night, the men and women of the technical team brought in the necessary repair materials from Lorient, replaced the damaged outrigger and foil, and made the red and blue IMOCA seaworthy again in record time.

Well done and THANK YOU Romain, Jean-Charles, Gautier, Guillaume, Pauline, Alexandre, Denis, Jonathan, Paul, Cyril, Simon, and Ronan

See you at the end of the morning for this new start!

Hi there !

It's becoming difficult and time-consuming to write on these boats that are constantly moving around. It's chaos aboard EDENRED V.
Everything is fine on board, we're taking naps one after the other, with no respite on the first night. The sea was rough, and that's putting it mildly.

We crossed paths with Lazare X Hellio five minutes before it capsized, which sends shivers down my spine.
We're about to pass the second wall of this early transatlantic crossing. The low-pressure system on the 28th is going to engulf us, and we'll just have to endure it... We'll have to hunker down once again.

Otherwise, we have a few technical issues and problems with the autopilot, which caused us to fall behind our friends ahead of us. But it's only a matter of time ;)

I'm going back, Manu's alarm is about to go off, and I can't wait to go to bed!

Basile

Look at the duo Edenred 5

Maxi Banque Populaire XI made a stop in Lorient due to a problem with the port rudder.