Finding it tougher to keep up with SVR Lazartigue upwind in light to moderate conditions, and probably annoyed to see them take the lead yesterday rounding Ascension Island, Banque Populaire XI has been pushing hard through the night. The two leaders are now sailing downwind after passing their final course mark and are sailing at more than 35 knots. This morning, Banque Populaire XI took the lead again and is now keeping her rival in check. “We found the right way to trim when we were diving down the Atlantic downwind and now, it’s going well again,” confirmed Sébastien Josse this morning. “The adrenaline is keeping us going after twelve days of racing. It’s not every day that you experience a duel like this one.” 

The wind is set to strengthen for the frontrunners today, while 600 miles further back, Sodebo Ultim 3 and Actual Ultim 3, which have just rounded Ascension Island, are having their own little race. Still managing to stay closer to the leaders (140 miles), Maxi Edmond de Rothschild can still hope to catch up, particularly if the two frontrunners do not continue to get 100% out of their boats.

The 2500 miles left to race will not offer them much rest with lots of manoeuvres along the edge of the Brazilian exclusion zone and the entry into the trade winds in the Northern Hemishere is scheduled for tomorrow: “When I see how many gybes we need along the coast of Brazil, it’s certainly not going to be a straight line. It may come down to each manoeuvre and each little squall,” said Armel Le Cléac’h’s co-skipper, who is determined to push hard. The ETA is still for 12^th November and the outcome may be decided in Fort de France Bay…

IMOCA: GOING SOUTH TO PRESERVE THE BOATS?

“It was quite rough with cross seas. Quite hard. We had a gust of 43 knots in the first front. The worst was when we were coming out of the front with the wind shift. The important thing was getting away from the cross seas. We’ve been patching things up and have a quite a few little jobs to do. But we’re pleased with our position for the moment. We’re taking care of the boat, but sometimes that simply can’t be done.” Franck Cammas knows what he is talking about, but could not hide the extreme character of the front that the flying IMOCAs passed through. It takes an experience like his and Jérémie Beyou’s to be able to sail quickly without breaking anything, in order to find yourself at the front of the fleet with a lead of 25 miles. Now is the time to make their first major choices. After 48 hours in rough seas, it is time to sit behind the nav desk, as these monohulls are not allowed to have routers. As a determined Thomas Ruyant on For People in third place confirmed, “The start of a transatlantic race is never easy, but the weather in this one is particularly complicated, with the models constantly changing.” 

Everyone is going to have to decide today whether to move off to the West to get away from the calms off Cape Saint Vincent or attempt to find the narrow route through along the coast of Portugal, which is very uncertain. This decision must also take into account the material aspects, as Franck Cammas noted: “It’s looking a bit tricky to the south with only a narrow way through, but we don’t want to have to deal with all the fronts, so we’re looking at a compromise. We don’t want to damage the boat, so we’re thinking about that now.”

It is likely that the final choice will be something of a compromise. Move slightly off to the West, but this is going to involve careful driving to make the most of what is possible to get down to the South. Paprec Arkéa is in an interesting middle position, so we can look forward to an interesting match between the three leaders, while the chasing pack led by Teamwork some fifty miles behind, can still grab opportunities given the unpredictable weather patterns.

At the rear of the fleet, some like Singchain Team Haikou and the others who will be setting sail again after pit stops in various Atlantic ports, will continue to experience some nasty weather…

OCEAN FIFTY: MADEIRA OR MOROCCO?

The Ocean Fifty boats are in a completely different zone. After setting sail from Lorient 24 hours earlier than the IMOCAs, the 50-foot trimarans have just crossed the ridge of high pressure at the latitude of Gibraltar and can start to think about their trip down towards the trade winds. “It will involved going a bit West to keep Viabilis in check and get in the right position for the Canaries, where the wind will come around to the right,” explained Thibault Vauchel-Camus on Solidaires en Peloton, still leading the fleet this morning. It is only once past Madeira, halfway between the Portuguese island and the Canaries that the trade winds will really blow for the Ocean Fifty boats, even if the leader noted, “We already have peak winds of more than thirty knots and are up on one float. We’ll spend a lot of time at the helm, but we have to make sure we don’t get over-tired,” added Thibault, who is just getting over the Bay of Biscay crossing. 

While Koesio is in for a pit stop in La Coruna, but intends to set sail again on Friday, it is going to be interesting to follow the progress of Réalités, in third place 125 miles behind the leader. On the way out of the ridge of high pressure, Fabrice Cahierc and Aymeric Chappellier, off to the East, may be tempted to try an option along the coat of Morocco; where winds are likely to be stronger. This will require a lot of gybes and they will have to watch out for all the fishing boats, some of which are not lit, while attempting to get though via the East of the Canaries.

CLASS 40: TWO GROUPS OF THREE OUT IN FRONT 

Still split into two groups, with the first sailing off Lisbon, the Class40 fleet is finally able to breathe a little. There has been some damage, but the leaders have already switched to their downwind sails and sailing in a northerly air stream trying to keep the speeds up, as an area of light winds is forecast today. “We’re trying to get around a first ridge of high pressure. We’re going to have to deal with an area of variable light winds to reach the ridge, which is blocking the entry into the trade winds,” explained Nicolas D’Estais, second on Café Joyeux. In fact, the area of high pressure is moving South and will be staying with the 40-foot boats for some time. It looks complicated, just as for the leading IMOCAs with very little possibility of moving off to the West at the latitude where the leading Class40s are sailing, particularly as they must aim for Porto Santo (Madère) which they have to leave to starboard. 

The lateral separation between the two groups at the front is quite large. More than 40 miles separate the leader Amarris from the two Italian-French crews that sailed close to the Cape St. Vincent TSS and are sailing parallel off to the East. The next 36 hours will be in race mode with the leaders expected to reach Porto Santo and pickup better winds as they approach the trade winds. “We are still in short race mode,” confirmed Nicolas d’Estais. “With Léo (Debiesse), we didn’t have time to settle in and we haven’t yet had stable conditions to switch to ocean racing mode.”

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Cover photo @ Transat Jacques Vabre