FR
EN
Gabart, whilst slowed near the centre of the system, reported this morning: “We’re not far from the centre of the low, where there wasn’t much wind, but now on the starboard tack, we’ve got some more wind again. I’m trying to get the speed up and there are times when she flies, but then the wind drops off to 10-11 knots. The sky is blue with a few cumulus clouds, so a pretty view. It was surprising that in the Channel was fairly variable with some smoother patches. The worst was off the coast of the Channel Islands where we slammed a lot. Later in the night, the swell was a bit longer. The charts weren’t that clear about the route around the TSS. We were a bit afraid about changes of tack close to the TSS. Even to the north, the wind was variable. We went north to be the first to pick up the wind change. In the next couple of hours we’ll probably be getting back together. We are more or less with the timing we imagined before the start. It’s not far off what we imagined. We should quickly get to Cape Finisterre this evening by midnight. Tomorrow, it will be Portugal, so in comparison with the position of the nasty weather, we should be Ok, if we don’t have any problems, as we’ll be down at the latitude of Gibraltar by then.”
François Gabart : We should quickly get to Cape Finisterre this evening by midnight.
Meanwhile the leaders of the five strong ULTIM fleet were already nearly across Biscay this afternoon 200 nautical miles or so NW of Cape Finisterre at 1500hrs this afternoon. Francois Gabart and Tom Laperche on SVR Lazartigue were leading by over 20 miles. Making over 30kts averages the ULTIMS are well up to schedule to outrun the first of the storms. Gabart and Laperche had profited from sailing more directly out the Channel, staying offshore and climbing NW to break through the front first into the NW’ly breeze which freed them progressively as they have sped south.
