This very much unprecedented in the history of the class of the giant 32m trimarans. Francois Gabart and Tom Laperche on SVR Lazartigue were still leading the fleet, which compressed together again as they made their way across the ridge of high pressure yesterday and that is now behind them. However, they need to keep pushing hard as the trade winds are still south of the Canaries at latitudes that they will reach late today.
After 24 hours spent finding their way across the ridge of high pressure, remaining in front is something of a small victory for SVR Lazartigue, but François Gabart and Tom Laperche are not in that comfortable a position... While they are keeping their closest rival, Maxi Edmond de Rothschild in check, the blue trimaran can only watch the attacks from further east and west. To port, Sodebo Ultim 3 and Actual Ultim 3 managed to get back to around twenty miles of them and need to be taken seriously as opponents.
To starboard, Banque Populaire XI has moved further away passing Madeira via the west during the night. This option enabled the pair formed by Le Cléac’h-Josse to avoid the wind shadow of the island, although to find more wind, it extended their route. “A daring option,” declared Thomas Coville when contacted this morning. It has paid off, as Banque Populaire XI is the fastest in the fleet by far. Second at the moment, they have managed to claw back miles since the middle of the night.
The wind does not appear to have the strength from west to east and over the last four hours, Banque Populaire XI has accelerated to an average speed of 18 knots, while SVR Lazartigue and Maxi Edmond de Rothschild are finding it hard to get above 12 knots, as François Gabart confirmed this morning, “We need to be patient as our friends are faster than us and it seems that whatever we do in the three boats, we keep finding ourselves back together. It’s true we don’t have much wind yet, but at some point, it will turn into the trade winds.”
The trade winds this evening
The wind will veer to the right going from the NW to the NE and strengthen today, which should enable the ULTIM boats to start to think about when they will gybe to stay on course for the islands of Sao Paulo & Sao Pedro, the next course mark. “We still have another 2000 miles to go to get there,” explained Armel Le Cléac’h this morning, “and we are waiting for the weather charts to see how we need to adjust our trajectory. It’s not very easy and we are making the most of a bit of wind for now to get some rest, as it was a busy night getting around Madeira.” Pleased with his option, the skipper of Banque Populaire XI carried out a lot of manoeuvres with his co-skipper, Sébastien Josse to sail windward of the island, an option that they were alone in choosing and had planned by heading off to the west of the fleet throughout the day yesterday.
After SVR Lazartigue’s option around Ushant and this strategic choice by Banque Populaire XI off Madeira, this is certainly a fascinating race for the ULTIM. Sodebo Ultim 3 and Actual Ultim 3 also got back in the game sailing together since yesterday evening and adding more excitement to the contest: “I can see Sodebo,” declared Anthony Marchand this morning. “Being back in the game is very motivating. With Thierry I am pleased about our easterly option, and we took advantage when approaching the ridge of high pressure.” The fastest of the five ULTIM boats in terms of the Great Circle Route over the last 24 hours, Actual Ultim 3 has shown that in light conditions, the speed differential between the boats from various generations is not that great. “We sailed cautiously at the start of the race and Thierry and I are pleased about our pace. We listen to what the other has to say and the boat is giving her full potential, which is no bad thing, as there is still a fortnight of high-speed racing to go.”
Thomas Coville was equally enthusiastic. “We wanted a fight and we have got one. It’s great that we caught up and we will soon see conditions for which these boats were designed to fly and speed over the water. This morning everything is fantastic here with Thomas, and we’re really enjoying ourselves.”