Arkea Ultim Challenge: Lead changes shortly before the cape, Le Cléac'h fights back

For a long time, Charles Caudrelier followed in Tom Laperche's wake, but now the two skippers have decided on different tactical options: While Caudrelier continues to head straight for the Cape, Laperche has decided to gybe and sail further south, by now he is almost 100 miles south of "Edmond de Rothschild". Apparently he seemed to see the risk of sailing too far away from the low that both skippers want to sail with. The question is whether Caudrelier will also jibe shortly or whether he thinks he is south enough to stay north-east of the depression.

Both should pass the cape in just under two days, but the wind will increase significantly over the next few days, so it remains to be seen whether the two leading tris will be able to continue sailing so fast or whether they will have to take a back seat in the swell.

Two more days to the Cape of Good Hope

It will be close for Thomas Coville, who is 390 miles behind the leader and sailing even further north. He could be unlucky and just miss the jump to the low, as he will probably have to jibe south soon. That would be a great pity, as he has sailed a very good race so far given the fact that his boat is not quite on a par with the top three boats.

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This week's interview of the week was with Tom Laperche, who was still in the lead at the time and in high spirits:

"It's pretty cool to be sailing right next to Charles! I managed to sail really fast compared to him off the coast of Recife. We have different preferences for the ideal weather conditions, which leads to a kind of rubber band effect between us: it's still a great competition, it's so cool to sail right next to another Ultim."

He is also gradually preparing for the rough weather of the Southern Ocean:

"It's going to get cold soon! But it's been really hot again in the last few days. It will get colder quickly from Wednesday. I'm still sitting here in a T-shirt, we're sailing under a full main and the big gennaker. The sea is flat, it's great ..."

He described the prospects for the next few days as follows:

"We will try to catch the top of a depression that is travelling around Antarctica. We are well positioned for flat seas and strong winds. The theoretical speeds are quite high, but that's what the boats were built for, to maintain such high speeds for a long time. It's still about 3 days to the cape (now 2, the ed.) I have to admit that I haven't given it much thought yet. I'm concentrating on finding the right course in the current conditions. There will be stronger winds tomorrow and the day after. The Indian Ocean, we'll see, I haven't downloaded the first weather charts yet. But I know that my routing team on land has a good overview!"

While Laperche is in a good mood, Armel Le Cléac'h, who returned to the race yesterday lunchtime, is having a tough time. After the restart, he did not get off to a good start in the light winds of the Brazilian coast. He is around 250 miles behind the fourth-placed "Actual Ultim 3" and almost 1,600 miles behind the leader.

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