Imoca season opener: Guyader Bermudes 1000: The half-time results: Dalin dominates, Joschke attacks

After three days at sea, the Imoca fleet has sorted itself in the third edition of the Guyader Bermudes 1000 from Brest via the Fastnet rocks and the Gallimard waymark back to Brest. Vendée Globe runner-up Charlie Dalin leads the field on "Apivia". However, not - as on Tuesday evening - ahead of his closest rival Thomas Ruyant. The "LinkedOut" skipper dropped back considerably overnight and clearly has some damage to repair. By early Wednesday morning, he had plummeted to ninth place. While the boats around him were travelling at 16 to 23 knots, Ruyant was limping towards the last big waymark Gallimard at eleven knots with his foiler. In second place, Jérémie Beyou was chasing leader Dalin, 75 nautical miles behind. The strength of Dalin's performance was also demonstrated after the third night at sea by the fact that Dalin has already passed the waymark positioned 250 nautical miles west-north-west of Cape Finisterre and has turned onto the home straight to Brest, where the fastest boats are expected on Friday.

Dalin led this first major Imoca race of the season right from the start. The skipper from Le Havre aptly described the battle for the lead shortly before Ruyant's setback: "With Thomas and Jérémie, it's like the usual suspects. We've been fighting with each other since the Vendée Arctique 2020. It was a three-way fight in that race too. Just like in the Transat Jacques Vabre last year. And now it's starting again." The 38-year-old is clearly enjoying the test of strength with obvious speed advantages for his "Apivia". "All three of us have competitive boats that we know well. For all three of us, this is the fourth year we've sailed them. We have boats that perform well and reflect our experience on them. So that makes sense."

Racing starts are one of Dalin's particular strengths. The running Guyader Bermudes 1000 made no difference. He had already dominated the fleet in light winds in the opening phase. The later rough conditions on the Fastnet rounding off the Irish coast could not stop the Frenchman either. "It was pretty brutal on the Fastnet arrival. I had almost 30 knots of wind and strong gusts. It wasn't exactly cosy, but I kept on the gas because it's the only way to defend the lead. I tried to have as much sail area up as possible at all times."

Behind the now third-placed Louis Burton on "Bureau Vallée" and his pursuer Benjamin Dutreux on "Guyot Environment-Water Family", the German-French Isabelle Joschke pushed forwards on Wednesday morning. Shortly after the halfway point, the "Macsf" skipper shot up to fifth place. She had "only" rounded Fastnet Rock in eleventh place. Born in Munich, the multicultural daughter of a German-Austrian father and a French mother had taken some time to reflect after her Vendée Globe rollercoaster ride to decide whether to continue. Now she seems stronger than ever and is one of the outstanding players at the start of the season. Nicolas Lunven on the fastest non-foiler to date in sixth place can also be counted among them. The "Banque Populaire" skipper has taken over his role from the pregnant Clarisse Crémer. In tenth place, the likeable New Zealander Conrad Colman is also well in the running on "Imagine". The Kiwi is making a strong comeback in the class, seems to have the former "V and B-Myenne" well under control and could score points in his search for sponsors for the Vendée Globe 2024/2025.

Two of the 24 Imocas that started are already out of the race: The unfortunate "Corum L'Épargne" skipper Nicolas Troussell had to retire once again with keel problems. In the race, he sailed his Kouyoumdijan design to a top five finish. Weöres Szabolcs retired with "Szabi Racing" shortly after the start of the race on Sunday. Here are some insights into the world of skippers (please click!). Click here for tracking and intermediate results (please click!).