As expected, the field of the Les Sables-Horta Race passed through the channel of a small low over the Bay of Biscay yesterday and is now sailing southwards on the eastern flank of the currently huge and stable Azores High with a strong, clear wind of around 20 knots, gusting to 25. And the speed of the Class 40 immediately jumped from 7 or 8 knots to between 18 and 20 knots, even on Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink's "Signforcom"! Full throttle and thus record conditions, the record set by Ian Lipinski and his "Crédit Mutuel" dates back to the last Les Sables-Horta Race 2020: 428.82 nautical miles, which corresponds to an average of 17.9 knots. It will be interesting to see what the boats of the latest generation are capable of. The average speeds have been climbing steadily for around twelve hours, so we'll have to wait and see what the top boats' logs will show tomorrow!
Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink are also doing well with their Pogo S 4 "Signforcom", although they are no longer in the leading group, they are still within striking distance with a nine-mile gap and similar speed. The crucial question is which crews will be able to maintain the high speeds in the long term, not produce any sun shots or destroy one of the sails. There are still just under 900 nautical miles to the finish of the first leg in Horta on the Azores island of Faial. It looks like the rough winds will remain, even if they should weaken a little further offshore. In any case, it will be a fast ride for the Class 40 duos.
A video of the start in front of Les Sables from the organiser:
The detailed video portrait of the boat and crew:
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Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
