The first few days of the Route de Rhum are certainly not boring. At 3.30am tonight, the race organisers received bad news from Damien Seguin, who was hit by a cargo ship, which immediately caused the mast on his Open 60 to break. It is still unclear exactly how the collision occurred in the middle of the Bay of Biscay, including whether the crew of the freighter stopped and offered assistance. However, Seguin is uninjured and shortly afterwards was already busy cutting free the remains of his rig to prevent further damage to the hull. His boat is currently travelling slowly towards the mainland at just under 2.5 knots. The likeable Frenchman, who sails with a handicap because he has been missing his left hand since birth, is already the third retirement in the Open 60 class, after "DMG Mori" and "Oliver Heer Racing" collided yesterday and the skippers had to sail back to St Malo.
Things aren't running smoothly for Boris Herrmann either at the moment. Today he spoke in a video from on board and reported problems with the engine, which is important for the power supply, which may come as a surprise to many, as it was said that "Malizia - Seaexplorer" is not dependent on the engine to generate electricity due to the many solar panels and hydrogenerators. However, these hydrogenerators could be a problem, as Herrmann mentions in a subordinate clause that their bearings are causing problems and a loud whining noise can be heard in the background. Apparently, water has got into the engine's oil circuit and there is only one litre of replacement on board. An Open 60 cannot be sailed without a sufficient battery charge. So Boris mentions in an aside that the problem could end his race.
It would be a shame, because although the German is currently in the front midfield, he is within striking distance of the other new boats such as Paul Meilhat's "Biotherm", Yannick Bestaven's "Maître Coq" or Sam Davies' "Initiatives Cœur".
Lonely at the top
But at the front, favourite Charly Dalin is pulling away, lonely but seemingly unstoppable. He has already made up almost 100 miles on his closest rival, Thomas Ruyant's "Linked Out". He really seems to be sailing in a different league, dominating practically every race this year. It's hard to imagine that he'll have a new boat next year, which could possibly be even faster.
After Ruyant, who has already managed to pull away somewhat, the race is very close and exciting. Jérémy Beyou's brand new "Charal", equipped with futuristic X-rudders, is in a neck-and-neck race with Kevin Escoffier's new "Holcim" and Louis Burton's "Bureau Vallée", which the Vendée Globe bronze medallist has had since 2021 and is now also playing in the foil league - and quite impressively at that. He sails the ex-"L'Occitane" by Armel Tripon, a Sam Manuard design.
The performance of three women in the field has also been quite strong so far: Isabelle Joschke is in 12th place with her "MACSF", Justine Mettraux from Switzerland is in 15th place with "Teamworks" and Sam Davies is in 20th place with "Initatives Cœur". However, the rankings only reflect part of the truth, as they are based on the great circle navigation, i.e. the shortest direct route, which is not necessarily the best route due to the weather. However, all three are well positioned, Joschke in the north, Mettraux in the centre and Davies further south, in order to avoid today's approaching storm with winds of over 40 knots. The boats in the north already have more wind and are therefore currently travelling much faster.
It will be interesting to see who gets through the front that is approaching the field best. Tomorrow will show whether the boats further north can get through safely and use the earlier wind to their advantage. One person hoping for this is Benjamin Dutreux, who sails "Guyot Environnement", the boat with which Robert Stanjek's OTG team will start the Ocean Race in January. He is far to the north and is currently sailing almost four knots faster than Charlie Dalin's pursuers. It will be interesting to see where he finds himself tomorrow. In any case, the 32-year-old is a tough dog and takes high risks.
Breakage and a hair-trigger jury decision
Ahead sails the class of Ultims, in which there was plenty of news yesterday. Armel Le Cléac'h, who lost the main centreboard on his monster tri "Banque Populaire" yesterday, told us how it happened. "I heard a loud bang, then I saw debris from the centreboard floating aft in the stern of the boat. They hit the hull and damaged it in some places."
But the Breton made it back to the team base in Lorient yesterday, where they are working feverishly on the boat: The team has a replacement centreboard that could be used if the centreboard box is not too badly damaged. "We could have continued without the centreboard, if it had happened behind the Azores we would have seriously considered it," said his team manager Ronan Lucas. However, the centreboard is important to regulate the horizontal flight position on the foils; without it, the boat's performance would have been severely impaired. The drift would also be significantly greater without the foil, especially on the upwind course that the boats are currently travelling. Banque Populaire" is allowed to race again until Saturday morning, after which the time window granted in the regulations expires.
However, there was some relieving news for the leading Charles Caudrelier on his "Edmond de Rothschild". After reading the boat's GPS data and the starting buoys fitted with trackers, the jury determined that he was a full 50 metres ahead of the starting line when the starting gun was fired. It doesn't get much more perfect than that with a 30-metre tri. The four-hour stop penalty that the jury had imposed on him yesterday was thus cancelled. He is currently 28 miles ahead of Francois Gabart's "SVR Lazartigue", who was able to make up a few miles overnight. Around 20 miles behind is Thomas Coville's "Sodebo Ultim", which appears to have significantly reduced the deficit to the class leader "Edmond de Rothschild" after being converted to completely new foils and with side hulls shortened by four metres.
The toughest class of the race: Class 40
The competition in the largest starting class of the race, the Class 40, is incredibly tough, with twelve boats within ten miles of each other and the first three not even a mile apart, meaning they sail in sight of each other the whole time. Alex Mehran's "Polka Dot" is in front, followed by Corentin Douget's "Queguiner Innoveo". However, the phenomenon of the race at the moment is the top favourite Yoann Richomme. After his four-hour stop penalty yesterday for his early start, after which he fell back to last place, he has already worked his way back up to 14th place and is only eleven miles behind the leader. So he is truly sailing with the knives between his teeth on his mission to defend his title from the last race.
