After almost 15 years of planning from the initial idea to the start, it is finally becoming a reality: on Sunday at 1.30 pm French time, the skippers of the six Ultim-Tris will set off on a non-stop race around the world. Thanks to a stable high over northern France, the weather forecast for the start predicts 9 to 17 knots of wind from the north-east, waves of less than two metres and even a few rays of sunshine. These are ideal conditions for the boats and the skippers can be expected to reach speeds of over 30 knots fairly quickly. After all, triple wind speed is nothing special for these boats. They will probably have easily completed the 350 nautical miles across the Bay of Biscay by Monday morning, although it is possible that the wind will drop a little as they leave the Bay of Biscay. It would hardly be surprising if the boats easily exceed the 600-mile mark in the first 24 hours.
Such conditions promise beautiful pictures for fans of the Mega-Tris. And the best way to see them live is via the event page on Youtube or Facebook. As usual, the boats will be followed by helicopters and drones, so spectacular images are guaranteed. After that, fans can look at the race tracker regularly to sweeten the cold winter days in Germany.
From Tuesday it will be blowing steadily southwards further out off the Portuguese coast, so it can be assumed that the boats will pass the Canary Islands very quickly. Almost all the skippers were relieved about this, as the many westerly storms on the French coast this winter had suggested that it could be a start in brutal conditions like the Transat two months ago or the Route du Rhum 2022. This increases the chance that the field will make it towards the South Atlantic without any major losses or damage.
What to expect in the first few days after the start of the Ultim Challenge
In contrast to the Vendée Globe, external weather routing by specialists on land is permitted for the race. Armel Le Cléac'h's routing team, for example, has been firmly in rhythm since Wednesday: "Our weather unit has been on site in Lorient since Wednesday. There are now fixed briefings every day and we are working on the perfect strategy and how best to work together during the race." The Ultim class decided the routing in the class years ago due to the risk of capsizing. The top teams have up to three men on duty 24 hours a day to monitor all changes and work out the weather tactics together with the skipper. However, this has its limits, as Skipper Charles Caudrelier in a YACHT interview recently remarked.
Armel Le Cléac'h, skipper of the Banque-Populaire team, describes what will happen in the first few days: "If the good conditions last longer at the start, it's easy to be fast without having to force anything. On the other hand, it's interesting to find out where you can and must actually place the cursor if you have to do so in other conditions." Even though the boats raced against each other in a transatlantic race just two months ago, it is not exactly clear who is where, as "Edmond de Rothschild", "Sodebo Ultim" and "Actual" had technical problems and fell well short of their boats' capabilities. However, it was precisely these three teams that recently made technical improvements to their boats, Sodebo with a longer mast with a large sail area and the other two with modified foils.
Even though the pressure is high, Armel Le Cléac'h is looking forward to the race:
"In my 25-year career, I have never travelled beyond Ascension Island in a multihull. Now I'm going to go far, and I hope to go all the way around the world. This prospect is exciting, makes me want to start and makes me happy. I'm lucky to be doing this on an Ultim that I feel comfortable on and can do speeds that are impossible on other boats. Knowing that I can be at the Cape of Good Hope in twelve days and at Cape Horn in 30 completely changes the way I look at sailing around the world. In an Imoca, it takes a month to reach the Cape of Good Hope and almost twice as long to round Cape Horn. We are entering a new dimension!"
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Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
