Ultim Challenge: Le Cléac'h starts pursuit shortly, Laperche controls at will

It's taking longer than expected: although the race management of the Arkea Ultim Challenge Brest announced that Armel Le Cléac'h was going to start the chase this morning after his team had completed all the repairs to the pulpit, gennaker and hydraulics for the starboard foil in Recife, the boat was still in the harbour on the tracker at around 12 noon. The regulations stipulate a minimum 24-hour stop if one of the skippers has to stop. The Frenchman is banking on the fact that the early stop in the race will give him a chance to catch up. Recently, it didn't look like "Banque Populaire XI" had a speed advantage over the two leading boats, so he will have to hope for bad weather for the leading duo - or ideal conditions for himself. However, his tri almost always seemed to be a tad faster than Thomas Coville's "Sodebo Ultim 3", which is almost certainly his next big target, but with a 700-mile gap, it's no walk in the park either. About 70 miles ahead of him sails Anthony Marchand with his "Actual Ultim 3". Click here for the tracker

Because the ideal conditions are currently prevailing, especially at the front. Since yesterday, Thomas Coville has been travelling really fast with the most favourable wind angle from the north-east from diagonally astern, was able to reduce his gap to the leading duo to 460 miles and sailed 772 nautical miles in 24 hours. Charles Caudrelier had already scratched the 800-mile mark yesterday with 789 miles, which corresponds to an average of almost 33 knots. This means that the skippers are gradually approaching the 24-hour single-handed record that François Gabart set in 2017 with his old "Macif", now in the race as "Actual Ultim". Back then, he was on a single-handed record trip around the world and sailed 850 miles in 24 hours - with a non-foiler.

Will there be record conditions for the 24-hour record?

At the front, Tom Laperche and Charles Caudrelier are now approaching the first low of the Southern Ocean, on the eastern side of which they will try to keep up for as long as possible. As the lows usually move eastwards at a speed of around 30 to 40 knots, an Ultim can ideally do this for a very long time, as this pace is feasible for him. Francis Joyon on "Idec Sport" recently achieved this feat with a fabulous time for the crossing of the Indian Ocean, which he almost crossed with only one weather system. For the three leading boats, the route to the Cape of Good Hope looks like a smooth passage, and the chasing boats should also find fairly good conditions.

It is interesting to see how confidently Tom Laperche countered Charles Caudrelier's attempt to catch up with him tonight. He had been pushing his "Edmond de Rothschild" for hours, was significantly faster than Laperche and came from around 75 miles behind to within 25 miles. Since then, he has lost just under 10 miles again, and both are now travelling at almost the same speed to the decimal point. So it looks as if "SVR Lazartigue" could definitely go one better if necessary. But the race is still long, and perhaps Caudrelier doesn't want to put too much strain on his boat.

More on the topic

• How does an Ultim sail? Interview with Charles Caudrelier
• The shape guide for skippers and their tris