Ian Lipinski and Antoine Carpentier are the team of the moment on stage five of the Globe40. The "Crédit Mutuel" duo quickly pulled away after the start, driving their Scow-Bug-Class40 well ahead of the field towards the stage harbour of Recife in Brazil. At the same time, the Belgian rivals in the battle for the Globe40 victory had taken an early lead. have to stop for repairs. After that, Jonas Gerckens and Corentin Douguet from Team Belgium Ocean Racing - Curium had accumulated a gap of more than 600 nautical miles in flat new start conditions.
The penultimate Globe40 stage: the "Crédit Mutuel" cushion melts away
At that point, their fight for the stage win seemed hopeless. But in the meantime, the Belgians have not only long since overtaken all the top bow boats, but have also reduced their gap to the lone leader "Crédit Mutuel" to less than half after a furious race to catch up. On Tuesday morning, "only" 287 nautical miles separated the Belgians from "Crédit Mutuel". And everyone was asking themselves: what else might be possible in the coming days?
For both crews, this penultimate leg is about securing the best possible starting position for the final leg from Recife to the start and finish harbour of Lorient. In the Globe40 intermediate classification After the prologue and four stages, the Belgians lead the race with a total of 15 points, two points ahead of the French (17 points).
The "Crédit Mutuel" team had won four stages so far and had to give way to the victorious Belgians as well as Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink in the final thriller on the long second stage from Cape Verde to La Réunion, which had the highest classification. The French had shared the last stage win with the Belgians in Valparaiso after a finish that could not be properly resolved.
Burke and Fink attack again in the Globe40 final
In terms of stage wins, "Crédit Mutuel" would have the lead over the Belgians at 4:2. But not - yet - in terms of points. If the French were to win the current and double-counted fifth stage and the Belgians were to finish second, the two favourites for victory would go into the final and decisive stage with 19 points each on the Globe40 account. A finale could hardly have a more exciting starting position.
The sixth and final Globe40 stage kicks off on 29 March. But before that, stage five still has to be completed. The scenario for the final leg will then be made even more exciting by the fact that Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink will be back in the action after their interim Globe40 retirement on leg three, the mast repair on La Réunion and the ongoing South Atlantic crossing for the final leg.
The young German team Next Generation Boating Around the World has already beaten both top teams in the initial phase up to their sad end on the course from La Réunion to Sydney. Melwin Fink is currently zooming across the South Atlantic with the German Class40 and his transfer crew.
German Class40 already in Recife on Sunday?
The trio may want to reach Recife as early as next Sunday (8 March). Melwin Fink reported early Tuesday morning: "Good morning from the South Atlantic. Another 1500 nautical miles to Recife. The sun is slowly rising. That's marvellous. Nice sailing here. The night was calm. We had few squalls and were able to sail through quite well. But now we're heading back into the clouds."
Also on the morning of 3 March, the "Crédit Mutuel" crew sent a report from the sea. With less than 2500 nautical miles to Recife, it said: "The wind is finally picking up! At the beginning of the day it freshened up as announced in the weather forecast, in the same direction, a little stronger, even much stronger. We had gusts of up to 43 knots. We were a bit surprised, but we reacted quickly and were able to avoid damage."
Unfortunately, our lead has dwindled a little, but the goal remains clear: we want to win this stage." Ian Lipinski
Then there was a little breathing space for Ian Lipinski and Antoine Carpentier, who wrote: "Then the wind eased and was in line with the forecast of 25 to 35 knots. Meanwhile, our competitors caught up. That didn't surprise us, as this is part of the plan." During the ascent in the South Atlantic, the crews experienced major changes in their surroundings. The "Crédit Mutuel" crew noted: "We were able to observe how the water warmed up in less than an hour."
The water temperature rose from 11 to 17 degrees! Pure bliss, no more cold!" Antoine Carpentier
The French noted: "This phenomenon made us laugh, because we had filled our ballast tanks with water that was eleven degrees cold and the air temperature rose by a few degrees. As a result, quite dense condensation formed in our sleeping area, which led us to believe that the ballast tanks were leaking. So we emptied them one by one and filled them with 17-degree water. The result: no more condensation. It's a relief not to have to deal with leaking ballast tanks."
Like in Alfred Hitchcock's film "The Birds"
Even during the competition, the French found time to enjoy the natural spectacle of the South Atlantic. They wrote: "Like on a postcard, hundreds of small birds followed us all day long. We wondered how they managed not to collide with each other as so many of them flew around chaotically in a confined area. It reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock's film "The Birds"."
Behind the two superior scow-bug teams, however, a thrilling battle for supremacy in the pointed-bug boats developed once again. Lisa Berger and Jade Edwards-Leaney were in the lead until late into the night. after their Cape Horn passage at the weekend could even take the lead. On Tuesday morning, Jodé Guilherme Caldas and Luiz Bolina on "Barco Brasil" were again just ahead of the Austrian and the Welshman east of the Falkland Islands, but only by three nautical miles.
It will be interesting to see how Melodie Schaffer and Paul Stratfold's solo run on "Whiskey Jack" east of the Falkland Islands develops. They were recently travelling several knots slower than their competitors to the east, but sailed closer to the ideal line on the course to the stage port of Recife. Click here for the tracker.
The clip of the start of the penultimate Globe40 stage:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
