Transat Café L'Or: "11th Hour" in top three, Class40 stops, Beucke injured

In the Transat Café L'Or, the Atlantic challengers continue their journey along the coasts of Europe and Africa. Meanwhile, the Spanish harbour of La Coruña serves as a refuge for the Class40, while the Ultims and Ocean Fifties sail another day off the beaches of Morocco and Mauritania in search of the trade winds that should gradually appear south of the Canary Islands. Here is a review of the situation two days ago.

Transat Café L'Or: "SVR Lazartigue" extends its lead

Usually a little faster than the others and largely faultless, Tom Laperche and Franck Cammas have extended their lead in the Ultims four days after the start of the Transat Café L'Or to more than 130 nautical miles ahead of "Sodebo Ultim 3" by Thursday morning. The pursuers are taking risks here and there, but have not yet been rewarded for it. For example, "Sodebo Ultim 3", which had chosen the Canary Islands passage between La Palma (where the Mini-Transat started last weekend) and La Gomera the day before, but still lost more miles as a result.

Because they assumed that the key to success lay in the east, Thomas Coville and Benjamin Schwartz wanted to be the first to get out of the way. However, given the very tight angles of their gybes, they suffered losses at the exit of the archipelago. "It was impressive at the start," commented opponent Tom Laperche on the attempt in the morning of 30 October. Thomas Coville and Benjamin Schwartz had initially been able to utilise the acceleration at the entrance to the islands very well, making up a lot of ground within a few hours, but the exit proved to be much more difficult.

The result: "Sodebo Ultim 3" has lost a large part of its lead over "Actual Ultim 4", which was only around 20 nautical miles behind them on Thursday morning. "Banque Populaire XI" is also struggling to catch up with the Ultims in the Transat Café L'Or after the pit stop. Armel Le Cléac'h and Sébastien Josse had initially sought their fortune in the west, but now have to see how they can position themselves a little further east again. Click here for the Transat Café L'Or tracker.

Lois Berrehar celebrates 32nd birthday as front runner

For the Ultims, the next waypoint on course south is at Dhakla. The Moroccan spot is popular with kitesurfers and wingfoilers. Tom Laperche recently assumed that "everyone will head for the coast, as there is still an air current there when the trade winds are weak due to the temperature difference between land and sea." Laperche expected that his team would be able to extend their lead in the Transat Café L'Or over the course of the day on course for Cape Verde, which "SVR Lazartigue" should pass on Friday morning.

While "Edenred" with Emmanuel Le Roch and Basile Bourgnon has now taken the lead in the Ocean Fifties ahead of Pierre Quiroga and Gaston Morvan on "Wewise", Francesca Clapcich and Will Harris have worked their way closer to the old and new leaders Sam Goodchild and Lois Berrehar on "Macif Santé Prévoyance" in the Imocas. On Thursday morning at the Transat Café L'Or, "11th Hour Racing" was separated from the Vendée Globe winner by just 14 nautical miles. Boris Herrmann's ex-"Malizia - Seaexplorer" thus continues to demonstrate strong transat speed capabilities.

After beautiful sailing conditions the day before, the Imocas are a little more complicated. In the position poker, Sam Goodchild and Lois Berrehar had managed to advance again with a decision against the trand. "We decided yesterday to stay in the west. With Loïs, we didn't follow the last gybe of 'Allagrande Mapei' and 'Charal' and then found ourselves in a more favourable position when the wind dropped," explained Sam Goodchild. The lead is the perfect birthday present for Boris Herrmann's fellow Ocean Race Europe competitor, who celebrates his 32nd birthday on 30 October.

Congratulations to Loïs and everyone on the great performance!" Boris Herrmann

On this 30th October, the large monohull class in the Transat Café L'Or on the Atlantic has experienced the strongest weather contrasts. The five leading Imocas - from "Macif Santé Prévoyance" to "11th Hour Racing" and "TeamWork - Team Snef" - are preparing to round the back of the depression today. The second group is sailing in the south-western part of the depression in a rough wind. The stragglers - from "Fortinet - Best Western" to "Coup de Pouce" - will have to fight against increasingly strong winds and drop towards Gibraltar.

Almost all Class40ies in La Coruña, Beucke injured

34 Class40ies had finally reached the harbour of La Coruña. Eight more were still on their way to where the fleet of small monohulls gathers at the Transat Café L'Or to avoid stormy weather and then restart the race with a second leg. The times are added together in the final classification. The race organisers had agreed and announced the unusual protective measure of a stopover with the class before the start of the Transat.

Corentin Douguet and Axel Tréhin on "SNSM Faites un don" won the first leg with a lead of just over 20 minutes ahead of Guillaume Piruelle and Cédric Chateau on "Seafrigo - Sogestran". A very strong 21st boat under the circumstances was "Alderan" with Sasha Lanièce and Sanni Beucke came into the "stage harbour". Sanni Beucke had injured herself on board on 27 October while stowing the sails. She had slipped and suffered an injury to her left knee.

"I heard a kind of 'pop' like when I broke my tibia years ago." The 2021 Olympic silver medallist was still able to stand afterwards, but could no longer bend her knee. On board, she reported during the race: "Sasha is doing an epic job here, sailing the boat solo and bringing it up to great speed." The organisers have organised an MRI appointment for Sanni Beucke for today. "I want to make sure that nothing gets worse," said Sanni Beucke.

Class40 restart on Saturday?

The last few nautical miles to La Coruña are likely to be unpleasant for the Class 40 crews still sailing. The wind is expected to peak at around 6 pm this Thursday. "They will have gusts of up to 45 knots, but the wind will come from the south-west and the course along the coast will remain navigable," predicts Pierre Yves Guilherm, weather expert for the Transat Café L'Or. A weather window for the restart of the Class40ies could open up as early as Saturday.