Breathless in the Transat Café L'Or. That's what it feels like for the 142 sailors, who are racing in four classes on four Ultims, seven Ocean Fifties, 18 Imocas and 42 Class40ies after the Capsizing of the three Ocean Fifties and other dampers are still in the race. On the second day and the second night, most of them were able to recover a little (too much) from the Thawing rodeo recover. However, they are not granted a long break from the pressurised game.
Transat Café L'Or: lots of manoeuvres, little sleep
On board "11th Hour Racing", Francesca Clapchich's co-skipper Will Harris summarised the start for YACHT online: "Cruising out of the channel in 30 to 40 knots of wind was a real challenge. We are all OK on board, the boat is still in one piece. We just wanted to survive this first night and then start the hunt. And that's exactly what we're doing right now. We made a good move by staying a little further west than the front boats. We were able to catch up with the front runners."
Will Harris' outlook on the challenge ahead: "Now we're going into the deep end. It's going to be quite complicated to manage. We're sailing right on the edge of the front. And we have to try to go round the outside. That's what we're trying to do right now. Lots of manoeuvres, little sleep so far. We're looking forward to when we finally get to the south."
While most of the seven Ocean Fifties were already sailing off the coast of Morocco, the Imoca top five had just left the Bay of Biscay at midday on Tuesday. Their pursuers were still battling it out. An area of high pressure had made progress difficult for the peloton in particular during the night.
Imoca power play in the battle for the lead
A gap of almost 80 nautical miles opened up between the leading Imocas of "Allagrande Mapei", "11th Hour Racing", "Macif Santé Prévoyance", "Charal" and "Association Petits Princes - Queguiner" and the chasers. At one point earlier in the morning, 11th Hour Racing had also led the field, before "Allagrande Mapei" took over. At midday, "Charal" was ahead in the powerful Imoca pentathlon.
Following close behind was the top favourite and Vendée Globe winner "Macif Santé Prévoyance", on which Sam Goodchild and Lois Berrehar battled for second place with Ambrogio Beccaria and Thomas Ruyant on "Allagrande Mapei" and with Francesca Clapcich and Will Harris on "11th Hour Racing". British co-skipper Goodchild reported: "We are happy to be back on course. The residual waves made sailing very difficult last night. Now we're looking forward to passing Cape Finisterre."
Goodchild also reported from on board: "Lois did all the work and has now earned his sleep, because I spent my time doing a small repair with composite materials." Goodchild did not elaborate on the damage, only describing it as "fixed". His forecast: "For the rest of the day, it's going to be a bit of a struggle to find a way around this low, which is static at first and then moving east, with very strong winds on one side and very weak winds on the other."
Two nights, two worlds at Transat Café L'Or
Goodchild explained how to deal with the low pressure: "We are trying to strategically choose the right course and the right sails and not damage anything. That won't be easy. So we'll make a few gybes today to manoeuvre past it. That's our plan for now, and then we'll be heading south pretty safely by late evening, that's our goal."
A little further back in the field of 18 Imocas, Fabrice Amedeo and Andreas Baden from Kiel on "FDJ United - Wewise" are battling for every mile forward in 15th place after the recent very flat conditions. Andreas Baden reported on Tuesday morning: "The second night at sea was the complete opposite of the first. In the first night we had a storm, in the second we were travelling at two to six knots. It was pretty patchy. There were also shifting and oscillating winds with 50-degree wind shifts."
Tom Laperche and Franck Cammas have defended their lead in the Ultim race so far, around 30 nautical miles ahead of "Sodebo Ultim 3" and almost 50 nautical miles ahead of "Actual Ultim 4". The "Banque Populaire XI" co-skippers Armel Le Cléac'h and Sébastien Josse left Lorient again on Monday afternoon after their pit stop. After some ups and downs, the French duo still have around 300 nautical miles to make up on the leaders.
Ultims back in the wind
"Banque Populaire XI" will also encounter the stormier weather after the gradual drop in wind at Cape Finisterre. The exciting question: will they take the same route as the three competitors ahead of them or will they after the pit stop and with a view to the lost time, think more radically and orientate themselves more towards the West?
The Ultim trio ahead sailed hard upwind again on Tuesday morning in the Transat Café L'Or. Towards the evening, the three giants should catch up with the Ocean Fifties, which started the day before them, and find calmer sailing conditions again after the low, in which they can increase their speed from 16 to 18 knots recently. Thomas Coville reported from "Sodebo Ultim 3" that he was satisfied with the start of the race, with no damage and a good position.
According to Thomas Coville, his team uses "a lot of satellite images to avoid clouds and storms". But looking at the horizon also provides useful information for the giant trimarans: "Large cumulonimbus clouds can still be seen on the horizon, but the orange-yellow lights clearly show that the atmosphere has changed."
The sea is a bit of a minefield, but I like these moods." Thomas Coville
Meanwhile, the smallest class in the Transat Café L'Or is on its way to La Coruña, where the race committee has ordered them to make a safety stop to avoid the worst effects of the low pressure system. The restart time for the second leg has not yet been set. Here the two-handed crews have recently had to deal with confusing conditions: They had to fight against the swell in weak and very unsettled winds.
Sailing in the Bay of Biscay
Corentin Douguet, co-skipper on the fourth-placed "Faites un don sur SNSM" explained in the morning: "We just ran aground in a calm. With two knots and heavy seas, the pilot is lost." That "spoilt his breakfast" a little. And indeed, Corentin Douguet and Axel Tréhin had soon lost their lead in this sail-pounding race, which Achille Nebout and Gildas Mahé had taken over on "Amarris" by 11am.
With the remnants of the storm over northern Spain dying down by then, the organisers are expecting "quite a bit of chaos" when the Class40 crews arrive in La Coruña due to the unpredictable wind conditions. The first duos are expected to reach the Spanish harbour of refuge between 8 and 10 a.m. on Wednesday. It will take longer for the rear boats. Here, Sasha Lanièce and Sanni Beucke on "Alderan" have recently worked their way up to 22nd place. Click here for tracking for all classes.
