You can feel a little sorry for the Imoca crews in the early stages of the last and longest leg of the Ocean Race Europe. They have been fighting their way through the Gulf of Genoa since the Sunday start at 3 pm. Boris Herrmann's pre-start question of whether to go offshore or stay close to the coast was quickly answered: After the first night of leg five to Boka Bay, the fleet feels its way "backwards" along the French coast to the penultimate leg harbour. This can be seen very clearly in the tracking.
Ocean Race Europe: Team Malizia stays close to the top trio
On Monday afternoon, the "Ocean's Seven" sailed around the height of Nice. With "speeds" of 0.5 to 4.2 knots, the foilers crawled along where they were hoping for at least a hint of wind from time to time. Instead of storming south past Corsica and Sardinia in order to reach the Adriatic Sea and the destination harbour of Boka Bay in Montenegro as quickly as possible, the current lack of wind only allows for this coastal course.
In the flat but technically demanding game, no team dared to move away from the group in a conspicuous way. Since the start of leg five, there had hardly ever been more than five knots of wind. Only eleven nautical miles separated the entire fleet on Monday afternoon, four nautical miles only the "usual suspects" at the front of the field. Boris Herrmann's team Malizia also sailed within sight of the trio at the front. The crews are watching each other, fighting for every tenth of speed and hoping for more pressure.
Patience is required, as the journey south could still take a long time. The key question for sailors at sea repeats itself: "Can you compete in a sailing race without wind?" Even before the start, "Paprec Arkéa" skipper Yoann Richomme announced: "It looks like it's going to be slow and very light - it could take us 48 hours to cover the first 200 miles."
Hoping for a breath of wind on the Côte d'Azur
He was about right - by late morning on the day after the start, he had travelled around 110 nautical miles towards Nice. With less than five knots of wind and even less speed, progress was extremely slow. "We had very little wind and not much more since the start," explained "Biotherm" skipper Paul Meilhat during the night. The leader had also explained the two course options: set course for Corsica or "play with the thermal breeze by sailing along the coast".
All the navigators unanimously decided in favour of the latter. Nobody dared to go the extra mile "It's very nice because it forces us to stay close to land, but it's also very technical," explained Paul Meilhat. "The challenge is to pick up some wind off the coast and then hope that we catch some additional thermal wind," added Yoann Richomme. However, the slow-motion sailing did not lead to a reduction in the level of competition.
We are all very close to each other." Paul Meilhat
Allagrande Mapei" had led for quite a while at the beginning, much to the delight of the Azzurri fans. Ambrogio Beccaria's co-skipper Thomas Ruyant said: "We had a good start because we managed to take advantage of the light thermal breeze near the coast. It was irregular, but it helped us to make good progress." However, the others soon came up again in the slow-motion chess game at sea. Here are the intermediate results after four stages for comparison.
Beccaria on a dive, Richomme smiles
"We tried to take the lead and it's really cool that we managed to do that," said Yoann Richomme with a smile. The blue and red boat held the lead until late Monday morning. Meanwhile, Ambrogio Beccaria had to dive under his boat and clear the keel of branches that had made "Allagrande Mapei" even slower than slow in the light winds.
The race crawl on this final leg of the Ocean Race Europe will continue for at least the whole of Monday. The European sailors are not expecting any noticeable relief from the flat conditions until Tuesday. "We don't yet know exactly when we will get more wind, so we still have a lot of thinking to do about strategy," said Yoann Richomme. "It's always the wind that decides where you can go!"
"It will be fun, but it will be very long," said Paul Meilhat, looking forward to the return to stragic decision-making on the course. However, the Vendée Globe fifth-placed rider also knew: "We are still a long way from the first waypoint (off Sardinia). It will take us two days to get there!"
Ocean Race Europe: off to the coast
The doldrums continued shortly before midday. Anyone travelling in the Cannes or Antibes regions should not be surprised if a fleet of Imocas comes into view. The crews set a strong course for the coast. Boris Herrmann reported from the sea: "We are now sailing towards the coast. Hoping that something might happen there. 1.9 knots. Half of that is current." When Herrmann recorded this, the average speed of the fleet on Monday afternoon was no more than two knots.
Crying or laughing when you're racing an Imoca at less than two knots? All the teams in the Ocean Race Europe are currently struggling with this. However, Team Malizia's review of the start of the stage and the prelude also shows how even a breeze can make you happy:
