Fast boats eat up miles. And so it was that the long-sufferers in the west, above all Puma Ocean Racing, finally got the wind they had hoped for at the weekend and took the lead with speeds of around 20 knots. Puma then took the lead on Sunday night. They were followed by Telefonica (minus 8.6 miles) and Camper (minus 144 miles). At least that was the position report at 05:00 CET on Monday.
And Groupama? From the penthouse to the outhouse. From hero to zero. A few days ago, the French were still leading by 200 miles on their course along the African coast, but have since been quickly pushed to the back of the pack and are now an almost unbelievable 317 miles behind. While the others were heading straight south, Groupama first had to pass the Cape Verde Islands to the north at a much slower pace. Skipper Franck Cammas took it in his stride: "It's not looking very good at the moment. But that was the price we paid for taking the risk. We knew that this option would only favour us in the short term. It could cost us 100 to 200 miles, but a lot can happen in the horse latitudes."
And Puma will soon reach this huge car park. This will put an end to all the bumping around, and everything will be pushed together again. Whoever is the first to rejoin the trade wind will also be the first to reach the next railway mark. This is the island of Fernando de Noronha off the Brazilian coast. And it remains on the port side.
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