The Brit sounded tired and exhausted. Obviously, trying to stay on the heels of Armel Le Cléac'h was draining his reserves enormously. He reports that the wind in which he was sailing was far behind the forecast, allowing the Frenchman to pull away by around 200 miles. In addition, Thomson has been sailing for almost two weeks without wind instruments in the masthead and has had to build a wind gauge on a pole about two metres high at the stern as a replacement. The data obtained there is worse than that from the masthead and is likely to significantly impair the performance of his autopilot. He recently reported that his autopilot is having difficulties when it is supposed to control preset wind angles of incidence. However, this is one of the most important features for being fast.
Nevertheless, he is not giving up and is counting on the passage of the last front of the low lying ahead of them. This is currently slowing Armel Le Céac'h down somewhat, so that "Hugo Boss" is slowly fighting his way back up. But of course there is again the danger that the Frenchman will pass the weak wind zone and Thomson will then get stuck in it again for longer - the well-known rubber band effect. That's why Thomson said yesterday: "If I'm within 50 miles of Armel after passing the front, I still have a chance!"
This view was shared by sailing professional Brian Thompson, who joined Alex Thomson for a chat yesterday. Thompson is regarded as an excellent weather router and was a crew member on "Banque Populaire V" when it won the Jules Verne Trophy with Loïck Peyron. "It's not a 'the rich get richer' situation for Armel. Alex will catch up and maybe get within striking distance. It's too early to write him off." But he also said that the Frenchman knows such duels from the Figaro circus and is known to be excellent at them. He is also approaching waters that are his home territory, another advantage. Le Cléac'h has also been sailing in a clearly tactical manner for some time, covering "Hugo Boss" in a very classic way by always trying to stay on a direct line between the target and his pursuer. He began to position himself accordingly even before the Doldrums.
By 9 o'clock this morning, Thomson had closed to within 160 miles of the leader and was travelling at four knots faster. So it will be interesting to see what happens.
Behind them, Jérémie Beyou ("Maitre Coq") and Jean-Pierre Dick ("St. Michel Virbac") sail their lonely courses, both about 500 miles away from the boat in front of them. Behind them, the two Frenchmen Jean Le Cam and Yann Eliès are battling relentlessly for fifth place less than ten miles apart - sometimes with an advantage for one, sometimes for the other. Le Cam is currently in the lead.
Behind them, Conrad Coleman and Eric Bellion rounded Cape Horn yesterday. This means that the first ten of the remaining 18 skippers are in the race for the last major landmark.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
