For the leading duo François Gabart and Armel Le Cléac'h, their exchange of blows at record speeds over the last few days is now paying off in the form of a substantial lead. Only the two of them caught the edge of the large low-pressure area under Australia, which gave them good wind and speed and allowed them to pull away with giant strides. In third place, Jean-Pierre Dick ("Virbac Paprec 3") missed the connection by a hair's breadth, while Alex Thomson ("Hugo Boss") and Bernard Stamm had to make a huge diversions around the high pressure area ahead of them.
The result is of course poison for the suspense of the race: Gabart and Le Cléac'h have now pulled away from Jean-Pierre Dick by almost 280 nautical miles, while Thomson and Stamm are already around 500 nautical miles behind. And it is foreseeable that the gap will increase significantly over the next few days - a very critical phase of the race for the pursuers. The "oldies gang" Jean Le Cam ("Synerciel"), Mike Golding ("Gamesa") and Dominique Wavre ("Mirabaud") have been hit even harder, with a gap of over 1300 miles and three weather systems between them and the leaders, they can only really get back within striking distance through extreme weather luck or technical problems for the leaders.
A small indiscretion by Vendée grandmaster Michel Desjoyeaux was interesting yesterday. In a conversation with the organiser, he revealed what apparently makes François Gabart's "Macif" a little bit faster than "Banque Populaire" - at least under certain conditions: a "blast reacher", a headsail that is used in extremely strong winds in the range of 35 to 40 knots and 120 degrees angle of incidence and, above all, keeps the boat very calm and balanced. Gabart had reported during a live broadcast at the Paris Boat Show that his 24-hour record in such conditions was actually quite relaxing sailing. "I was sitting below deck and the autopilot was doing all the work. I finally got a lot of sleep!" he told the visibly stunned audience.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
