The spray flies over the deck, the swords sing, the boat flies, the skipper is happy:
"The conditions are ideal, the wind has dropped a little, below 20 knots, and we have few waves, maybe two metres. I have to drop a bit so that I can maintain my southerly course. The boat likes that, the loads aren't big, we just surf the waves like a big surfboard. The boat accelerates on the wave, then it slows down a bit, and so it goes on and on," says Herrmann from on board, while the Speedo constantly oscillates somewhere between 20 and 23 knots.
Boris Herrmann on ideal sailing in the trade winds
As relaxed as the whole thing looks, it's not slow. Yesterday the German was still in twelfth place, 24 hours later he has worked his way up to eighth place in the ranking after overtaking "Groupe Apicil" and "Maître Coq IV" during the night thanks to better speed. Sam Davies' "Initiatives Cœur" is now also just behind the "Seaexplorer" (4 nautical miles), which is psychologically important, as Herrmann had estimated Davies and her boat to be about as strong as himself.
At the front, Briton Alex Thomson's lead is slowly melting away. While his two pursuers Thomas Ruyant ("Linked Out") and Charlie Dalin ("Apivia") were still 139 and 183 nautical miles behind respectively yesterday, they have both closed the gap by around 30 miles in the last 24 hours (107/153 miles). And this is not because Thomson has already arrived in the Doldrums, he is still travelling at around 20 knots at the front; Dalin and Ruyant are obviously pushing their two Verdier designs to catch up. It will be interesting to see whether Thomson can keep up over the next few days. Today, the Briton expects to reach the Doldrums. He is psychologically prepared for this.
"I always expect the worst. We know how Jérémie got stuck in the Doldrums during the Transat and lost the lead. If I make it through safely, that's a bonus!" At the moment, however, the weather forecast looks like a relatively problem-free passage.
Thomson on the upcoming Doldrums passage
Jean Le Cam dropped back to third place yesterday, fending off the fast foilers as best he could. However, he lost 40 miles in one day to "Hugo Boss", and Thomas Ruyant came up from behind at the same pace. Today, "Apivia" could overtake him.
The former top favourite starts the race again
There is also a lot going on further back in the field: Jérémie Beyou starts the race again today at 15 in Les Sables, and the Japanese Kojiro Shiraishi is bobbing around in the doldrums, feverishly working on repairing his torn mainsail. He has now taken it down and yesterday sanded the laminate with sandpaper, presumably to create a laminate joint; the skipper's comments are unfortunately only available in Japanese.
French-German Isabelle Joschke is also well back in the race with her "MACSF". After losing many places when she sailed away from the field in the first storm front with an alternative course towards Portugal, she also arrived in the trade winds yesterday and is making good progress. She is in 16th place, around 620 nautical miles behind.
But that's nothing compared to the last third of the field, which is stuck in the doldrums after hurricane "Theta" a few days ago. But although the leaders are far behind, the skippers there are in good spirits, as the Brit Pip Hare writes on her "Medailla". "We are sailing our own race here as a group, the gaps are small and we are fighting for every position." The 46-year-old sails a 21-year-old design, Bernard Stamm's self-built "Armor Lux". However, the lull is somewhat frustrating for Frenchman Armel Tripon. His "L'Occitane", a fast Sam Manuard new-build, was sailing at the front before he had to stop at sea for a repair and lost his connection. The skipper tries to contain his frustration with daily yoga sessions on board.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
