Transat Jacques Vabre: Team Malizia in the top ten - Western breakaway riders speed away

West or south? This question is currently preoccupying the Imoca fleet in the 16th Transat Jacques Vabre. With around 2,400 nautical miles to go to the finish, what will the almost 200 nautical mile lead that the leaders of the westbound breakaway - Justine Mettraux and Julien Villion on "Teamwork.net" and Sébastien Simon and Iker Martinez on "Groupe Debreuil" - have built up be worth in the coming days?

An upside-down world in the Imocas Transat fleet

The ride to the west on the northern Transat route is currently still so favoured that even the chasers of the first breakaway have overtaken the leading group on the southern course in the intermediate tracker results. Imocas such as "Freelance.com", "Monnoyeur - Duo for a Job", "Fives Group - Lantana Environment" and Pip Hare's "Medaillia" suddenly found themselves in 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th place on day six. It was a bit of an upside-down world in the Imoca fleet of the Transat Jacques Vabre.

This is due to the fact that the three big pre-start favourites "For People", "Paprec Arkéa" and "Charal" were in 8th, 10th and 11th place behind them at midday on 12 November. In between, Boris Herrmann and Will Harris fought their way back up to ninth place after their technical compass problems, comeback, loss in the doldrums and renewed comeback. In the pure performance analysis of the boats, this quartet should be further ahead. Can the four of them get there again?

The vast majority of the fleet is heading south. I'm actually not quite sure why, but we somehow agreed 60:40 that we wanted to go south" (Boris Herrmann)

Everything will depend on how the winds develop for the west and south groups. Among the many what-if considerations, the approaching low-pressure area that the two leading boats in the west group will have to face on Monday morning must also be taken into account. However, it does not appear too dramatic to the weather experts. However, it is likely to be followed by a more severe low pressure system on Wednesday, the other side of which the "westerners" will have to get to in order to be able to dive into the south.

On Saturday, "Malizia - Seaexplorer" skipper Boris Herrmann explained the split in the fleet and also his own conflict in the decision-making process: "We could have been the strong guys and sailed the northern route, but is that still a race or is it just a weather lottery? Yes, all the models look better for the northern route, but we're here to learn and compete with the best boats in the fleet. The vast majority of the fleet is heading south. I'm actually not quite sure why, but we were kind of 60:40 in agreement that we wanted to go south. But we'd also said to ourselves: if more boats go west, we'll be super happy to go west too."

Herrmann seeks the Transat comparison with the top boats

However, this was delayed. Initially, it was only "Teamwork.net" and "Groupe Debreuil" that attempted the breakaway to the west. Nine boats now appear to be following them. Boris Herrmann also said: "Chapeau to Seb Simon and Justine who are out there. They will most likely win the race, but we want to compete with a large number of boats that we didn't have in the Ocean Race. That's one of the big motivators."

And so Boris Herrmann and Will Harris continue to battle intensively with the top boats and top teams such as defending champion Thomas Ruyant with Morgan Lagravière ("For People"), Yoann Richomme with Yann Eliès ("Paprec Arkéa") and Jérémie Beyou ("Charal") on course south, while the west boats try to gain every possible mile advantage. After all, they too will have to cross the unpredictable high-pressure belt to the south at some point on course for the destination harbour of Fort-de-France in the Caribbean and will need the maximum cushion to do so.

Isabelle Joschke back in the race, Andreas Baden on stress tests in the doldrums

"Macsf" skipper Isabelle Joschke and Pierre Brasseur started their race to catch up on Saturday. After mainsail repairs in Joschke's home town of Lorient, the duo are back in the race. "We are back at sea. It was convenient to go to Lorient to repair our mainsail. But it also felt strange to be at home, even though we wanted to be at sea for a long time."

At the back of the fleet, Fabrice Amedeo and Andreas Baden from Kiel sailed on the sixth day at sea on a southerly course in 31st place towards the Canary Islands. Baden reported at his Transat premiere on Sunday morning before a challenging night: "The night was tough. We crossed the area of high pressure that was blocking the teams' path southwards. Wind speeds of less than two knots were measured. The purest stress test for every sailor when you have to watch and listen powerlessly as the slack sails flap loudly in every wave and call for new energy."

Imocas and Class 40 within sight of each other

For the southern group, however, there was no alternative to crossing the high. Andreas Baden also said: "Everyone who wants to take the southern route has to go through it. And the night wasn't actually that bad, after all, it was great to stay in shorts, while back home one or two people were probably already firing up the fire. Rumour has it that there was chocolate and an apple to calm the nerves. Always something healthy too ..."

In the Class 40, Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink have recovered somewhat from their doldrums, sailing towards the Canaries in 19th place on the seventh Transat day of their fleet in the top 20. It's almost a shame that the Transat tracker only shows the four classes separately, as many Imoca and Class 40 boats are currently likely to be sailing within sight of each other in the area between Madeira and the Canary Islands.

Sam's mastwalk - "Initiatives Cœur" skipper Samantha Davies enjoys the impressive view during a repair:

Click here for the live tracker for the 16th Transat Jacques Vabre and the intermediate results: