Transat Jacques Vabre: "We prefer to compete with the new ships"

North or south? The question has occupied the Imoca world and Transat Jacques Vabre observers for days. It has triggered alternating discussions, criticism and hope among the fans of the various teams. Who will come out on top in the end?

On the seventh day of the Transat classic, Justine Mettraux and Julien Villion on "Teamwork.net" were still leading the Imoca field on the northern route. However, their lead over the leading southern boat "For People" with Thomas Ruyant and Morgan Lagravière has already dwindled to 100 nautical miles. A day and a half earlier, it was still almost 200 nautical miles.

The South Group catches up in the Passat

With Yoann Richomme's "Paprec Arkéa" and Jérémie Beyou's "Charal", two more southern boats had moved up to third and fourth place in the ranking late on Monday evening. A western boat follows in fifth place again: "Groupe Debreuil" with Sébastien Simon and Iker Martinez. However, they fell behind "Teamwork.net" because they were struggling with their twisted mainsail. They were travelling conspicuously slowly on Monday evening.

In this increasingly mixed order, Boris Herrmann and Will Harris worked their way up to eighth place with perseverance and sometimes very good speed. Around 205 nautical miles separated them from "Teamwork.net" on the evening of 13 November. At this point, Boris Herrmann still assumed "that Justine could win up there". The reason why he did not join the early breakout to the west of the current leaders himself: "We didn't want to sail this western route with a single boat. If the ship suddenly has something, you're sailing completely alone, against yourself and the weather."

We are quite happy that we are now sailing speed tests here with eight boats. And a really cool regatta!" (Boris Herrmann)

Instead, the Malizians stayed with the bulk of the fleet. Boris Herrmann says: "Here in the south, we are now quite happy to be sailing speed tests with eight boats. And a really cool regatta! Even if Justine will most probably win. But we still have the return regatta, for which we want to bring all the boats back to Martinique in one piece. I think that was also a deciding factor for many."

I was surprised that eight foilers were travelling south" (Boris Herrmann)

Boris Herrmann is not the only one curious to see how the competitors will explain their decisions later on. "It will be quite interesting to hear the voices of one or two of them over a beer in Martinique explaining why they chose their route. I was surprised to see eight foilers heading south and only two heading west. I would have thought it would have been half and half. Or even more heading west. That everyone would suddenly turn off. But then they all headed south."

And so Herrmann and Harris also stayed with the main field in the south. The skipper explains: "We stayed with it on purpose. Knowing full well that we might have been able to get far ahead in the west as 'lonely riders'. But I'm now very happy on the southern route. We are now travelling at 30 knots here, jumping over the waves. It's not just cosy cruising. It's full on! But it's more fun than banging into five cold fronts. So much for this route choice."

The Transat benefit: first long-term performance test with the new boats

Boris Herrmann's interim assessment: "Things are still looking very good on the western route. It makes sense, but at the same time it's somehow understandable that many people didn't want it. I'm amazed that no one has said: 'Oh, I'm going to go for the win, I'm going west'. 'Charal', for example, I would have thought. He is (Editor: for the Vendée Globe) and has no pressure. We could also have taken the route. But we prefer to compete with the new ships. You mustn't forget: It's the first time we're competing against them in a longer regatta."

Sam Goodchild on his 2019 Guillaume Verdier design "For the Planet" is also driven by similar thoughts. On Monday evening, the Brit and his co-skipper Antoine Koch were in seventh place in the leading group of southbound boats, which has now also turned westwards. "We're really pushing hard to keep up with the new boats. But they are fast. We have 'Initiatives Cœur' just ahead of us and 'V and B' below us at the moment. So we're in good company."

The Transat favourites drive each other on

In the battle of strategies, the two Imoca fleets were separated by around 800 nautical miles in a north-south direction on Monday. So which of the two groups will win the long-distance duel? It remains exciting. Even though the routings continued to show the northern group in the lead until the evening, the uncertainties associated with the weather systems remain. In addition, the top trio of the new boats "Charal", "Paprec Arkéa" and "For People" were barely ten nautical miles apart on Monday evening. The teams spur each other on. The pre-start favourites raced towards Martinique at speeds of up to 25 knots, increasing the pressure.

The spectacular recovery of Groupe Apicil is remarkable. Damien Seguin and Laurent Beaudart rejoined the race after their technical stop in Lorient to repair their broken boom and have already moved up to 23rd place!

The hunting season is open!" (Andreas Baden)

In 31st place, Fabrice Amedeo and Andreas Baden from Kiel are sailing their non-foiler "Nexans - Art & Fenêtre" in a concentrated and controlled race so far. On Monday evening, Andreas Baden reported from on board: "The hunting season is open! After several days without seeing a boat and at most a freighter crossing our path, shortly after our jibe north of the Canary Islands, one of our team members appeared in front of us at sunset and jibed in front of us. Yes! We want to play too! After a mentally exhausting day, in which we saw our opponents to the south pulling away in the fresh trade winds and we were still travelling relatively slowly here in the transition zone between the high and the trade winds, that's an incentive. It's going to be a hot night."

Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink on "Sign for Com" also wanted this. The young professionals from Team Next Generation Sailing are not satisfied with 19th place. "We've been thinking for days about how we couldn't get out of this doldrums," said Lennart Burke. At the same time, the sailors demonstrated their fighting spirit. "We'll push on and see what happens. The race isn't over yet," said Melwin Fink. The "Crédit Mutuel", leading the Class 40, still had 2,260 nautical miles to go to the finish port of Fort-de-France on the evening of 13 November. Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink still had 2,578 nautical miles to go.

Life on board the Passat - Boris Herrmann and Will Harris report:

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