Sailing Magazine
by Matthew Thomas
Bedevilled by the light wind but still fighting, back to 8th.
It’s clearly been a slow and frustrating night for the girls on Concise 2!
Looking at the weather this morning, it seems that they have finally slipped the clutches of the High Pressure ridge that has dogged them for the last few day. This will most definitely be a huge relief as they can now start to focus on gaining back the miles they’ve lost to ‘Groupe Setin’ and staying ahead of ‘SNBSM Espoir Compétition’ which after a pit stop in Madeira, is back in the race and about a 100nm off the African coast in good wind and catching up fast.
Out front, ‘Le Conservateur’ continues to build their lead (313nm) as they approach the doldrums, which seem to have firmed up and while they can expect reduced wind for the next 72 hours, it does look like they should sail through quite swiftly.
Further back, ‘V and B’ has taken over 2nd place from ‘Solidaires en Peleton ARSEP’ who suffered rudder damage while surfing and is now heading to the Cape Verde’s for repairs. This has let ‘Carac Advanced Energies’ slip into 3rd place.
With less than 600nm to go, ‘Macif’ is off Rio and pointed directly at the finish line with a lead of over 100nm. Right now the big question is whether they will manage to finish before midnight tonight.
Now closing Fernando de Noronha, the ‘Pack of Three’ are still locked together with ‘PRB’ still leading by a slim margin of 26nm from ‘Queguiner – Leucemie Espoir’ who in turn is 7nm ahead of ‘Banque Populaire VIII’.
A little further to the east and also approaching Fernando de Noronha, ‘FenëtréA Prysmian’ is nearly 400nm ahead of ‘Ceila Village’ who is now back in the hunt having made repairs in the Cape Verde.
No matter who crosses the line first, this year’s winner will not be able to set the course record, set in 2013 by Sébastian Josse and Charles Caudrélier on the MULTI 70 Edmond de Rothschild of 11 days 5 hours 3 minutes and 54 seconds.
