Sailing Magazine
by Matthew Thomas
As the second morning dawned, it was clear that the Bay of Biscay had lived up to its reputation of breaking boats.
Out front, the Ultime 100 trimaran ‘Prince de Bretagne’ had capsized. Both crew members were safe inside the hull and their technical team was on its way to salvage the vessel. IMOCA 60’s ‘Safran’ and ‘Edward de Rothchild’ were also out and heading back home, while in the Class 40 fleet, ‘Concise 8′, Phillippa Hutton-Squire’s team mate was out and heading to Ireland.
Still heading west and only 56 miles from the leader, Phillippa and Pip are now inching their way forward and overnight have moved into 10th place. Looking at their track, it looks like they are working themselves towards the southern edge of the west bound pack, which should put them in a very good position when they gybe to the south.
Out at the head of the fleet, ‘Sodebo’ is already halfway down the Portuguese coast, with ‘Macif’ hard on their heels, just 35 miles astern. ‘Hugo Boss’ is still leading the IMOCA fleet and is still going west, but will have to gybe in the next 12 hours as the Westerlies arrive.
In the Multi 50 fleet, ‘Ciela Village’ has already gybed to the south and started her way down the rhumb line. Class 40’s are still being led by ‘Bretagne Crédit Mutual Elite’ as the entire fleet is still heading west. As the current weather system, in front of the Westerlies crosses the fleet, they will all gybe toward the south and depending on how well the anticipated the weather, there positions will change dramatically in the next 24 hours, making this fleet one of the most interesting fleets to watch as they’re all essentially one designs and very similar in speed.
