Up at the front, after a tough start in the English Channel and then a tricky light airs ridge in the Bay of Biscay, the Charal skipper Jérémie Beyou, sailing with Morgan Lagravière, is just ahead of early leaders Sam Goodchild and Loïs Berrehar on MACIF Sante Prévoyance.
The two crews are at the head of a tight group of four boats – the other two are Allagrande MAPEI and 11th Hour Racing – who have sailed away from the chasing pack, some 70 miles behind them.
At lunchtime today the front runners were off Cape Finisterre on the northwest corner of Spain and starting to come under the influence of a big low pressure system centred near the Azores which will dominate the race for the next few days.
Forty-nine year old Beyou says it has been non-stop action on board his red and black foiler as he and Lagravière – who is looking for his third win in succession in this race – have kept up the chase on MACIF Santé Prévoyance.
“It’s been a lot of transitions – going through the breeze, then some pretty full-on reaching in rough seas, hitting speeds of up to 35 knots, with a few sail changes on the way,” said the three-time Figaro champion and four-time Vendée Globe competitor. “We’re managing to grab naps here and there, but there hasn't been a long steady stretch where we could rest for very long.”
The Charal skipper said his boat is in good shape given the battering it got smashing its way west out of the English Channel after an impressive start off Le Havre on Sunday that saw them disputing the lead of the 18-boat fleet. There are a couple of small things to fix but otherwise all seems well.
“Yeah, the start was really intense,” recalled Beyou. “I was at the helm and it was seriously wild out there. The boat was flying – it was really impressive. I think it must have looked spectacular from the outside. We had a cannonball start and it felt great to be out in front of the fleet – we were really happy about that.”
In the chasing pack Louis Burton and Clément Commagnac on Bureau Vallée, who led the fleet over the startline, are plotting their comeback on the leaders while trying to fend off a group of boats on their heels. Among them are Justine Mettraux and Xavier Macaire’s Teamwork-Team SNEF and Initiatives-Cœur in the hands of Sam Davies and Violette Dorange.
Burton says the light air section in the Biscay has been exhausting and he and Commagnac have been trying to tease every half a knot out of their boat and get south into the breeze.
“We’re focused on staying ahead,” Burton told the Class today. “The plan for our group, at least, is to make the most of every little gust. I can tell you we’ve had nights with almost no sleep, constantly watching for windshifts.
“Last night,” he added, “we were tacking every 10 minutes with big headsails – so there’s not really a ‘plan’ other than getting out of this zone as quickly as possible, crossing the ridge perpendicularly at its narrowest point, and taking advantage of every puff.”
Like all the skippers ahead of him and behind him, Burton is watching the low pressure system off the Azores very carefully. He reckons the faster he can get south, the better. “It’s clear,” he said, “that the later we are, the harder it’ll get. So it’s really a situation where we have to give everything to say as far ahead as we can – because once it catches up to us, the wind will tighten and things will get more intense.”
After the hectic first 24 hours, Burton and Commagnac have been taking naps to try and recover, but the pair are finding it hard to take time off when the boat needs constant attention. “We were both back on deck around 2.00am this morning, working through all the wind shifts and trying to get out of there as fast as possible,” he said.
Burton concluded his message from on board by congratulating Yoann Richomme and Corentin Horeau and the Paprec Arkéa team who have managed to re-join the race after having to return to Le Havre with serious rig damage following a collision with a navigation buoy. “They took some serious damage and it’s pretty incredible that they managed to get going again,” said the Bureau Vallée skipper.
This morning Richomme and Horeau were in 18th position passing Ushant, about 322 miles behind the leader.
In the daggerboard race, the top boat is the pre-start favourite in this hotly-contested division – Café Joyeux sailed by Nico d’Estais and Simon Koster who are in 12th position overall. They are followed by Louis Duc and Masa Suzuki on Fives Group-Lantana Environnement who are 14th overall, and then FDJ United-Wewise sailed by Fabrice Amedeo and Andreas Baden (15th).
