After five days at sea, the front group in the 18-strong IMOCA fleet in the Transat Café L’OR is bunched together in a large area of light winds north of the Canary Islands, with 11th Hour Racing currently in the lead.
On the way to this zone Jérémie Beyou and Morgan Lagravière on Charal were leading the charge south, followed by Sam Goodchild and Loïs Berrehar on MACIF Santé Prévoyance.
But in the last 24 hours a routing slightly to the west of that pair has paid off for Will Harris and Francesca Clapcich on 11th Hour Racing and the boats in their wake.
At the 12.00pm position schedule, 11th Hour Racing was making 8.4 knots and had a lead of 8.6 nautical miles over Charal in second place, with MACIF two miles back in third. She, in turn, was less than a mile ahead of Teamwork-Team SNEF, and with Allagrande MAPEI fifth, just over 11 miles off the leading pace.
Over the next 24 hours it is all to play for as the skippers try to tease as much speed out of their boats in displacement mode as possible, as they approach the Canaries, now less than 100 miles to the south. At that point they will start to pick up breeze off the African coast that should help propel them down into the northeast Trade Winds.
Watching this fascinating race from on shore has been the highly experienced British Volvo Ocean Race and Ocean Race sailor Abby Ehler who sailed on two legs of this year’s Ocean Race Europe on board Allagrande MAPEI, as part of the crew led by Ambrogio Beccaria.
Ehler says the sailors in the front nine IMOCAs, which have compressed to within 20 miles of each other, having previously been stretched over more than 100 miles of ocean, are now all in the same boat weather-wise.
“They are pretty much stuck in the centre of a pressure system and trying to make that jump to get into the Trades,” said Ehler. “Certainly for the next 24 hours, there is probably no more than three or four knots of breeze and they’ve really just got to try and make distance south.”
Ehler says each double -handed pairing will have to use all the information at their disposal – both digital and real time on the water – to inform their tactical decision-making.
“I think it’s a combination of everything in this light air stuff,” she said. “You’ll be looking at all the models, trying to see if there is a pattern, and if they all agree, which hopefully they are. And then you’ve got more confidence in setting a course based on those models.
“But if they are not in agreement, then you are either going with your gut instinct or having a good look around to see any visual clues that might tie in with any of the models. It’s a difficult time because the breeze is so light and just keeping the boats moving in light air is a challenge, and obviously getting south is going to be key.”
In terms of the fine differences in the placings of the boats in the leading pack, Ehler says 11th Hour Racing had more breeze to the west, enabling them to overtake Charal and MACIF, between 10 and 25 miles to their east.
“Overnight and in the early hours of the morning, they were looking very much more favoured,” she said. “But I think, looking at it now, with the slightly different breeze direction between these two packs, it’s going to be really interesting how it plays out. Over the last hour MACIF and Charal have picked up more breeze, so it’s almost like convergence is going to happen.”
We asked Ehler to pick out a team who has impressed her so far in this action-packed race that started with a potentially boat-breaking thrash out of the English Channel. She picked Harris and Clapcich on 11th Hour Racing.
“I am super-impressed with these two,” she said. “From what little I know, they haven’t had a great deal of time sailing double-handed. They’ve obviously done a fair bit in full crew format with The Ocean Race Europe. Will knows the boat very well, having gone round the world on it, but they haven’t sailed that much together. Francesca comes from an Olympic sailing background and has embraced this offshore scene and the short-handed circuit. They are obviously very smart people – my hats off to them, I think they are a hot duo to watch.”
Looking back to the early stages of this sprint across the Atlantic from Le Havre to Martinique in the Caribbean, Ehler says the traverse of the Bay of Biscay was not the ordeal it can be in this race at this time of year. The big test was earlier when the crews were trying to get out of the English Channel in the teeth of a gale force northwesterly wind.
“It was a tough night getting out of the Channel and trying to stay close to the shore to keep out of the worst of it and I imagine the seaway would have been horrendous. Just physically, the demands on skippers to keep the boats tracking are relentless when you are so close to land and to other boats. They must have been exhausted after that,” said Ehler.
One straw in the wind: She reckons the weather picture could favour Yoann Richomme and Corentin Horeau on Paprec Akéa, who had to return to Le Havre for repairs after hitting a navigation buoy and damaging their rig. Ehler says the Trade Winds will move north giving Richomme – currently in 17th position, 530 miles off the lead, and travelling at 23 knots west of Lisbon – a chance to get back into the race.
“Yoann’s got the bit between his teeth to catch up and make up for their error hitting that mark,” said Ehler. “For him, potentially, getting back into the leading pack is there because of the way it is going to play out.”
Behind the leading pack, the daggerboard division continues to be led by Nico d’Estais and Simon Koster on Café Joyeux who are in 11th position overall, 171 miles behind 11th Hour Racing.
They are closely followed by Louis Duc and Masa Suzuki on Fives Group-Lantana Environnement another 30 miles back, with Fabrice Amedeo and Andreas Baden on FDJ United-Wewise in third place, 100 miles behind Duc and Suzuki.
