Transat ECOVER-BtoB - Day 8

Triumvirate!

It’s a capital moment after eight days at sea since Yann Eliès, Marc Guillemot and Loïck Peyron are now positioned virtually the same distance from the goal, Port la Forêt, now 1,950 miles ahead! Behind this trio, the pressure is on there too, with a great comeback by Kito de Pavant and Michel Desjoyeaux... The chasing pack has also bunched up with the tradewinds getting a little breathless.

There are still some miles to go but it is extremely rare in an ocean race that the leaders are so close to each other after 2,300 miles at sea! And though there isn’t just one person leading the fleet with little separation in terms of trajectory, it seems that there are some new opportunities shaping up for the skippers to try their hand nevertheless... Yann Eliès (Generali) agrees: "A smile is appropriate now! I luffed up (closed on the wind) yesterday night and it paid off, even if the ranking is a little artificial when there are so many miles to go. It must be good to be a little further East, closer to the direct course. Beforehand I aimed for Greenland, now, it’s more like the Azores because the situation has changed: we’ll have to pass between the archipelago and Madeira due to the shift in the high pressure zone towards Spain. At the moment I’m 90° to the wind with 20 to 23 knot tradewinds, but the seas are still choppy and confused..."

Who will govern?

The weather forecasts announce a slight weakening in the tradewinds from this Friday evening, tradewinds which are set to remain in the Eastern sector for two days: Time for the leaders to pass the Canaries. Following that, a corridor of wind seems to be opening up between Madeira and the Azores with the wind in the South and then the South-West in relation to an Atlantic depression, which will spur them on at the start of the week. With the differences between them so slim, who will end up governing the top three as they sail within sight of each other: "It's not over yet: I even saw Gitana under a squall this morning and Yann’s option is interesting, even though I prefer to stay in the West... In any case, the sun is back, it warms up the proceedings and there is less sea. I made the most of it to dry my clothes on the engine block! These monohulls are very wet... In a trimaran, you can go up top and put yourself upwind on the float, here though, it’s a permanent shower…"

Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty) lost thirty or so miles in a little over a day and the explanation from the solo sailor is clear: "The wind is very variable in strength and direction and there are squalls which have slowed us down, Marc and I... Added to that I have no mast wand anymore: not only is it one less reference, but as it was joined to the automatic pilot, I'm having to keep a steady eye on the boat's heading..." Though the trimuvirate will be able to punch along for the next few hours, they’ll have to watch out behind! Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) has catapulted back into play: "Today we have sun at last and as I am one of the fastest in the fleet at the moment, I'm happy! The wind is gently calming down but the speed remains at 15-16 knots. It will drop off again this evening and I’ll be able to go up on deck. It’s beginning to get a bit cold at night and it's very pleasant to be able to benefit from the sun in the cockpit."

Behind they’re bunching together, but it is Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel) who was experiencing the best sailing conditions during the radio session at 1500 UTC at the Paris Boat Show: "The seas are less confused, but there are squalls and some irregular winds. That means more manoeuvres and more work, but it's more pleasant to be able to go up on deck and to be less shaken about. I have some problems with the watertightness of my ballast tanks, a shroud chainplate and the upper works. You get used to everything though!" Mike Golding (Ecover) also knows what this type of leak means, he who has to regularly empty his ballast tanks before they fill again without his consent... "The boat has a few teething problems, but we're still firing down the track. I've still got issues with my ballast system and I'm having to scoop lots of water out of the boat. I've also got some electrical problems. There are a lot of blank screens around! I'm going to try and continue to make good headway and just wish I was doing better for my sponsors". It has to be said though that the top seven players, including Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) a little further across from the bulk of the fleet, are still very much in the match for the podium.

With the sea conditions improving and a tradewind which is stabilizing to provide wind on the beam, the weekend will be a lot quieter for the fourteen solo sailors, Armel Le Cléac'h (Brit Air) still under motor making route towards Cape Verde with a tiny jury rig.

Transat ECOVER B to B Ranking: (18:00 French time)

1 Gitana Eighty at 1914.80 miles from the finish
2 Safran at 2.00 miles behind
3 Generali at 2.40 miles behind
4 Groupe Bel at 21.00 miles behind
5 Foncia at 43.00 miles behind
6 Ecover at 107.30 miles behind
7 Cheminées Poujoulat at 143.90 miles behind
8 Cervin EnR at 258.20 miles behind
9 Roxy at 262.10 miles behind
10 Akena Vérandas at 297.70 miles behind
11 Maisonneuve at 335.90 miles behind
12 Aviva at 409.60 miles behind
13 Spirit of Canada at 424.60 miles behind
14 Great American III at 469.20 miles behind

Quotes from the boats:

Sam Davies (Roxy): "The last couple of days have been the toughest of the race for me. Not physically, because the conditions are stable and there is relatively little to do, but mentally it has been hard to see my rivals catching me from behind. A bit of bad luck, coupled with some very small errors on my behalf, and I watched my lead being eaten up by Cervin, Maisonneuve and Akena. All the good work since the start going to waste! Luckily, I found myself sailing next to Yannick on Cervin, and it made me think back in the history of our two boats, who have a lot of stories together I believe, and I guess that Roxy (ex-PRB) was happy to be alongside Cervin (ex-Aquitaine Innovations) and re-live the memories of their fierce competition in 2000! Just as the two boats were reminiscing together, I was happy to use Yannick and his boatspeed skills to try and get Roxy going as fast as Cervin! The sight of another boat out here in the middle of the ocean is great motivation to push hard and try to get in front. A day of tweaking, trimming, tuning pilots, ballast, sails.... and I managed to just about hang on to Cervin. But hats off to Yannick as he really is sending it! As Jeanne said, it is like the athletes who run with a pacesetter to ensure a record time, our two boats have been faster for the last 24 hours than our closest rivals. The trouble is, that now I have changed course to head up a little towards the finish, I am going to pass behind Yannick. SO there is work to be done yet! Luckily there are still just over 2000 miles to do it in!"

Dee Caffari (Aviva): “After a miserable 24 hours crashing to windward in 18 – 24 knots of breeze I decided that I was a broken person and called the shore team to tell them how miserable life was. During the afternoon after looking at the position reports I learnt a top tip that I could not learn from a website that tells you how to sail an open 60. I cracked the sheets by ten degrees and I entered a whole nicer environment. Not brilliant but much better. So what these rock stars that sail these boats do not tell you is that they do not sail upwind unless they have to. Sail somewhere else until the wind changes. Life is faster and more comfortable. It is top tips like this that I am learning by spending time out here with my boat.”

Derek Hatfield (Spirit of Canada): “Hello from Spirit of Canada. Today was a long day exiting from the doldrums and into wind, plenty of wind. Most of the day the boat was upwind at 26kts True. Welcome to the northern trades and then some. The air is much cooler tonight, an indication of what’s to come by next week. After all, we are only weeks away from Christmas. What a strange feeling this is. Position: 12 08 19N, 030 52 023W, Speed 11.3 knts, Direction 009 degrees. Take Care.”