The windy and magnificent start on Sunday of the 15th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre is already a long way off in the minds of the 156 sailors still in the running and in the grip of appalling weather conditions to properly move a sailing boat. Capable of spinning at over 45 knots on their foils, the Ultim maxi-trimarans were still stuck with fewer knots on Tuesday at dawn. At the latitude of Ile de Ré, the five giants (32 meters) progressed slowly in the Bay of Biscay. Closer to the direct route to the West Indies,
Banque Populaire XI
(Armel Le Cléac'h-Kevin Escoffier) was in the lead at 7am, 8 miles ahead of
ZVR Lazartigue
(François Gabart-Tom Laperche). Following
Edmond de Rothschild
(Franck Cammas-Charles Caudrelier, +8.5),
Sodebo Ultim 3
(Thomas Coville-Thomas Rouxel, +12) and
Actual Ultim 3
(Yves Le Blévec-Anthony Marchand, +18).
An insignificant hierarchy as it is so difficult to know who will touch the sustained wind first.
These are tiring conditions because stressful for the sailors
Erwan Israel, Gitana Team.
"
The high pressures come up against the land and are blocked in the Bay of Biscay because the trains of depressions are abnormally south in the Atlantic for this period,
analysis on land Erwan Israel, member of the Gitana Team, the Cammas team and Caudrelier
. We therefore have no choice but to cross the high pressure ridge. The objective is to pass under the eastern edge of the anticyclone to find more sustained wind and progress towards Finisterre. Since Sunday, we have always had less wind than predicted by our weather forecast. These are tiring conditions because they are stressful for the sailors ”.
After a great start in Imoca, Charlie Dalin and Peul Meilhat (
Apivia
) are no doubt also frustrated when they see their speedometer (3.7 knots) to the south-west of the Breton point.
Their lead has melted, from 25 miles Monday to 4.3 this Tuesday morning over Charlie Enright and Pascal Bidégorry (
11th Hour Racing
).
Positioned further west,
Charal
(Jérémie Beyou-Christopher Pratt), 3rd, “tumbles” at 11 knots.
But in these surprising first days of racing, a brake application is never far away.
In Class40, Axel Trehin and Frédéric Denis (Project Rescue Ocean) lead a fleet which progresses in single file along the Finistère coast.
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