In the classification of 12 hours, this Thursday, its delay is copious.
197 miles on the leading duo Dalin-Meilhat.
Winner of the last Vendée Globe, Yannick Bestaven did not start as a big favorite in this Transat Jacques-Vabre, unlike his rival who arrived before him at Les Sables d'Olonne, Charlie Dalin (finally beaten by the compensation game).
With their small foils fitted to Maître CoQ, Yannick Bestaven and Jean-Marie Dauris were unable to resist the take-off of the favorites.
And the skipper regretted it this morning during an exchange with his team.
"
We had good conditions at the start last Sunday in the English Channel, but which were favorable to the boats "with large wings" which took off in front of us. Afterwards, the wind died down completely, it was complicated, because each time, interesting things happened in front, especially in terms of the currents
, he confided off Portugal.
It was better to be at the forefront and that's why Charlie Dalin and Paul Meilhat were able to widen the gap with everyone. But I find that we did not do too badly by positioning our Master CoQ IV a little to the east in the Bay of Biscay. And from Cape Finisterre, we fight with the group we are in, it allows you to stay focused
”
.
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Asked about the fact that his monohull is the first of the boats with small foils, he made no secret that this cannot satisfy him for their last big race together.
"
Yes, that's good, but I won't hide from you that I would like to be closer to more modern boats,
" he admitted.
Now we could hardly do better, under certain conditions they go faster. Afterwards, I hope that we will have VMG (downwind coming from behind), a pace at which the differences between the boats are less important. And then crossing the Atlantic does not seem easy, there are still a lot of moves to play and our situation today is rather good. There doesn't seem to be a lot of trade winds. We're doing a lot of routing at the moment. The objective for now is to go down to the south. Afterwards, we will have to think carefully about the best way to manage the rest. I think there will be a hell of a slowdown in the fleet, we will have to be good on the positioning. With Jean-Marie, we're going to have to rack our brains,
there will be play which is not to displease us ”.
Certainly, and it will take some time to allow the winner of the Vendée Globe to catch up with the leaders' basques not about to weaken (except for disaster).
He in any case to avoid fatal damage, such as a dismasting (two already for the Imoca boats), which struck down Louis Burton, third sailor on the podium of the last round the world.