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Feeling the fatigue

Race rules force a minimum three hour stop if a boat decides to put in to port for technical reasons. The Solidaire du Chocolat rule is not really a penalty if the reason for the pitstop requires major attention.  It leaves the time for a brief rest, time to take on fuel and fresh food, and perhaps even time to have a quick drink under the sun. As for the weather, that will depend very much on the eastern wave which is ahead of the fleet and kicking up a great cloudy mass. Grey skies, and nothing dry on board. The crews have been stewing in humid conditions for a fortnight.

Caribbean reshuffle

Three days to wait before sighting land, for the race leaders that is, four more for the tail enders.  The leaders are the ones to have the fewest technical problems. Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy (Initiatives-Novedia) are less than 900 miles of Saint Bart’s and have an 80 miles lead over their closest rivals, Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d’Ali (Telecom Italia) who have other problems this afternoon than their broken forestay. The Italians were to be overtaken by Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) as they were six knots slower and had called to a halt for several hours head to wind to carry out repairs. Both crews are now contemplating putting into the Caribbean.  

And they might not be alone. Damien Seguin and Armel Tripon (Cargill-MTTM) no longer have an alternator so they have to keep electricity consumption down to a minimum. Third place may well be up for grabs as last weekend they reset their track onto the same as that of the leader which may end up paying off in the shifting trades. Brits Tim Wright and Paul Worswick (Keysource) have problems too. They’ve rolled their foresail round the stay and don’t know how to remove it. Across the fleet, there are torn spinnakers for Erik Nigon and Marc Jouany (Axa Atout Cœur pour Aides), Yves Ecarlat and Lionel Regnier (Vale Inco-Nouvelle Calédonie).

In fine shape

The only good note ringing out in this cacophony of fatigue and problems is the Chileans Felipe Cubillos and Daniel Bravo Silva (Desafio Cabo de Hornos) who are in great shape, among the fastest of the fleet along with the Finnish  Jouni Romppanen and Sam Öhman (Tieto Passion) who are battling it out for 7^th. The Atlantic is not the same for everyone, all of whom are none the less in high pressure systems and under the tropics. Little separates the boats in terms of heading – straight towards the Caribbean. The lateral differences will be reduced in the next couple of days and the hierarchy will be established before reaching Saint Bart’s.