Ten knots, spinnaker up and a starry sky, Tanguy de Lamotte at the helm. On watch, he is soaking up moments of sheer happiness. Out in the lead for the past 11 days, de Lamotte/Hardy can pat themselves on the back for having made and maintained this 100 mile (200 km) lead over Soldini-D’Ali (Telecom Italia) and Jourdren-Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat). No way are they going to lower their guard. Along the southern coats of Cuba, the ranking change all the time ! The suspense will not end before Firday afternoon (French time), the ETA for the first across the line in the Solidaire du Chocolat in Progreso, Mexico.

Match race and race against the clock

Soldini-D’Ali (Telecom Italia) is lying second, Jourdren-Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) third with only nine miles to separate them. Boat speed is identical, wind is too. Class 40 match-racing in the Solidaire du Chocolat! A similar bitter battle is going on between the Chilians on Cubilos-Bravo Da Silva (Desafio Cabo de Hornos) 6th and the Brits Harding-Merron (40 Degrees), 7th and just 10 miles apart. 

For the others, the race against the clock continues. As they slalom between the islands of the West Indies, each competitor is struggling to gain the slightest mile. Sun and relatively clement albeit unstable and stormy conditions are boosting the motivation of the skippers and the boats’ performance. 

On the downside, Groupe Picoty has reported further tears in her mainsail after a rough night. Jean-Edouard Criquioche : « We no longer have on board what we need to make repairs. (Ed’s note : They have already repaired their main on two occasions). Don’t quite know how we’re going to manage yet but we’ll find some way round it. We’re not expecting to have to sail upwind between now and the finishing line, which makes things easier !

Race mode and rally mode

Since Denis Lazat-Frédéric Nouel on (Plan les enfants changeront le monde) arrived in the Caribbean this morning and  Stephen Card and Shaun Murphy (Orbis) this afternoon, there are now 11 teams in the Caribbean Sea, generally not that well known to ocean racing yachtsmen.

Out in the Atlantic, under the torment of very violent storms, five boats are still working hard to reach the Saint Barts gate. For the Italian David Consorte on Adriatech, who is 50 miles from this point, this does not repressent that much of a transition. « The competition will continue after the St Barts passage. It won’t change anything ! ». As for Yves Ecarlat and Lionel Regnier (Vale Inco Nouvelle Calédonie) who should be reaching Saint Barts by tomorrow evening, this passage will mark a distinct change in their race. The Calédonian-French team has lost its two spinnakers and torn its mainsail it what was an « apocalyptic » storm for them. They are no longer really able to make it to Mexico in satisfactory race conditions. However, Yves and Lionel have promised to go to Progreso and to Progreso they will go ! Another demonstration of alliance between solidarity and sport in the Solidaire du Chocolat !