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Hotting up in Progreso
Positivley buzzing in Progreso, in the Yucatan ! The first boats in the Solidaire du Chocolat should be arriving within 36 hours or so. Everything in the marina is ready. The Mexican hosts have prepared the marina for the arrival of the boats and the public ; the skippers will receive a hero's welcome ! Fleet leaders Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives Novedia are most likely to be first across the finishing line early tomorrow morning (French time). Just 300 miles remaining, 550 km, roughly 36 hours to finish. The name of the game is to avoid gear failure and to succeed in becoming the first winners of this new race to Mexico.
This
afternoon, Yves Ecarlat and Lionel Regnier made their official announcement
that they were retiring from the race but that they will never the less be in
Progreso tomorrow for the final of this first edition.
Whinging and worries among the leaders
« We
started on the wind and we’re finishing on the wind, back to square one ! » :
Bruno Jourdren (Cheminées Poujoulat) on the radio chat session today. Noone was
that happy to have to put their spinnaker away last night and prepare for some
unpleasant close-hauled sailing. Back to a heeling boat which slams in each
wave and puts the rig under strain.
Italians
Giovanni Soldini and Pietro D’Ali (Telecom Italia) are a little worried about
this system having put in an appearance. They have a broken forestay track from
the last spot of rough weather they ran into on the Atlantic. Damocles’ sword
is hanging over them.
One
positive thing comes out of this new weather situation – the automatic pilot is
put back to work again, giving the skippers a little bit of respite. «
Downwind, we helm all the time » confirms Bruno Jourdren.
A second
consequence of this cold front on the FWI is that the trade wind over the
Caribbean has fizzled out altogether. Damien Seguin and Armel Tripon
(Cargill-MTTM) have been battling through it for the past 24 hours now. After
having been stuck in a windless zone between Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba, they have
managed to hang onto 4th place 70 miles ahead of Tim Wright and Nicko Brennan
(Palanad 2). Both boats finally made it out of this trap this morning and
managed to make use of the low to recover a few miles towards the Gulf of
Mexico. Further astern, there is every chance that the two following Class 40s
find themselves in the grip of the windless zone : Felipe Cubilos/Daniel Bravo
Silva (Desafio Cabo de Hornos) 6th and Peter Harding/ Miranda Merron (40
Degrees)7th.
Means of
exploiting this situation to obtain a strategic advantage has not escaped the
attention of those immediately behind the leaders. Groupe Picoty is attempting
to pull something off with a southerly option. « We can either follow in line
without any hope of moving up the rankings or make a tactical move. We have
made our choice. If it comes off, then we might be in for a spot of fun! » (
Jean-Edouard Criquioche on the radio chat session today).
Erik Nigon
and Marc Jouany on AXA Atout cœur pour Aides and the five other boats which
have just come into the Caribbean, the southern option is not viable. The trade
wind is still blowing in the southern half of the Caribbean Sea and should
return to the whole area by Sunday. This situation may even concentrate the
fleet into a group.
Yves
Ecarlat and Lionel Regnier (Vale Inco Nouvelle Calédonie) have made official
their retirement from the race. They are the 11th team to retire since the
start. Worn sails and the loss of their two spinnakers have got the better of
them making it impossible to continue. They are making for Saint Martin’s and
will do their best to fly to Progreso as soon as they can.
"Ladies and gentlemen, intrioducing..."
…And
meanwhile, back ashore in the Yucatan, the marina is a hive of activity. «
There’s a buzz of excitement here ! » commented Bernard Duval, race manager. «
The Mexicans have made a considerable effort in their marina to accommodate us.
There are a lots of events planned for the next few days. »
So the
Yucatan is ready and waiting to celebrate the arrival of the winners in the
first run of the Solidaire du Chocolat. Unless something unexpected happens,
Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy (Initiatives Novedia) are expected to finish
first at the end of tomorrow afternoon Progreso time (early in the evening
French time). Bernard Duval : « There is going to be quite a party for the
finish – for each competitor ! » .
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