© Jean-Louis Carli

 

A long hard slog to Sein

A millpond ambiance, sails flogging, eyelids heavy… The start of this 48H Défi Azimut will go down in history! Indeed, after exactly 20 hours of racing with the wind right on their tails, before zigzagging along in a dying breeze, the leaders had covered 116 miles averaging less than 6 knots. 

These were the numbers recorded at 11:30 am this morning as the head of the fleet rounded Waypoint Azimut 1, Charal only fractionally ahead of Macif Santé Prévoyance. Indeed, Sam Goodchild and Lois Berrehar have hooked up with the front of the pack again using every ounce of patience and determination they could muster. Still back in fifth place at the Occidentale de Sein, some 30 minutes behind the leader, the Verdier design was by far the fastest on the beat over the second section of the racetrack and is now topping the provisional scoreboard this evening. 

Meantime, yesterday’s leader Teamwork Team Snef, which currently completes the podium, suffered slight damage: “I was in my bunk, explains Xavier Macaire, when there was a big bang, a significant impact. I was scared that it was the mast. Fortunately, it was the tack on the J0 – still a large headsail -, that had broken. It pulled out the pulpit and the stanchions in the process.” By the time the crew had managed to salvage the sail and hoist the J2, Charal, which had been neck and neck with them since the start, had left the midnight blue IMOCA for dust. A fine illustration then of the level of the competition at the front of the fleet!

 

Course modification

There is also a fierce battle among the chasing pack, particularly between Initiatives Cœur and 4Cad- La Mie Caline, which are at a level pegging, closely followed by Café Joyeux. Making her race debut, Les P’tits Doudous has also caught right back up and is making good headway in this peloton.

Suffice to say that the increase in breeze to around fifteen knots this afternoon, which is taking the fleet straight towards waypoint 2, has been widely heralded as a deliverance. The ideal opportunity to accelerate away then, the foils whistling, providing the perfect soundtrack for the first naps. However, this moment of relaxation is set to be short-lived as Francis Le Goff, Race Director for the Défi Azimut Lorient Agglomération, explains: “The IMOCAs have been benefiting from a bit of pressure as they negotiate a small crumbling front. However, just off the back of that, they’re tumbling into a light patch again.” 

Still confused, the weather scenario should become clearer over the course of the evening. The S’ly breeze will increase to 15 knots and the pace will pick up considerably tonight. To avoid some nocturnal finishes then, it has finally been decided to extend the course to 314 miles. In this way, after waypoint Azimut 2, the competitors will round the ‘SN1’ safe water mark at the entrance to the mouth of the Loire River before returning to Lorient, leaving Groix Island to starboard. It’s all to play for then at the head of the fleet with a number of coastal effects to negotiate and the return of the tailwind with a plethora of tactical options up for grabs around the islands off Lorient.