With wind forecasts not exceeding 15 knots for the next 48 hours, the race committee has devised a rectangular course that sends competitors to the west of Finistère. The aim is to maintain minimum pressure by skirting the stationary front over the nearby Atlantic, reviewing all speeds... and returning to Lorient on Saturday.

The 250 miles covered in the 48-hour course sent yesterday evening by race directors Francis Le Goff and Pierre Hays to the skippers may seem meagre for these IMOCA giants, who can easily cover more than 500 miles in a day when the wind is blowing. But now, on this Thursday, the first day back after the summer break, Aeolus has given notice of a strike in the weather files, a slowdown that could affect the entire Bay of Biscay until Saturday morning...