Live from the ocean, day 2
After a second night in a row slugging it out on the racetrack with the wind still pretty much a no-show, Charles Caudrelier sent us his morning postcard: “Life’s good aboard. We’re slowly getting our bearings. We’re not overly tired because we’re managing to sleep in these conditions. We’re beginning to eat well too and get into the swing of things offshore.”
He also made the most of these few words addressed to Gitana Team’s shore crews to discuss the rather atypical start to this transatlantic race: “Yesterday we scared ourselves a bit in the very light airs, as our rivals a little further west were still making headway… We battled it out all night and all day with SVR - Lazartigue. In the early hours, we were in front, so that’s not bad! Added to that, we were the first to latch onto the breeze as forecast, so we weren’t in too bad a position. We’re making good headway now, the sea is flat and the wind has stabilised to 10 knots. Our problem now is SVR. She’s very quick in the light airs, but it’s nice to be together, racing side by side like this! We’re approaching Cape Finisterre where we’re going to have a boisterous passage before hooking back up with some lighter breeze for a large part of the Atlantic descent…”
“Southbound at 20 knots! Boy does that feel good…”
After more than 36 hours contending with light airs, this morning Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier, accompanied by the duo on SVR-Lazartigue, were the first to latch onto the fresh breeze and regain speeds worthy of their carbon giants. With it came a sense of deliverance, which the skipper made no secret of in his first images from on-board.
Positions on Tuesday 9 November at 18:00 UTC
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