Having crossed a large squall, Domaine du Mont d'Arbois is currently sailing in 8 knots of west/north-westerly wind, mainsail and genoa up. The wind seems to be returning and the Gitana Team skipper has not given up hope of still being able to keep up a reasonable pace aboard his Figaro. Then, the wind is likely to drop and Thierry is resigned to facing the torments of the windless zone, “the worst enemy of the Figaro sailor”!
Thierry Duprey du Vorsent on the radio at 11:30:
On the last 48 hours? "Yesterday was hell… Figaro style! It wasn't only the difficult conditions with the passing of a front averaging 30 knots and gusting up to 40, plus a cross sea, but over and above all, a boat that is hard to control in itself. There's nowhere to sit down for a second, let alone relax! It's very uncomfortable and you're permanently watching out so as not to injure yourself… And what's more, feeling as if you're sailing in a swimming pool doesn't help! Since this morning, I've mopped up three times and probably need to do it again. Everything's soaked, there's literally nothing dry … So let's be positive; within a few hours, I'm sure to be stuck in the doldrums but at least I should be able to dry things out a bit! Last night was a bit calmer, 20/25 knots rising to 30 in the squalls, all beneath a lovely starry sky.”
On the next 36 hours?“I noticed that Armel Tripon's headed much further south… I don't know what he's hoping for or what he saw in the weather info, but I'm carrying on… given the speed a Figaro travels at, I can't imagine getting around the high pressure zone. It's slap-bang in the middle of our route! The best thing to do is to prepare oneself psychologically, as these windless periods are definitely the most difficult to manage, especially with the fatigue accumulated over nearly 2 weeks' racing! The next 48, 72 or even 120 hours are going to be really testing… you make less progress than normal, and you have to be permanently vigilant so as not no miss out on any adjustment that might gain you a few tenths of a knot!”
On the rest of the fleet? “I'm watching the central group most closely, as they've got dangerously near. I'd really like to increase the gap with them a bit in order to avoid any nasty surprises.”
Ranking of the TRophée BPE, Friday 6 April at 15:00:
Rank Boat / Skipper Latitude Longitude Vit. Cap Dist. But Dist. 1st
1 Gedimat/Armel Tripon 29 48.52' N 37 16.73' W 7.0 222 157 1.3 0.0
2 Susuki Automobiles/Eric Defert 32 26.88' N 38 51.60' W 7.5 223 157 5.7 4.3
3 Theolia / Robert Nagy 30 27.40' N 37 32.69' W 6.6 226 157 6.6 5.2
4 Domaine du Mont d'Arbois / T. Duprey du Vorsent 30 54.90' N 37 37.08' W 7.5 231 158 4.9 13.5
5 Art Immobilier construction /Daniel Dupont 31 06.47' N 36 36.91' W 6.3 206 163 7.8 66.4
6 A.ST Groupe / Marc Emig 26 51.80' N 34 29.02' W 5.8 231 163 9.8 68.5
7 Groupe Céléos / Ronan Treussart 27 21.36' N 34 25.91' W 5.9 203 165 1.3 80.0
8 Luisiana / Eric Drouglazet 27 04.22' N 34 13.92' W 5.7 215 165 6.3 84.9
9 Les Mousquetaires / Bertrand de Broc 27 21.06' N 33 54.60' W 6.3 233 167 5.7 104.4
10 Aquarelle.com / Yannick Bestaven 24 21.04' N 32 49.21' W 5.5 209 168 6.1 114.7
…
Source www.tropheebpe.com