With spinnaker up and morale flying high on board Gitana Eighty during the ongoing contest involving the leading trio – separated by less than 20 miles – the Canaries may be in sight but some of the sailors are having to busy themselves with essential activities other than the customary manoeuvres. Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant, for example, master sailmaker that he is, has just spent three hours sewing up the spinnaker that was torn during what was a tumultuous Tuesday night. Loïck Peyron, meanwhile, is commanding the helm in masterful style and has first Foncia and then Safran well and truly in his firing line!
In the radio chat at 15:00 hours, Loïck Peyron declared: “I really enjoy this kind of close-combat sailing! It's very slow at the moment, but a lot of fun! Jean-Baptiste and I are like a pair of snails with spinnaker up! Now it's daytime and we're approaching the Canaries. After that, it's the start of another stage altogether. Apart from that, our supplies of the delicious ready meals provided by the Domaine du Mont d'Arbois have run out, so all we've got left are fine chocolates!”
After their lightning stop, meanwhile, Gitana 11, with Lionel Lemonchois and Yann Guichard at the helm, are in 3rd position among the multihulls and making good progress towards Cape Verde.
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