Iberian rodeo
As the solo sailors link onto their third day of racing this afternoon, the fatigue is naturally palpable aboard the maxis in the Ultime class. This is heightened by the fact that, like the first, this second night at sea has put just as much pressure on the organisms as the machines. Indeed, between dealing with the TSS (Traffic Separation System) at Cape Finisterre and steering on a reach in a particularly shifty wind, oscillating between 30 and 40 knots, those leading the way in this Route du Rhum Destination Guadeloupe have only had a short amount of time to recharge their batteries. Despite these conditions, which are a lot more favourable for his XXL adversaries, Sébastien Josse is not letting up in the slightest and is skilfully managing to keep pace. This morning, at the 0700 GMT ranking, the skipper of Edmond de Rothschild was positioned in third place some 72 miles behind the leader.
Navigating the active storm system

For the head of the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe fleet, which has been making headway along the Portuguese coast since last night, the weather remains wet and bracing, as Antoine Koch explains this morning: “It’s been a lively night…They’re still in the active storm system associated with the low in a powerful north-westerly breeze. The squalls, which are numerous along their course, are causing a great deal of instability. This morning, Sébastien still had a good 30 knots of established breeze, picking up to 40-45 knots in the gusts and above all a strong north-westerly swell of around 5 metres.” It’s this lumpy sea, which is making the task even more difficult. Last night, in a breaking wave, one of the protective cuddies on Edmond de Rothschild’s helming station shattered. Such damage doesn’t affect the performance of the trimaran, but it does illustrate the violence of the elements.

Despite these boisterous and more than uncomfortable conditions, Sébastien Josse is right in the swing of his solo rhythm now: “He’s eating as he should and he managed to get some rest yesterday afternoon and last night, which is very good given the sea state and the still strong wind,” admitted Edmond de Rothschild’s router, who had been in contact with the sailor a few minutes earlier.

This morning’s top trio

With regards the ranking, Loïck Peyron remains the firm leader of this Ultime class with a lead of over 50 miles in relation to the sailor in second place today, Yann Guichard. Fourth yesterday afternoon, the skipper of Edmond de Rothschild is back up in the top three with a 72-mile deficit in relation to Banque Populaire VII. In this way, the sailor from Nice is continuing to carve out a very fine course, remaining in contact with the large multihulls in his class.

Since leaving Saint Malo, at 1400 hours on Sunday, the trimaran fitted out by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild has covered nearly 800 miles in terms of actual distance across the water, which equates to an average speed of around 19 knots. Such figures echo what is a great performance given the predominantly upwind points of sail (wind on the nose) since the start of the race, especially given the sea state in which the sailors have had to make headway.

Ranking on 4 November at 0700 GMT
  1. Banque Populaire VII (Loïck Peyron) – 2,908.6 miles from the goal
  2. Spindrift 2 (Yann Guichard) – 56.1 miles behind the leader
  3. Edmond de Rothschild (Sébastien Josse) – 72.2 miles behind the leader
  4. Prince de Bretagne (Lionel Lemonchois) – 101.2 miles
  5. Paprec recyclage (Yann Elies) – 109.1 miles
  6. Musandam Oman Sail (Sidney Gavignet) – 109.4 miles
  7. Idec Sport (Francis Joyon) – 123.8 miles
    Abd – Sodebo Ultim’

 

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