Midway
Overnight the two 70’ trimarans crossed the symbolic mark of 2,700 miles travelled, which is the equivalent of midway along the course. After a series of gybes to reposition themselves as they passed the Cape Verde archipelago, Edmond de Rothschild and her adversary are back on track heading southwards. This seventh day of racing is due to encompass the Doldrums. Scientifically referred to as the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), the zone is forecast to be extensive.

Though the Doldrums are a zone that isn’t well liked by sailors, the same is also true for the onshore routers: “It’s always a complicated moment both on land and at sea. The forecasts aren’t good for this zone as they’re not reliable. As such we have to build up a picture of them based entirely on our observations of the satellite photos and other tools at our disposal. Jean-Yves (Bernot) is devoting all his time to this section at the moment, whilst I’m more focused on the boat’s ability to make headway and the positioning,” Antoine Koch explains, before going on to detail today’s timing: “The Doldrums appear to be very extensive and the boat should enter the thick of things by late afternoon today. The clouds will become part of the decor within the next 3 hours and will continue to build the further south they get. Jean-Yves and I will be on hand to adapt the course plan virtually in elapsed time.”

At the 0700 GMT ranking this Wednesday 13 November, the hierarchy remained unchanged! We can even note that the separation between Edmond de Rothschild and Oman Air – Musandam is completely stable. Indeed Sébastien Josse and Charles Caudrelier still had a slight cushion of a lead some 72.1 miles ahead of their pursuers compared with 72.7 miles at the same time yesterday. Positioned further over to the west than her adversary, the trimaran fitted out by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild boasted a lateral separation of around 90 miles in relation to the Omani one-design this morning.

Even though the ITCZ is not their favourite area, Sébastien Josse and Charles Caudrelier are very familiar with this zone having traversed it on a number of occasions. The undisputed leader since rounding Cape Finisterre some four days ago, the Gitana Team duo is tackling this ‘atmospheric’ crossing with confidence however. Indeed, in their current position, it will be down to Sidney Gavignet and Damian Foxall to take risks to get back into the match.

Ranking on Wednesday 13 November at 0700 GMT:
  1. Edmond de Rothschild (Josse-Caudrelier) 2,608.6 miles to go /24.1kt average over 2 hours
  2. Oman Air-Musandam (Gavignet-Foxall) 72.1 miles behind the leader /21.8kt average over 2 hours
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