The 19 duets in the Transat AG2R La Mondiale set off from the bay of Port-La-Forêt this Sunday 22nd April 2018 at 1300 hours on the dot. There was a great deal of excitement in the bay, as a large number of yachtsmen took to the sea to watch the start. The fleet was leaving Concarneau in a SW to W'ly flow barely five knots, enabling it to send the spinnaker out immediately. A start admirably negotiated by Groupe Royer-Secours Populaire (Anthony Marchand & Alexis Loison), allowing them to stand out from the crowd first.
The duo continued on a single tack of around two miles to reach the first course mark in front of the Cap Coz beach and maintain their lead. In their wake, Pierre Leboucher & Christopher Pratt (Guyot Environnement) were two lengths behind and Éric Péron & Miguel Danet (Le Macaron French Pastries) in their wake..
Behind, the fleet was tight as there was only 200 metres between the leaders and the tail of the fleet. Everyone then stretched out on a slightly unrestrained upwind tack to go round Linuen's buoy before switching to Concarneau, again under spinnaker, but downwind.
When it came time to gybe, it was another duo that did well - Adrien Hardy & Thomas Ruyant (Agir Recouvrement) - who were the first to manoeuvre, allowing them to gain two places. At the foot of the ledge, Groupe Royer-Secours Populaire was consolidating its leadership, especially as Guyot Environnement was struggling to lower its spinnaker. They then headed towards the exit of the fairway before taking a dive into the Glénan to round the next course mark, the Glénan Yellow.
The duo of Anthony Marchand & Alexis Loison consolidated their lead at the level of this cardinal buoy, taking the lead from the Yellow mark of the Glénan to negotiate the first trap in this fourteenth Transat AG2R LA MONDIALE: a ridge of high pressure currently being set up in the Bay of Biscay.
"The level will be raised and that's what we've come for! We're going to have to be on the attack for the first few days of the race, to avoid falling into areas of light winds on the edge of a ridge of high pressure in the Bay of Biscay. But the next stage also promises to be a sporting one, with more than 30 knots expected along the coast of Portugal for more than 36 hours. We'll have to be very vigilant in taking care of our boat and sails on this passage, as we'll still have at least fifteen days of sailing to do to reach Saint-Barthélemy!" indicated Yoann Richomme (Skipper MACIF).
After the Yellow of the Glénans, the fleet has dispersed in longitude to such an extent that more than fifteen miles separate the leader to the West and the far left to the East. And after a rather mild first night at sea, but active on the decks of the nineteen Figaro Bénéteau boats en route to Spain, it is now Brittany CMB Performance (Sébastien Simon and Morgan Lagravière) leading the fleet.
