At the front, we find François Gabart (Macif) who is averaging 25 knots followed closely by Francis Joyon (Idec Sport) who is maintaining his 130 mile lead. With the tradewinds starting to regulate at over fifteen knots from the east, the two Ultimates should continue to sail on port tack until at least this Friday evening. But before joining Guadeloupe, it will be necessary to negotiate several gybes and prepare the tour of the island and juggle with the winds...
At the rear of the fleet, the Bay of Biscay will host a third dépression?! It is therefore difficult to reach the south when the poor conditions follow one another... Some wait by putting themselves in the cape, others oblique towards the South-East or others continue their journey towards the West in order to cross the first front and find as quickly as possible a NW'ly breeze. Unfortunately for all of us, the situation should last until Sunday... It will be necessary to wait until the end of the weekend for the conditions to calm down and for the "sheltered" people to be able to set sail again.
Among the Multi50s, Thibaut Vauchel-Camus suggests that a stop in Sao Miguel (Azores) is likely, while Armel Tripon and his crew are sailing with the first IMOCA monohulls between Madeira and Canary Islands in a trade wind under construction, while Lalou Roucayrol is knitting along Morocco while trying to sail outside..
In the monohulls, the descent into the South continues to avoid entering the high pressure with a compact quartet among the 60 footers (Thomson-Meilhat-Riou-Éliès) at the front, while Yoann Richomme already has a margin of more than forty miles over his pursuers of 40 feet (Sharp-Chapellier-de Pavant). And for most classes, the leaders are still more than 2?500 miles from the Caribbean arc.
