To reach this first symbolic milestone, Yann Guichard and his men had to largely bypass the Saint Helena high, a detour that forced them to dive as far as 43° South. Despite everything, the crew of the black and gold trimaran are keeping 6 hours and 43 minutes (around 300 miles) on IDEC Sport's reference time.
On this section Ouessant - Cap des Aiguilles, Spindrift 2 took 12 days, 14 hours, 58 minutes, and on the section Équateur - Cap des Aiguilles, its time is 7 days and 17 hours.
"We had to make a major detour to get around the St. Helena High: we had to wait until 40° South before we could start turning at gauche?! It was quite extreme, but we had no possibility of "cutting the cheese": we had to be patient, especially since we had a crosswind with a headwind and a sea that was not easy to negotiate... For the past three days, we've been extending the stride in the right direction and it's good for morale: we've just passed the Cape of Good Hope and we're staying within the objectives we set ourselves" said Yann Guichard after passing Cape Agulhas
With this 3rd best reference time for entering the Indian Ocean, the crew and its onshore router - Jean-Yves Bernot - are confident for the future as the Mascarene High (South Madagascar) is well established on Crozet Island and will move north of the Kerguelen archipelago in the coming days, pushed by a southern depression.
For the past three days, Spindrift 2 has been sailing at over 35 knots and will be able to maintain this steady pace on a relatively manageable sea by passing south of Kerguelen?!
"It's been daylight for two hours and we can feel that we're in the ocean Indien?! We'll soon pass 50° South and it's grey with a sea at 2°C... But with albatrosses accompanying us: it's magnifique?! We therefore have good conditions to go fast towards the Kerguelens that we will leave in our North since we risk going down to 53-54° South. But we will also have icebergs in front of us from Wednesday: we will have to watch out for radar and infrared glasses. It looks a little tense... We should follow the high and be propelled by the southern lows: it's pretty good up to the Kerguelen, but then we'll have to gybe several times, which will slow us down a little. However, we should cross this Indian Ocean fairly quickly without wasting too much time, hoping not to be late for the entrance to the Pacific Ocean, south of Tasmania."
This southerly trajectory will make it possible to shorten the route and benefit from a sustained downwind flow, but going down to 53°S thus poses the problem of drifting ice.
The pressure is strong for the men of the giant trimaran since Francis Joyon and his men had crossed the Indian Ocean extremely quickly since they still hold the wSSRC record (5 d 21 h 8')?!
