Brest Atlantic
The start of the new Ultimates race, Brest Atlantiques, which was supposed to take place on Sunday 3rd November, has been postponed due to the weather conditions. "A strong gale is expected from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon, generating very heavy seas in the Bay of Biscay with waves of 8 meters, it was not reasonable to launch the "Ultim" in these conditions" says race director Jacques Caraës.
A new start has been set for Tuesday, November 5, as the race director explains: "The conditions for Tuesday will be committed, with 25/30 knots of north-north-west, but its angle is very favorable for a rapid descent of the Bay of Biscay, in 10-12 hours, but with a sea that remains uncertain. The weather being, by nature, evolving, especially in this season, we continue to be extremely vigilant to the evolution of the system. We will be able to clarify the conditions in the next 48 hours."
Rally of the Sun Islands
On Sunday, November 3, the 22 boats entered in the 3rd edition of the Rally of the Sunshine Islands took off from the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands at 11:00 a.m. local time (12:00 p.m. French time), heading for Mindelo, in Cape Verde, 970 miles away.
With 10 knots of north-easterly wind, in light seas, the monohulls and multihulls slid south. Kriter VIII was the first to cross the start line, even if, let's remember, this is not a race.
This first leg should be done in an established North/North-East trade wind, stabilizing in the North-East as the day progresses and as the fleet slides southwards. The fastest boats could arrive this Saturday, November 9.
The new departure for Guadeloupe will be given on November 15th. On the program, a 2000 miles course towards Marie-Galante.
Mini-Transat La Boulangère
This Saturday, November 2nd at 3:33 pm (French time), the 82 sailors of the Mini -Transat La boulangère have started this 2nd leg from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Some of them decided to cross the starting line first, others chose to start in the second or third row.
The start of the race has been invigorating and the racers have quickly found their marks on this 2700 mile long course that will take them to Le Marin, in Martinique. A few hours after the start, two sailors announced their return to shore, to try to repair some damage: Amélie Grassi (Serie) and Marie Gendron (Proto). The first one damaged her bowsprit and the second one reported various technical problems.
Two sailors suffered minor technical problems just before the start. Raphaël Lutard noticed that his aerial attachment had broken. The skipper of the proto 900 returned to port to climb the mast and solve this problem. He went back to the race and crossed the start line 15 minutes late. Nothing to worry about. David Kremer had problems with his automatic pilot. He too had to return to port. He finally crossed the line 1 hour 30 minutes after the rest of the fleet.
