After the announcement of the report of the Atlantic Brest which took place on Thursday, October 31, 2019, the start of the race will be given on Tuesday, November 5, 2019 at 11:00 am.
"We chose this time slot of tomorrow because the wind is shifting to the northwest. It is an ideal downwind wind for ballooning. It will be sustained with an average of 25/28 knots and gusts to 38 knots and the beam sea will be quite aggressive. This first part of the race must therefore be negotiated as a good sailor since it will be very exposed from the outset".
The first Ultimate will leave the pontoon at 7:30 am to leave the Brest harbour and join the delocalized start line. If the technical teams can accompany the skippers on this prelude, they will have to leave the ship 4 minutes before the start.
"For military purposes, the starting line is much further away than originally planned. It is now located between the western buoy of the chaussée de Sein and the committee boat the Rhone, which is a military boat, anchored 2.5 nautical miles northwest of the chaussée de sein" explains Jacques Caraës, race director.
On the agenda is a route of 14?000 miles between the North and South Atlantic, which will start under power, due to the expected weather conditions. "It's an ambitious race. We must not hide this from ourselves. It's a long journey, and I hope that reliability and winter yards will reveal that boats are reaching maturity. It's a foolproof life-size test.
The first part of the course will have to be well balanced and the first few hours tempered, which represents only 1% of the course. The sea will be bad with waves of 5 to 8 m, but will go to the end of the hot air balloon zone."
Because if the weather conditions were too bad last week to allow the start, they have calmed down, but will still be engaged. However, this new weather window looks almost perfect since it is "worthy of that of a Jules Verne Trophy departure ", according to the race director. "I wouldn't be surprised if we crossed Ecuador at five days."
The four Ultimates will be able to rely on their routing cell - authorized by the class rule - to help them take off as quickly as possible. The race management - composed of three people - will monitor the boats' trajectories and speeds throughout the race, day and night, and will be in contact with the fleet if necessary.
