A doldrums well before its time
For almost 10 days now, the competitors in the Jacques Vabre 2021 have been trying to get out of the light conditions that are hovering over the course. After a first night of invigorating conditions for all, they had to face the wind. A particularly incongruous start to the race, especially in this autumn period. This is why the Breton coastline has been renamed by many skippers as the "Breton Doldrums".
in search of the wind in Class40 and IMOCA
If the Ultimates, soon to arrive at their waypoint south of Brazil after a rather calm doldrums, are finding the wind again today, as are the last Class40s sailing off the Moroccan coast, the rest of the fleet is having to be patient. The first Class40s and almost the entire IMOCA fleet are trying to find the slightest breath of air to make headway along the Mauritanian coast. In Class40, the weather conditions at the beginning of the race were not to the advantage of the scows, the last design launched in euros, even if one of the big favorites, Redman (Manuard design and therefore with a rounded bow), led by Antoine Carpentier and Pablo Santurde Del Arco, is in the lead. If the leading ranking is mostly led by the last round noses launched, we still find some older boats like La Manche #Evidencenautique (Nicolas Jossier/Alexis Loison), Lamotte Module Création (Luke Berry/Achille Nebout) or the title holder, Crédit Mutuel (Ian Lipinski/Julien Pulvé), in 7th position.
A group of 6 leaders in IMOCA
The leading group in the IMOCA Euros, composed of 6 foiler boats and led by Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut), is taking advantage of milder conditions near Cape Verde. If Charlie Dalin and Paul Meilhat (Apivia) have dominated the ranking for a long time, it is now their sistership that is taking the lead. euros Note the presence in this small group of Initiatives-Coeur, a daggerboard boat transformed into a foiler but which holds the upper hand over its much more recent competitors. In this class, we note two retirements, both for the same reasons, dismasting of Bureau Vallée 3 quite quickly after the start and 11th Hour Racing Team Alaka'i a few days ago.
Two groups in Ocean Fifty
In Ocean Fifty, the fleet is split in two, and all are now in the Doldrums. Leading the way are Primonial (Sébastien Rogues/Matthieu Souben), Koesio (Erwan Le Roux/Xavier Macaire), who has been the leader for a long time and Solidaires en Peloton euros Arsep (Thibaut Vauchel-Camus/Frédéric Duthil). Leyton, despite being the winner of the Pro Sailing Tour (which is his first Jacques Vabre) is only in 4th place e position, 202 miles behind the first. Finally, Arkema 4 (Quentin Vlamynck/Lalou Roucayrol), who had good results on the Ocean Fifty circuit, closes the ranking
Gitana, the uncontested leader
Among the Ultims, the fleet is complete and almost intact, led almost from the start by the favorites, Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier (Maxi Edmond de Rothschild). Despite making different strategic choices from his rivals, relegating him to last place for a good while, Banque Populaire XI takes 2nd place, followed by François Gabart and Tom Laperche on SVR-Lazartigue. The two latest additions to the class are showing good performance potential, even if we suspect that the skippers are putting on the brakes a little to preserve the machines. Sodebo Ultim' 3 damaged its starboard foil after a collision with a UFO and had to stop to repair it, which puts it in last place in the ranking, more than 900 miles from the leader.
A grouped arrival?
In view of the rather unprecedented weather conditions encountered on this edition of the Jacques Vabre, will the new courses finally allow the competitors to arrive more or less grouped? If the Ultimates should quickly get around their waypoint and start a new part of the course, going up along the coast of South America towards Martinique, with 4,000 miles to go for the first ones, the Class40s are still far away, with the fleet split between Madeira and Mauritania. The frontrunners still have 2,600 miles to go to the finish. And with the trade winds fairly light, the crossing may well be long.
