Blinding conditions

Figaro transat fleet screaming downwind towards the Azores

Positions at 0900GMT

Pos	Boat	DTF	DTL	VMG	Lat	Long	Spd	Crs	Spd	Crs	Spd	Dist
							Instant		4hr aver		24 hr run
1	BOSTIK	3460.4	0.0	9.3	43 29.82' N	20 17.94' W	9.4	263	10.0	260.0	10.0	240.0
2	CREDIT MARITIME-ZEROTWO	3461.1	0.8	9.1	43 29.40' N	20 16.56' W	9.1	265	9.9	259.0	10.1	241.4
3	CERCLE VERT	3473.3	12.9	9.8	43 21.36' N	19 54.00' W	9.7	260	9.6	254.0	9.4	224.5
4	AQUARELLE.COM	3479.0	18.6	8.2	43 31.32' N	19 51.06' W	9.6	276	9.4	265.0	9.8	234.9
5	BANQUE POPULAIRE	3486.9	26.5	4.5	43 05.46' N	19 26.10' W	9.5	186	8.3	240.0	9.0	217.1
6	SKANDIA	3499.4	39.0	7.1	42 47.40' N	19 00.36' W	10.1	216	8.7	237.0	9.5	227.9
7	COUTOT ROEHRIG	3499.7	39.3	9.5	43 07.32' N	19 08.40' W	9.7	258	9.2	256.0	9.6	229.3
8	TOTAL	3501.7	41.3	6.6	43 02.76' N	18 58.86' W	9.5	210	9.1	242.0	9.2	220.3
9	GEDIMAT	3509.1	48.7	9.8	43 27.96' N	19 04.74' W	10.0	257	9.5	249.0	9.6	229.6
10	LITTLE BLACK SHARK	3519.4	59.0	7.2	43 23.94' N	18 42.42' W	7.8	243	8.3	261.0	9.2	221.2
11	ENTREPRENDRE AU PAYS DE LORIENT	3523.6	63.2	9.1	43 44.88' N	18 52.08' W	9.3	255	8.2	252.0	8.7	208.1
12	ATAO AUDIO SYSTEM	3533.5	73.2	4.5	42 34.68' N	18 07.62' W	10.0	188	9.0	194.0	8.7	209.4

The last 24 hours have seen the boats to the north make enough gains to move into the lead although there is still the tiniest of separations between the two former Solitaire du Figaro winners, Charles Caudrelier on Bostik and Eric Drouglazet on Credit Maritime.

In fact the results are a little misleading because the further the boats sail west so the wind is veering gradually to the ESE and as a result several skippers such at Jean Gregoire on Banque Populaire and Sam Davies on Skandia have chosen to gybe south. The leading four boats are currently continuing on starboard gybe.

Sam Davies writes:

Yesterday was FUN! Surfing along with the assymetric spinnaker up and full main in 22 knots of wind, with squalls of 30 knots! The squalls got a bit hairy towards the end because it was a black, black night - no moon, no stars, cloudy sky and big, unforgiving waves!.... In fact, in the last squall (of my big sail configuration) I was in all kind of trouble trying to keep up with the wind shifts and waves - and that was me steering! I wasn't sure that the pilot would cope at all: Correct! I needed to rest (because I had been steering all day), so I decided to change down to the small spinnaker and anti-wrap net - the black night sleeping configuration! The wind had come aft a bit too. That was interesting - getting the pilot to hold for long enough to do a safe drop! Luckily I managed.

Once the small spinnaker was up, I left the pilot on and she seemed happy. However, the next 30 knot squall wiped us out. Re-try new configuration - vang right off, barbers on, bear away a bit more - that seemed more stable.

I managed to have dinner (chilli - very nice thank you Ellen - one of the leftovers!) until the next hairy situation! In the end, I put in a reef and the vang back on because I didn't want to damage the mainsail on the spreaders. Very safe, but it is good not to break anything at this early stage in the race!

Then, typical - my See Me alarm starts going off, to let me know there is a ship around. It is very reliable, so I knew there was a ship, and the visibility wasn't that good, so with my boatspeed at 14 knots, the ship at 18, we could be closing at over 30 knots and that doesn't give much time to get out the way (especially when you are limited in ability to turn due to hairy downwind conditions!) SO, I still couldn't sleep. I set my alarm at five minute intervals to check for the ship, which was getting closer due to the alarm sounding more regular... Eventually, it showed up behind me and passed close by the starboard side which seemed to take ages becasue I was going fast!

So, finally I managed to sleep, which was great, but I had a horrible dream. So I went back to sleep again and the second dream was better!!! (With the gloves on!)

Now, I am back up and fast running with big spinnaker and full main. The wind has shifted more, and I decided to gybe as my strategy is to stay south of the fleet for the approach to the Azores. The trouble is that the wind shift seemed temporary, so I may have to gybe back again...
Sam xx