The great divide

Skippers choose different options mid-Atlantic in the Figaro's Trophee BPE

Positions at 0900GMT

Pos	Boat	DTF	DTL	VMG	Lat	Long	Spd	Crs	Spd	Crs	Spd	Dist
							Instant		4hr aver		24hr run
1	BOSTIK	2034.2	0.0	8.0	31 07.26' N	46 35.76' W	7.3	245	8.3	240.0	7.4	177.2
2	CERCLE VERT	2039.9	5.7	7.6	33 27.24' N	47 44.76' W	7.4	243	7.9	243.0	7.7	184.9
3	CREDIT MARITIME-ZEROTWO	2041.7	7.5	8.5	30 14.22' N	46 16.86' W	9.0	236	8.9	236.0	8.0	192.8
4	SKANDIA	2059.0	24.8	8.6	29 19.26' N	45 39.06' W	9.2	236	9.4	233.0	8.1	193.8
5	BANQUE POPULAIRE	2104.6	70.4	7.9	30 28.38' N	45 05.88' W	8.5	232	8.2	230.0	7.7	184.8
6	AQUARELLE.COM	2119.8	85.6	7.9	33 00.96' N	45 37.32' W	7.9	235	7.5	236.0	6.1	146.3
7	COUTOT ROEHRIG	2121.5	87.3	8.7	30 48.00' N	44 51.72' W	9.1	236	9.0	237.0	7.6	181.5
8	TOTAL	2129.5	95.3	7.1	32 25.14' N	45 19.14' W	7.3	238	7.0	236.0	6.4	152.5
9	GEDIMAT	2132.1	97.9	7.6	28 27.06' N	44 00.72' W	7.9	240	8.5	235.0	8.4	200.9
10	ATAO AUDIO SYSTEM	2182.9	148.7	8.2	27 06.30' N	42 48.54' W	9.7	235	8.8	240.0	9.0	216.2
11	ENTREPRENDRE AU PAYS DE LORIENT	2213.4	179.2	6.7	29 57.00' N	42 46.74' W	8.1	227	7.5	229.0	7.6	182.5
12	LITTLE BLACK SHARK	2229.2	195.0	8.5	35 20.94' N	44 35.58' W	8.8	234	8.7	236.0	7.5	180.6

With just over 1500 miles still to go before they reach the channel between Haiti and the eastern end of Cuba there is an impressive spread of 470 miles across the race track with Gildas Morvan on Cercle Verte holding on to his northerly track while 2003 Mini Transat winner Armel Tripon on Gedimat and Dominique Vittet, now up to tenth place on ATAO Audio System, hold the south.

The weather situation remains stable with the boats sailing away from the Azores high that is currently dominating the weather in the central North Atlantic, causing the boats to the north to be more headed. As a result those to the south have continued to make good progress, with Sam Davies on Skandia nearly halving the distance between herself and race leader Charles Caudrelier on Bostik for the second day running.

As Sam Davies writes below the MaxSea routing shows that she should be first to the passage between Haiti and Cuba provided she sails as fast as the other boats. Those such as Gildas Morvan to the north appear to have made the wrong move as the long term forecast shows them close reaching and finally being becalmed in a transition area between the Azores high and another large high that is forecast to develop in the Gulf of Mexico early next week.

Meanwhile far to the south Dominique Vittet's flyer looks set to pay off the closer the boats come to the Caribbean and he may well remain unaffected by the onset of the new high and could hold the Trade Winds all the way to Haiti.

Watch this space next week...


In the early hours this morning Sam Davies sent through the following email:

Hello!

The drying out process on board Skandia is really getting somewhere now! I even managed to take off my oilskin trousers and get down to a T-shirt for the first time. Suncream is out!

Part of this is also 'recovery' process from the physical first week. Some of my aches and pains are disappearing now, but also I have the wear and tear showing up. In particular, my hands are agony! Little cuts are slightly infected, the palms are red and sore from pulling ropes, my fingertips (just under the end of each nail) feel bruised (even typing hurts!) and my right wrist is aching from steering too much! Poor me!

I also saw my first flying fish today, which is a good sign of getting into warmer climes!

We had less wind too, today, which was a little disappointing, but as I write this the wind is back and we are doing 9-10 knots again.

Today, I ran a routing simulation on my computer to see who has the advantageous position (because I believe it is me and also I want to see how Gildas will manage to get back south!) I put Cercle Verte, Bostik, Skandia and Gedimat, and ran a simulation race (to the Turks passage) with the latest GRIB file that I had downloaded and our polar file (boatspeed).

I created it into a 'movie' and watched it! The charting software Maxsea [as used by thedailysail] that we have on board is incredible in its ability to do such things as this. Being able to receive weather and work on it to make tactical decisions is incredible, I am really enjoying this part of the race too.
Anyway, Skandia won my little simulated race (yippee!) with Bostik second, Gedimat third and Cercle Verte very last! Perhaps I was being optimistic by not putting Droug (Eric Droglazet on Credit Martime-ZeroTwo) into my race!

So, my work confirms that I am happy with my position in the fleet, that Gildas will have a tough time in the next week, and also now I have the detailed breakdown of the optimum route to the Turks passage.

This work takes not very long (30 min), and I do this every time a new weather file is available (four times per day). I am careful to use it only as a guide, because it is a weather forecast (and we know that sometimes the forecasters don't get it exactly right) especially once I am looking beyond three to four days ahead. I also compare the forecast to the weather maps that I am continuously receiving on the weather fax. The charts from Boston are the ones I am finding the most useful.

So, now I just need to sail Skandia as fast as Charles is sailing Bostik to make sure I can make the most of my advantageous position!

See you soon

Sam x