Upwind slog

Figaro sailors set to have the wind hard on the nose all the way to Cork

This morning finds the Figaro fleet between the latitudes of Penmarc'h and the Raz du Sein (to the south of the Bay of Douarnannez) still heading upwind out to sea on starboard tack on a course just north of due west.

The boats at the front of the fleet are still tightly packed with Jérémie Beyou on Delta Dore having nominally pulled into the lead, with a 0.4 mile advantage over Kito de Pavant on Groupe Bel and Laurent Pellecuer on Cliptol Sport, who are off his starboard aft quarter. Just a mile separates first from eighth after a day and a half at sea.

After her glorious start Sam Davies has dropped down to tenth place, still just 1.7 miles from the lead.

This morning there have been two retirements - Christian Bos on Raynal et Roquelaure,due to leaks in his ballast system, and Amaïur Alfaro on www.pay-basques-entreprises.com (due to a broken main halyard). Both skippers have headed to Lorient.

Overnight the skippers have had 25 knot headwind, dropping off to nothing before picking up again to 10-15 knots. The forecast ahead shows fairly relentless headwind more or less to the finish line.

Positions at 0700

Pos	Skipper	Boat	Latitude	Longitude	Crs	Spd	DTF	DTL
1	BEYOU Jérémie	Delta Dore	47 51' 60' N	5 20' 28' W	283°	5.8	263.1
2	de PAVANT Kito	Groupe Bel	47 52' 20' N	5 16' 98' W	285°	5.6	263.5	0.4
3	PELLECUER Laurent	Cliptol Sport	47 52' 14' N	5 17' 16' W	284°	5.7	263.5	0.4
4	CAUDRELIER Charles	Bostik	47 51' 96' N	5 16' 80' W	287°	5.7	263.7	0.6
5	ELIES Yann	Groupe Generali Assurances	47 51' 06' N	5 19' 62' W	285°	6	263.8	0.7
6	TABARLY Erwan	Thales	47 51' 96' N	5 16' 50' W	288°	5.8	263.8	0.7
7	D'ALI Pietro	Nanni Diesel	47 51' 78' N	5 16' 74' W	289°	5.5	263.9	0.8
8	PETIT Benoit	Défi Santé Voile	47 50' 46' N	5 20' 22' W	281°	6.3	264.1	1
9	MORVAN Gildas	Cercle Vert	47 51' 48' N	5 16' 02' W	286°	6	264.4	1.3
10	DAVIES Samantha	Skandia	47 50' 04' N	5 19' 08' W	293°	4.2	264.8	1.7
11	GREGOIRE Jeanne	Banque Populaire	47 50' 64' N	5 15' 06' W	292°	5.8	265.4	2.3
12	DESJOYEAUX Michel	Géant	47 49' 32' N	5 19' 02' W	289°	6	265.5	2.4
13	DUTHIL Frédéric	Brossard	47 50' 82' N	5 13' 62' W	290°	5.7	265.7	2.6
14	LE CLEAC'H Armel	Foncia-TBS	47 50' 46' N	5 13' 74' W	289°	5.8	266	2.9
15	ATTANASIO Romain	MrBookmaker.com	47 49' 50' N	5 13' 98' W	292°	5.7	266.8	3.7
16	VENIARD Gérald	Scutum	47 49' 26' N	5 13' 80' W	288°	5.8	267	3.9
17	BESTAVEN Yannick	Aquarelle.com	47 49' 80' N	5 12' 00' W	288°	5.8	267	3.9
18	RIECHERS Jorg	Germanytoo	47 48' 84' N	5 11' 04' W	289°	5.6	268.2	5.1
19	KRAUSS Oliver	Espoir Crédit Agricole	47 48' 06' N	5 12' 90' W	291°	5.8	268.4	5.3
20	LE GAL Franck	Lenze	47 47' 58' N	5 14' 46' W	294°	5.2	268.4	5.3
21	MOUREN Jean-Paul	M@rseillentreprises	47 48' 78' N	5 10' 02' W	293°	5.5	268.5	5.4
22	WARDLEY Liz	Sojasun	47 47' 88' N	5 12' 18' W	292°	5.4	268.7	5.6
23	DROUGLAZET Eric	Crédit Maritime	47 48' 90' N	5 08' 70' W	295°	5.4	268.8	5.7
24	VITTET Dominic	ATAO Audio System	47 49' 32' N	5 07' 02' W	277°	6.4	268.9	5.8
25	LEPESQUEUX Marc	Maisons Pierre	47 47' 82' N	5 07' 20' W	287°	5.8	270.2	7.1
26	EMIG Marc	Total	47 47' 22' N	5 06' 72' W	288°	5.9	270.9	7.8
27	BERENGER Nicolas	KONE Ascenseurs	47 46' 80' N	5 04' 08' W	282°	6.4	272.1	9
28	TROUSSEL Nicolas	All Mer	47 42' 96' N	5 14' 88' W	288°	6.1	272.4	9.3
29	CHABAGNY Thierry	Lèbre Bermudes	47 46' 50' N	5 02' 88' W	285°	6	272.7	9.6
30	THETIOT Sébastien	Déclic Morbihan	47 46' 80' N	5 01' 32' W	317°	3.6	272.9	9.8
31	SEVAUX Stéphane	Sarthe	47 44' 28' N	5 02' 88' W	281°	6.1	274.7	11.6
32	TRIPON Armel	Gedimat	47 41' 22' N	5 12' 60' W	290°	5.9	274.7	11.6
33	ROGNON Cyrille	ENO & Navi Line	47 41' 22' N	5 09' 84' W	291°	6.3	275.4	12.3
34	SVILARICH Etienne	Sogeti	47 41' 40' N	5 08' 34' W	291°	6.2	275.7	12.6
35	FOURNIER FOCH Thierry	Cortal Consors	47 38' 52' N	5 07' 56' W	292°	6.7	278.5	15.4
36	PEAN Lionel	L'Esprit d'Equipe	47 40' 44' N	4 51' 96' W	281°	6.5	281.4	18.3
37	CASO Jean Christophe	Groupe STEC / Charente Maritime	47 35' 40' N	5 05' 58' W	290°	7.2	281.9	18.8
38	DEFERT Eric	Amiral de Bretagne - Suzuki	47 34' 92' N	5 05' 40' W	291°	6.9	282.4	19.3
39	AUDIGANE Sébastien	D'Aucy Cultive la vie	47 35' 34' N	5 03' 36' W	286°	7	282.7	19.6
40	BOUGARD Patrice	Kogane	47 39' 30' N	4 48' 54' W	280°	6.9	283.4	20.3
41	BIGOT Gaël	Team 117	47 28' 26' N	5 10' 80' W	274°	7.6	287.1	24
42	NABART Laurent	Corsica	47 32' 04' N	4 51' 66' W	284°	6.6	289	25.9
NL	BOUVET Christophe	Bo Travail !	-		°
ABD	ALFARO Amaiur	www.pays-basque-entreprises.com	-		°
ABD	BOS Christian	Raynal et Roquelaure	-		°
ABD	EINHORN Jacques	Connivence	-		°