Big breeze - big kites

Solid 16 knots of surfing for Trophee BPE Figaro solo sailors

Positions at 0700GMT

Pos	Boat/skipper	Latitude	Longitude	Spd	Crs	DTF	DTL
1	Gédimat Armel Tripon	43 57.37' N	13 59.21' W	10.1	232	2933.3	0
2	Suzuki Automobiles Eric Defert	44 34.79' N	14 11.33' W	8.9	250	2937.7	4.4
3	Art Immobilier Construction Daniel Dupont	43 57.79' N	13 40.42' W	9.9	228	2945.4	12.1
4	Lenze Franck Le Gal	42 03.92' N	12 25.11' W	10	208	2962.6	29.4
5	Iles de la région Guadeloupe Philippe Quéré	44 22.39' N	13 13.80' W	8.4	230	2971.9	38.7
6	Domaine du Mont d’Arbois T Duprey du Vorsent	42 05.76' N	12 04.62' W	10.5	211	2975.2	41.9
7	Theolia Robert Nagy	41 47.65' N	11 49.54' W	10.4	208	2982.2	49
8	Banque Populaire Jeanne Grégoire	41 27.53' N	11 27.83' W	12.5	204	2991.7	58.4
9	Le Comptoir Immobilier Gildas Mahé	41 30.02' N	11 27.65' W	9.4	210	2993.6	60.4
10	Cercle Vert Gildas Morvan	41 09.89' N	11 20.84' W	12.1	205	2994	60.7
11	Financo Nicolas Troussel	41 22.97' N	11 24.42' W	9.5	210	2994.5	61.3
12	Défi Mousquetaires Thomas Rouxel	41 23.77' N	11 24.26' W	13.8	204	2994.7	61.5
13	Défi Transat 1 Yannig Livory	41 46.86' N	11 28.96' W	10	211	2996.4	63.1
14	Luisina Eric Drouglazet	41 03.68' N	11 13.62' W	12.7	204	2997	63.8
15	Groupe Céléos Ronan Treussart	41 26.24' N	11 20.68' W	11.7	202	2997.5	64.2
16	Aquarelle.com Yannick Bestaven	41 08.81' N	11 06.99' W	12.3	196	3002.6	69.3
17	Bostik Charles Caudrelier	41 10.11' N	11 05.85' W	11.3	194	3004.8	71.6
18	A.ST Groupe Marc Emig	41 16.10' N	11 05.62' W	11.4	204	3005.1	71.8
19	France Soir Eric Peron	41 15.38' N	11 01.39' W	10.9	201	3008.5	75.2
20	Les Mousquetaires Bertrand de Broc	41 13.30' N	10 58.06' W	11	203	3010.8	77.6
21	Sojasun Liz Wardley	41 14.04' N	10 52.85' W	11.2	205	3012.7	79.5
22	Belle-Ile-en-Mer Christian Bos	41 39.54' N	11 01.35' W	11	200	3015.3	82
23	Docteur Valnet - Aromathérapie Laurent Pellecuer	41 10.44' N	10 48.93' W	10.2	201	3016.5	83.2
24	Baïko Antonio Pedro da Cruz	41 41.24' N	10 58.67' W	9.4	217	3016.7	83.4
25	GFI Group James Bird	42 04.24' N	10 28.71' W	9.1	215	3044.9	111.6
26	Pays Marie-Galante Victor Jean Noël	41 46.35' N	9 52.86' W	8.7	202	3066.5	133.2
ABD	Brossard Servane Escoffier	Abandon

Once again the split in the fleet is making something of a mockery of what is going on in the Trophee BPE, Figaro class' singlehanded transatlantic race between Belle Ile and the Caribbean island of Marie Galante.

This morning the situation remains similar to yesterday with a majority of the fleet now having passed Cape Finistere, the NW corner of Spain, while four lonely boats of the 26 remaining have continued down the great circle. Because of their closeness to the great circle and the short distance to the finish so it is the leader of this group, 2003 Mini Transat winner Armel Tripon who is currently leading in the official results.

Meanwhile in the race south Eric Drouglazet on Luisina continues to lead with Yannick Bestaven on Aquarelle.com and Charles Caudrelier on Bostik just off his port quarter and Gildas Morvan's Cercle Verte and Marc Emig's A.ST Groupe off his starboard quarter.

With the Azores high turning into an enormous north-south orientated ridge to their west, so all the boats, both north and south, are experiencing strong northerlies and are hence making top speed, Tripon and his posse 9-10 knots, Drouglazet and his group often more than 12. Due to the proximity of the high those to the north should be experiencing more wind 20-30 knots than those to the southeast who should have around 15-20.

There still seems to be absolutely no merit in the option taken by Tripon & co for tonight they will feel the effects of the northern end of the ridge as it rotates round to a NE-SW axis that will leave them becalmed. Once they pass through the ridge they will then find themselves with fairly relentless southerlies or southwesterly for the duration of the long term forecast.

“It is hot, I won't be able to stay long” commented Eric Drouglazet during the radio vac early this morning. At the time he was sailing under spinnaker in a solid 30 knots of wind, the speedo constantly on 16 knots. "I'm getting tired, but there is no question of lifting my foot for the moment. It is necessary to continue to the maximum. That will last for another 24 hours, and after it should weaken."

To the north Tripon reported: “It is better this morning, but it was a cold night. We had up to 40 knots of wind. This morning, it has weakened. During next the 36 hours we will negotiate the crossing of the anticyclone and it will be necessary to find the shortest passage across this zone of weak winds. Behind a new depression, a rather big lad, awaits us.”