Disparu!

The next four boats expected in the Transat Jacques Vabre have all gone into stealth mode

The Transat Jacques Vabre has raised the question as to whether 'stealth mode' is a good thing, particularly when it is used near the conclusion of a race when more people are attempting to follow the race...

And so it is that this morning four of the IMOCA Open 60s, all on their final approach to Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, scrapping over fifth to eighth places, are all in 'stealth mode'. Spain's W-Hotels, France's Veolia Environnment and Akéna Vérandas and Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson on Aviva, all chose to utilise this option at the same time, their performance data and positions are not relayed to the outside world and, each other.

However with sophisticated weather modelling and knowing the exact position of each of their rivals before the stealth plays started, each of the crews will have a very good idea of what is likely to happen, unless it gets light and shifty. As Brian Thompson noted from Aviva: “We all have similar routing and similar weather information and that gives us an idea, but if it get's really shifty and light, people will do different things. Some people will try to get to the coast early, some will try and leave it to the last minute, it is going to be hard to know. There will be different philosophies. It will be hard for people watching but it will be interesting for sure."

When the four were last visible Alex Pella and Pepe Ribes on W-Hotels were leading the group, lying in fifth, but were being pressed quite hard by Roland Jourdain and Jean Luc Nélias on Veolia Environnment. The Spaniards had picked up speed again after a sticky, slow spell night, but had a lead of just 15 miles to protect over the last 180 miles.

Pella and Ribes have the strategic advantage of having Veolia to their north, but anything can happen in these light evening and night breezes. When third placed Mike Golding and Javier Sanso arrived they were tacking to the line in an offshore 5-7 knots breeze, but by evening as Michel Desjoyeaux and Jérémie Beyou arrived to take fourth place, they were ghosting along the shores on Foncia at just three to five knots in very light winds. And after nightfall the breeze dies away, the palm trees still and tropical air is oppressive, still and humid.

Foncia had arrived at 23:14:34 GMT on Tuesday in a time of 17 days, 8 hours, 44 minutes and 34 seconds at an average speed 11.34 noeuds. Desjoyeaux's TJV was different to that of the first three as he had taken a southerly route taking him away from the worst of the weather.

"Our option, we took it with full knowledge of the facts," said Desjoyeaux on his arrival. "It was a deliberate choice, on my part in particular, to preserve the boat. In fact, we are the winners of the sub-50 knot class!" Beyou added: "There was a strategic choice to make from outset, as we exited the English Channel. We knew it before leaving, but once we were out on the water we continued to weigh up its pros and cons. Compared to the southern route we chose, we tried to simulate the impact of the strong winds on the western route: were the weather models being badly interpreted or did they sail better in breeze than than they thought, was there less breeze than than they thought? It is perhaps a little of all of that."



Desjoyeaux resumed: “I thought that the boats to the north would suffer more and that there would be more damage, although not big problems like those of BT, but sufficient to hamper their performance. But three crews are extremely good and sailed very well in the winds: well done to them!"

Back to the race course and before going stealth there was a 45 miles gap back to the second of the duelling pairs with only 2.5 miles separating Akéna Vérandas from Aviva - Thompson, Caffari and Akéna skipper Arnaud Boissieres reunited after racing each other for the latter half of the Vendee Globe.

"We are under a rain squall here about 100 and something miles from Costa Rica," reported Brian Thompson on Aviva. " Akena have been really storming the last few days across the Caribbean Sea and we are having a great race. I am not sure if they saw us, but we saw them last night. The crossed just in front of us with their kite up. They were heading north and we were heading west. It is the first time since we were off Cherbourg, so it was quite incredible after 4500 miles to see them again.

“Calli [Arnaud Boissieres] was determined to catch Dee in the last Vendée Globe and now there is not much between us, it is going to come down to the last few miles. Everyone is in stealth mode, so we and you won't know where everyone else is. We have decent breeze just now but it will drop off during the day, so it will shift a little bit more NE'ly then in the final 30 miles it will just go very, very light. And that will be tricky enough for us as it will be overnight.

"I think it is better to just go whichever way will get us to the finish line fastest. In 2001 when I did the Mini Transat, in effect we were all in stealth mode (there was no tracking), I was leading and assuming the boat in second was doing one thing and in fact he was doing another thing, and I was trying to cover him as a coast boat, so I think from that experience I have learned to just sail the wind you have and try to get to the finish, and if you see another boat, then that is a big help. That is very likely to happen in the last 30 miles. Could be a close boat race.

"The course is really interesting, really interesting all the way through, with lots of obstacles, lots of options all the way through. We have been pushing hard all the way through. Things break and we have been really positive about fixing them and getting on, that has been one of the great things about this race. We have got on all really well, and been competitive against top boats."

Behind the stealth boats, Yves Parlier and Pachi Rivero on 1876 had 90 miles to go while Sam Davies and Sidney Gavignet on Artemis Ocean Racing were bringing up the rear 201 miles away from Puerto Limon.