BritAir take the lead

As the Transat AG2R La Mondiale fleet blasts southwest in the Trades

See the image above full size here courtesy of Expedition Navigation Systems and PredictWind.

NO!!! Sam Davies and Romain Attanasio on Saveol appear to have lost the lead in the Transat AG2R La Mondiale as the boats surge southwest in the northeasterly trades. At the first sched this morning, Cercle Verte's Gildas Morvan and Bertrand de Broc had overtaken them but at the latest one it is Armel le Cleac'h and Fabien Delahaye on BritAir. In fact it is not as straightforward as this as the track of BritAir and Cercle Verte are both marginally to the north of  Davies and Attanasio's Saveol and so nearly to the great circle. In terms of the southwesterly course they are heading Saveol is still a nose ahead. 

As reported yesterday the weather over the next few days looks pretty stable with a high pressure moving around to the north of the fleet but generally there will be some brisk trade winds and endless roaring downwind flat out in the Trades in a reported 27-28 knot winds.

With this weather scenario there seems to be no reason to go north on the great circle as thanks to the high pressure there will be less wind here. The question is how far south to go. The track that Saveol and her group has taken - where there is 9 miles laterally separating the four boats - has been adopted by most of the fleet with the exception of Nicolas Troussel and Thomas Rouxel on Credit Mutuel de Bretagne who continue to bang the left side of the course where there is the potential for more breeze, with the downside of having to sail more miles. So far this hasn't worked out too well as they have dropped from 8th to 13th over the last 24 hours.

Fabien Delahaye reported from Brit Air: "Yesterday, we went quickly and that enabled us to pull back on Savéol. I take turns on the helm with Armel. We lost sight of Cercle Verte and Banque Populaire last night. We strived to make the boat go as quickly as possible and it seems we've found some good settings. After sunset last night we had 2 hour watches, so between Armel and me, one rested and one helmed to keep us efficient. There are very pleasant conditions, we can sail quickly and it's beautiful! I have learned a lot on this Transat - Armel likes to plan, to be at the chart table to examine the various options. Once he has made all his calculations, we discuss the possibilities together and we each give our point of view. I concentrate on our strategy, the weather, the trim and where we stand with that. In the hours to come, there will be a small anticyclonic phase to get through,"

Positions at 0748