Groupama past Lisbon

Route du Rhum leading fleets split in two

See charts of the whole fleet, the IMOCA 60s, Multi50s and Class 40s

Images courtesy of Expedition navigation software and PredictWind.

Just over a day and a half into La Route du Rhum-La Banque Postale, so the leader in the Ultimate Class, Franck Cammas and Groupama 3 are already at the latitude of Lisbon having passed the eastern side of the high lying between Portugal and the Azores. Racing the most powerful and potentially unmanagable boat in the Ultimate class seems to be having little to no effect on Cammas for whom this is potentially his last race on board his Jules Verne Trophy-holding trimaran before he moves on to the Volvo Ocean Race.

Behind Cammas, Francis Joyon on IDEC and Yann Guichard on Gitana XI are following the leader's tactic in rounding the high, but Thomas Coville is at present to the north heading for the centre of the high and presumably at some point today will tack out as the northwesterlies back around to the southwest allowing Sodebo to be lifted as he escapes into the northwestern quadrant of the high (which seems to be moving little today according to the European weather model).

Meanwhile Sidney Gavignet on Majan Oman Air is hitting the right hand side of the course closest to the great circle, hence why he is in third place overall despite being apparently behind on the water. At present he is some 450 miles north of Groupama 3. After putting in a hitch to the northwest yesterday afternoon, so Gavignet tacked back to the southwest at around 1940 last night and has since been continuing on this heading. Presumably Gavignet and his router, the legendary Marcel van Triest, don't like the long term forecast for the southerly option. 

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In the IMOCA 60s the general view seems to be that 'west is best' and yesterday evening, like Gavignet, most put in a hitch to the west, tacking back to the southwest at between 2300 and 0100 last night. Yesterday's race leader Roland Jourdain on board Veolia Environnement has taken up position furthest north, tacking back a little later than Armel le Cleac'h on BritAir who has now taken the lead, although it should be remembered that they are closest to the great circle to the finish in Guadeloupe. Among this group of 60s now heading southwest, Groupe Bel and Safran are now furthest to the southeast some 70 miles from Veolia.

There must be some concern in the IMOCA fleet for race favourite Michel Desjoyeaux on Foncia didn't tack west yesterday. He and Arnaud Boissieres on the old PRB, Akena Verandas, seem intent on following the lead Ultimate class boats around the eastern side of the high although they may possibly struggle. At the latest sched Foncia is just off Cape Finisterre and has some 200-250 miles to go before she sees the wind veering from the west into the northeast as she rounds the high and it seems likely that the wind will go soft for Desjoyeaux (and worse for Boissieres) tonight as the high extends its reach towards Portugal.

In the Multi 50s again there is differing opinion as to whether to go west or south. Into the lead has strode 2006 Route du Rhum winner Lionel Lemonchois on Prince de Bretagne, who has forged out to the west while Franck-Yves Escoffier's Crepes Whaou! 3 and Yves le Blevec's Actual have chosen the south. Past Cape Finisterre these latter two have around 150 miles to sail before they fully see the wind shift to the northeast, le Blevec taking a more prudent route to the east further away from the high's centre in order to stay in more breeze.

Meanwhile back in the Bay of Biscay the Class 40s have fanned out across the race course with leader Bernard Stamm on Cheminees Poujoulat furthest northwest, closest to the great circle and François Angoulvant on Fermiers de Loué - Sarthe heading for Cape Finistere, furthest southeast, some 110 miles from Stamm. However in the race southwest we reckon double Solitaire du Figaro winner Nicolas Troussel on Credit Mutuel de Bretagne is leading. He's in the middle of the course, some 35 miles southeast of Stamm.

Weather-wise the dominant feature at present continues to be the high pressure presently straddling the Azores and in the process of slowly elongating towards Portugal. In 24 hours time the door will be closed on any further possibility of slithering down the Portugese coast (ie this won't be an option for the Class 40s). For those to the north heading west this will mean having to deal with strong 30 knot southwesterly headwinds until they reach a trough. Once through the trough they will then find themselves in favourable northerlies on which to get south - a weather scenario in fact surprisingly similar to that of the 2006 Route du Rhum.

By Friday a new area of high pressure becomes the dominant North Atlantic weather feature, centred to the east of Newfoundland and it will be interesting to see how the westgoing boats and those to the south key into the northerlies to the east of this - those to the west will certainly feel its benefits first while those to the south are likely to have made best progress in the intervening period, but will have sailed many more miles and may be struggling as the northerly boats are making hay.