Transat AG2R: Sunday night beating

The Figaro doublehanders experienced 40+ knots last night on the approach to Cape Finistere

Chart courtesy of Expedition/Tasman Bay Navigation Systems and GRIB (European model) from PredictWind

Positions at 0830 UTC:

Since setting sail from Concarneau on Saturday, the doublehanded competitors in the Figaro class' Transat AG2R La Mondiale have been crossing the Bay of Biscay. Over the last 24 hours conditions have built as a depression has rolled eastwards to the north of them, conditions deteriorating significantly yesterday afternoon when the winds were gusting up into the high 40s asthe front passed across them.

"At 30 knots, it's still managable, but up to 45 knots, it's survival," commented Nacarat's Erwan Tabarly, this morning of the conditions they've experienced. Tabarly (who's nephew of the late great Eric) said they had experienced average wind speeds of 35 knots, with a peak wind speed of 48 knots recorded by his co-skipper Eric Peron. 

"Everything is fine on board, though very wet," said Tabarly. "That's not surprising given the tough conditions we've had over the past few hours - the wind gusting to over 40 knots. Now we are on starboard passing Cape Finisterre in 30-35 knots of wind. The sea is quite rough but manageable. Due to the cross seas, we find ourselves facing walls of water which shake the boat violently. There's a lot of noise, that's for sure. The conditions are quite aggressive ... The wind should ease during the day today - the worst is over."

Nacarat took over the lead from Cercle Vert yesterday morning, losing it to Gedimat yesterday afternoon, before Tabarly and Peron regained it in the evening, as the whole fleet put in a hitch to the west, before Gildas Morvan and Charlie Dalin on Cercle Verte took it back again earlier this morning.

At the latest sched Cercle Vert is 35 miles northwest of La Coruna with the wind in the process of veering into the northwest as the depression rumbles through, exiting stage right. With the depression moving away, so the boats over the course of today will come under the influence of the Azores high with the winds lightening and once it has fully veered into the northwest they will be hoisting kites to make good progress south towards the turning mark to the north of Las Palmas.

These conditions will hold until Wednesday when the high is displaced to the west as another depression and its associated front rolls through causing the wind to back into the southwest before returning to the northwest once again.

Overnight Sam Goodchild and Nick Cherry have clawed their way up from eighth to fifth place, and at the latest sched they are just 3.5 miles off the leaders.

This morning Nick Cherry reported: Well last night pretty much lived up to expectations. We spent most of the afternoon planning ahead for the front and by night fall the wind was building as expected. In the end it was kind of enjoybleonce we had got our fist tack in and reefed the main, the wind peaked at 45 knots for about an hour just after midnight and at that point it was all we could do to stay on the boat at times with walls of water washing over the boat out of nowhere int he dark. The only damage sustained was some of the glow fast stripes pealing off the main as it flogged. Otherwise all is good aboad Artemis. We just realised that we haven’t finished one whole day bag of food yet. This is partly down to no one feeling like cooking down below and partly due to my mum sending us off wit a good suply of chocolate brownie, which has all gone now! Two things to be glad for todayb are waterproof kit, which is getting thourugh testing and the dolphins that are almost always with us,
All for now, the kettle is whistling,
Nick,