Ultimes rampage south

As there are the inevitable casualties over the first 48 hours of the Route du Rhum

Inevitably a 91 strong fleet heading out into a series of autumnal North Atlantic fronts has taken its toll on the Route du Rhum. The carnage we'll get into later.

On a more positive note, after having tacked to the northwest of the Ushant TSS at around 0000 UTC yesterday, the Ultimes ticked off the Bay of Biscay yesterday. Leader Loick Peyron on Banque Populaire passed Cape Finisterre (the northwestern tip of Spain) early yesterday evening and passed Lisbon at around 0800 UTC this morning. In short, despite being one trimaran down following Sodebo Ultim's sad collision with a cargo ship on Sunday evening, the Ultimes are 'smokin'' with Banque Popualire making a handy 31.6 knots at 09:48 UTC this morning. 

The leaders are benefitting from the Azores high being well situated in the centre of the Atlantic providing them with a band of solid 25-40 knot NNWerly winds. In fact the behaviour of the high could not be better for them at present.

Peyron has done a fantastic job so far in this Route du Rhum, getting a nose in front of the competition and extending his lead sched by sched, up to 61 miles over second placed Spindrift 2. Obviously these boats have no shortage of power, it is much more down to how much of the power the solo skipper can harness. However will be getting the miles in the bank at this stage because in his rear mirror is the world's largest and fastest offshore trimaran, Spindrift 2. The moment the boats get into more stable conditions then Peyron will know that his time at the front of the fleet is potentially limited if Spindrift 2's skipper chooses to throw out a reef and change gears.

Images courtesy of Expedition and Predictwind

Among the MOD70s, Seb Josse on Edmond de Rothschild is the stand-out performer having faced stiff competition from Lionel Lemonchois and Prince de Bretagne before both boats were overhauled by the mighty Spindrift yesterday evening. Josse overhauled Lemonchois passing the TSS of Cape Finisterre yesterday evening and has chosen to stay high as Lemonchois and Francis Joyon on IDEC (the only boat to stay east of the TSS ) have chosen to stay low.

At present Banque Populaire's course should see her shave the west coast of Madeira (315 miles away at 10:48 UTC). While at present there appears to be a light patch to the west of Madeira, the well-behaved high looks set fill in here later today...in short a glamour forecast for the big multis. The boats which appear to be heading east more will be looking to stay in margin stronger breeze at the expense of sailing more miles.

Behind them the IMOCA 60 leaders are currently passing Cape Finisterre. Here Vendee Globe winner Francois Gabart and MACIF have performed as well as Peyron in the Ultimate, leading pretty much from Sunday's Cape Frehel mark rounding. Vincent Riou hung on to MACIF's coat tails until his PRB suffered a problem with her mast track forcing the 2004 Vendee winner to head back to his based in Port la Foret. He has since retired.

This has left MACIF's sistership Maitre Coq in second with Marc Guillemot's Safran third, following a similar track to the leader.

The boats are still experiencing brutal 30+ knot NNWerly conditions but most noticable is the IMOCA 60s are taking a more southwesterly course than the Ultimes and don't look like they will be shaving Cape Finisterre anything as like as closely. In fact at present the boats are on a course taking them directly into the centre of the high which suggests that, with the high moving south later this week, they may be looking at the upwind option around its north side but we can't see that panning out with the high forecast to return north by this weekend...

Gabart reported: "It's going well but it is far from simple. There is a lot of wind from the start between 30 and 35 knots and also a lot of waves. I was quite surprised, not by wind, but by the state of the sea. It is very, very fast and slaps the boat really hard. It should increase even more in the coming hours after passing Cape Finisterre.

"Since Vincent turned around yesterday, I've redoubled my vigilance on MACIF. I try to sail more safely because the conditions take their toll on all the gear. Yesterday I had a problem when the furling drum for the J3 exploded - that's never happened before. I spent most of the first part of the night trying to fix it - something that in port would have taken a quarter of an hour."

Sadly the IMOCA fleet has had its casualties in addition to PRB. Votre Nom autour du Monde skipper Bertrand de Broc has been forced to retire after the hydraulic ram on his pilot failed and he suffered an injury to his elbow. Meanwhile Tanguy de Lamotte's Initiatives Coeur suffered some rudder damage after a collision with an unidentified floating object that has forcing him to make a technical pitstop in Brest to effect repairs (and currently he has still not yet left).

The greatest carnage has occurred in the Multi50 fleet where of 11 starters, five have so far retired. Loic Fequet’s trimaran Maitre Jacques broke the bow off her starboard float, a repeat of a problem suffered a year ago. Gilles Buekenhout on the venerable Irens 50 tri Nootka broke her rudder and had to be towed to Roscoff where he arrived around 1600hrs CET this afternoon. One of the boards broke on Hervé de Carlan's catamaran Delirium, while the main exploded on Erik Nigon's Nootka sistership Vers un monde sans SIDA and Alain Delhumeau's Eric Lerouge-designed trimaran Royan was dismasted.

The latest is that Pierre Antoine's trimaran Olmix was struck by lightning mid-morning and was taking on water. Initially GDF Suez was diverted to go to her assistance but since then Antoine has been airlifted off by a Spanish rescue helicopter.

Antoine explained: “In fact the lightning struck the top of the mast. I later found the bulb from the masthead down on the ground. It came down through the mast right to the bottom. The boat is made of wood so it left a hole in the wood and right through the electrical cables which had caught fire. I thought first of all it was just alight, so I tried to put it out with the extinguisher, as I didn't think there was any hole. When I went inside the boat, there was already 50 cm of water and she was beginning to go bow down. After that, the water just kept rising. I found bits of wood floating around. It's the sort of thing that never happens. It's crazy. Luckily I wasn't inside the boat, seeing it had burnt everywhere. I could have been sitting in front of the computer. I can't imagine what would have happened… The screens exploded and everything turned to dust…”

Competitively the Multi50 is already becoming a two horse race between Yves le Blevec's Actual (this is the former Orange boat captain and Mini Transat winner's last race in his Multi50 tri) and Erwan Le Roux's Fenetrea Cardinal, who at the latest sched are going either side of the TSS off Cape Finisterre with Actual taking the offshore route.  They appear to be following the Ultimes taking the southerly 'pretty' way.

Meanwhile the lead Class40s are three quarters of the way across their Bay of Biscay crossing after all the boats took the inshore track inside of the TSS at Ushant. While Spain's Alex Pella on the immaculately built Botin Partners design Tales 2 Santander held the lead briefly on the first night, race favourite Sebastien Rogues on his trusty Mach40 GDF Suez has since moved into his familiar position at the front of the fleet. However he is being chased by Thibault Vauchel-Camus on the very latest Mach40 Solidaires en Peleton, who is leading the group to the southeast of GDF. 

Elsewhere in the Class40s former Mini sailor Pierre Brasseur is in fourth, punching above his weight on his five year old Owen Clarke design Matouba, while Hamble's very own daughter Miranda Merron is holding eighth place on Campagne de France, beating 'him indoors' Halvard Mabire, sailing the newer PogoS3, currently 16th.

Miranda reported: "The first night we were treated to a cold front and all that that entails. The second night we had another front or trough, lots of large grey ominous things full of wind, rain, hail and lightning, wth nothing much in the short gap between each onslaught."

Elsewhere among the English speakers, Conrad Humphreys on Cat phones is holding 26th after making an emergency pit stop in Camaret-sur-Mer yesterday afternoon to replace a batten box at the second reef.

Humphreys commented: “It was really necessary to pit stop yesterday and get the repairs done. Hugh Fletcher, our boat captain, was absolutely fantastic in getting the parts we needed and then managing such a good turnaround. The conditions were pretty lousy in the first 24 hours and it put a lot of stress on the boat. It was very tough and we knew it would be.

“There were really big waves getting over the Continental Shelf. I didn’t manage to eat or sleep so it was good to rest up in Camaret while the repairs were being carried out and I’m feeling much better now. It’s just great to be back out and in the race. It’s settled down a bit now and Cat Phones is making good progress towards Finisterre.

“As for life on board the boat, it’s all about getting into the routine of things and I’ve regained my rhythm. I’ve not had an internet connection so one of my jobs today is to try and sort that out. And my focus is very much on making up for the lost time and making progress through the fleet.”

Sadly South African Phillippa Hutton-Squire on Swish has been forced to retire after finding a compression crack in one of her yacht's spreaders (see the video here)

Currently six Class40s out of 43 started have retired. In addition to Phillippa, most alarming has been the keel lost on both of the brand new Sabrosa Mk2s. The keel Marc Lepesqueux's Cap West broke at 12:30 yesterday and he has been gingerly nursing his boat back to port. Francois Angoulvant has been less lucky - his boat lost its keel and turned turtle. These boats are unusual in not having maximum draft...

One of our Class40 favourites, two time Solitaire du Figaro winner Nicolas Troussel, skipper of Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne, has also been forced to pull out with a sprained ankle, while Thierry Bouchard on board Walfo.com has suffered a wrist injury.