Three different Route du Rhums

Peyron extends in Ultime class, as Gabart holds firm in the IMOCAs

The Ultimes getting caught in a smallish bubble of high pressure, extending off to the east of the main 'Azores high' had allowed Loick Peyron on Maxi Solo Banque Populaire VII to extend his lead to more than 200 miles in the early hours this morning. However with the giant tris now firmly back into the northwesterly trade, Yann Guichard on the larger Spindrift 2 has recovered 25 miles on the leader, sailing a course further south.

Yesterday Peyron reported: "The first 48 hours were difficult for man and boat. I tried to make my first nap yesterday morning but it's hard to sleep when boat is doing 30 knots. I have been sleeping in small increments of 10 minutes. This boat is great, fantastic. "

Images courtesy of Expedition and Predictwind

The Ultimes and Multi50s are permitted shore-based routing for the Route du Rhum and Peyron is using Marcel van Triest and Armel le Cleac'h. Using their combined consensus Peyron says of how they dealt with the high: "We saw these small phenomena and plunged south just in time to slip below and hit the trade winds. Anything can happen on the water, but the good news is that the weather seems well organised, and there have been no surprises. The bad news is that I will be obliged to put in a series of gybes or gym sessions with a beautiful sea view. It will start tonight the with hoisting of the large gennaker. I have checked everything and I have organised myself like a young bachelor in his small studio flat."

If the sail handling has been a struggle on Banque Pop, they have been more so on Spindrift 2. Since the start on Sunday, skipper Yann Guichard has been putting in and throwing out reefs and up front has used the ORC storm jib, the staysail and yesterday morning was using the gennaker.

“I spent four hours setting up the sails last night,” he explained. “Obviously the gennaker was drenched with water after three days of bad weather, so it weighed at least 200kg. I had to place it out on the tramp, pull it over the forward beam, hoist and unfurl. I checked everything twice to make sure I’d not made any mistakes, and the manoeuvre went well. The sail is up now and should stay there for a while!”


Guichard said he is now allowing himself some recovery time. “I slept well last night, with several 30 minute naps, and I feel a lot better as a result. From the outset I’ve been forcing myself to eat to store some energy, but I haven’t slept much. If the adrenaline was not sufficient to keep me going, I’d be setting my alarm every 5 to 10 minutes to keep me awake.” The average speeds maintained by the skippers, despite the weather, have pushed their bodies beyond the limit like never before. “Given the steady pace we have been doing, we were expecting the speed to go up another notch. It’s less stressful on Spindrift 2 than on other, less reliable boats, but I’ve never been as sleep deprived and physically exhausted as I am now. It’s not over yet, we’re only half way there, and because the trade winds are not stable, I’ll have to do many more manoeuvres to stay in the wind corridor.”



At the back of the Ultime fleet the boats have been struggling big time in the high to the north west of the Canaries. For example Francis Joyon on IDEC Sport yesterday mid-evening was holding third place 278 miles off the lead. Less than 12 hours on and he has plummeted to fifth, 425 miles off Peyron's pace, overhauled by Lionel Lemonchois on Prince de Bretagne and Seb Josse on the MOD70 Edmond de Rothschild.

In the IMOCA 60, Francois Gabart continues to reign supreme on board MACIF, having increased his lead over second placed Jeremie Beyou on Maitre Coq up to 40 miles at the 07:48 UTC sched. Contrary to what we thought yesterday, it now looks like the IMOCA 60s are looking at a passage to the south of the high, only they are shaving it more closely, closer to the great circle to Guadeloupe than the Ultimes have done.

As the chart above shows, the Azores high is in a reasonably complex configuration at present with around three centres - one up towards Newfoundland (A), another to the southeast (B) and a third around Madiera (C). Over the next 24 hours the first high (A) is set to move east, centred just to the west of the Azores by Friday-Saturday and moving south of the Azores by Sunday by which time the forecast has it absorbing high (B). So the IMOCA 60 skippers will be looking to shave the south side of the Azores and hopefully get below the high before its move east over the weekend.

The IMOCA strategy also seems to be that of the lead Multi50s, which surprisingly have yet to overhaul the bigger monohulls. Here the race continues to be close with Lalou Roucayrol on Arkema Region Aquitaine still just 16 miles ahead of Erwan Le Roux on Fentrea-Cardinal. The good news is that race favourite Yves le Blevec on Actual is back in business having departed Cascais early yesterday. However the former Mini Transat winner has the area of high pressure (C) ahead of him which will make it difficult for him to recover the ground he has lost making a pitstop to repair his wind instruments. 

Having a different set of polars to the longer legged IMOCA 60, the Class40s are taking a route south further to east, as the routing will show them being unable to shave the southeastern corner of the high as well as their big brothers will - the high will have moved east entrapping them if they try this. So instead they are taking a more classic 'go south until the butter melts' type route. 

Over the early hours of this morning Thibault Vauchel-Camus on board the newest Mach 40 Solidaires de Peleton overtook Kito de Pavant on Otio-Bastide Medical to regain the Class40 lead. While at the latest sched just 1.2 miles separates them on the water in fact de Pavant is out on the right side of the race track, some 80 miles NNW of the leader, who is currently at the latitude of Lisbon. So in terms of the flight southwest, Vauchel-Camus holds a big lead with Spanish favourite Alex Pella on the Botin Partners designed Tales 2 Santander some 33 miles behind him to the north and ex-Mini sailor Stephane Le Diraison on Ixblue-BRS a similar distance behind to the northeast.

The good news is that Miranda Merron on Campagne de France is holding fast in ninth place, 59 miles due astern of the race leader. She reported: "After the first couple of days of conditions where crampons or sticky pads (like tree frogs) on all four limbs would have been useful, and perhaps a versatile tail too, yesterday was almost a holiday in the light airs of the ridge. No pot-holes in the sea, no spray on deck, two layers of waterproof clothing peeled off, saltwater paddling pool inside boat emptied one last time (water from foulies and wet sail bags), minor repairs effected. I ate two hot meals, the first two since the start on Sunday.

"However, there is a new low to the north and a cold front on its way, so it's back to upwind for today, the boat is gently slamming in the waves already, and it's not even windy yet. The "terrace" is on pre-wash setting, still useable but damp and sloping at 30 degrees. Just need to get through the next few hours unscathed..."

Conrad Humphreys on Cat Phone is lying in 17th place.

At present the lead Class40s are hard pressed on starboard tack but the wind is forecast to veer into the northwest, freeing them up over the course of today. High C mentioned earlier looks set to be a problem for the Class40 leaders if they continue on their present course, so with the wind veering we can expect to see them taking this shift and putting some more west into their heading.

Just past the latitude of Porto, Sir Robin Knox-Johnson on his Open 60 Grey Power is currently holding seventh place in the Rhum Class. The living legend reported: 

I am running south about 130 miles off the Portuguese coast, about level with the Douro River. The wind has followed predictions and backed to the South West and is due to increase. Thus the choice was north of west or south at the moment. The tactics have, to a considerable extent, been dictated by when you cleared Ushant. Before me you faced a South Westerly wind so the choice was west, but as I passed the wind veered so I, and some others, was able to make a straight run for Cape Finisterre. I went round the Traffic Separation zone within a mile of Group Berto, a multihull that is lying 6th in class to my 7th. I called him on the VHF but he may have been on deck. Later he was pointing higher than me and veered westward whilst I bore off a bit and skitted round his stern and came south.

There was another boat showing on AIS, but intermittently. I heard voices talking in French but I was on deck at the time.

At this stage there is not much point in pinching this boat as we have a whole ocean before us, it is better to go for speed. Once we get the Trade winds, maybe tomorrow night, I can always harden up if necessary.

Finisterre was unanimously declared a Headland. One has to be a little sparing with Headlands as the whiskey and cigarattes, the normal method of celebration, are not in unlimited supply. In fact, only 3 cigarettes remain aboard, so fairly soon, with an amazing effort of will power, I shall give up smoking!

From a sailing point of view now I have the staysail and main with 3rd reef, averaging 10 plus knots, and comfortable at the moment. The running backstay, which was caught around a batten and would have prevented letting out more sail is now, after a long wrestle, clear. Beneath me the tenor growl of the engine announces a reinforcement of amps into the batteries, the screen is clear of AIS targets, and I have just had a nice cup of tea.

The only problem I have is with the wind instruments, which show a wind speed, and I think reasonably accurately, both True and Apparent, but will not show the direction. This means I cannot ask the auto-pilot to steer by the wind direction, and with constantly changing winds, I have to be around a lot more which reduces my sleep time. I'll get behind the instruments when the boat is not bucking so much and check some of the wirng, but not today, as one jerk and I could lose what I have. There is an equation between being awake more and therefore safer, and having less sleep and so being more dangerous because you are more tired. Modern alarms have done much to favour the getting more sleep option.

RKJ