Off Madeira and approaching the Azores archipelago, the leading group is beginning to hang a right to thread their way towards Port la Forêt some 1,200 miles away. Their main concern though is knowing which sauce it'll be eaten up with though since, for the time being, the wind has swung round to the South, dropping right off to around a dozen knots, or sometimes less. The objective therefore is to persevere with this progressive curve in trajectory in order to avoid the high pressure now being served up off Spain. A few tens of miles from Santa Maria, the most E’ly of the Azores islands, Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty) could only observe as two of the most pressing sailors over the past few days have become detached: Marc Guillemot (Safran) due to his keel being locked in its axis, and Yann Eliès (Generali) as a result of his lack of large headsail. There are still two other competitors to control though over this last phase of this 4,200 mile course: Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel), even though he too is suffering technical issues, is just fifty miles or so back and Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) is within sixty miles. Will the distance be sufficient for the final sprint, which is set to be boosted by the passage of a front associated with a depression passing over the Azores and due to die out over Ireland?

It’s not easy on the edge of this zone of high pressure, which is forcing the solo sailors to be very attentive on deck in order to adapt their sail area to a fairly fickle breeze, even if it is downwind from now. In addition, they have to know how to preserve the 'goat and the cabbage'! (Hmmm, the literal translation isn't much help here! My guess is 'the sailor and boat but maybe the French boats have some stowaways?KJ). Having room for manoeuvre and a lead is clearly a good thing, but knowing how to position yourself in order to avoid the light patches and be the first to hook onto the stiffer SW’ly breeze expected this Monday night, is really going to be the name of the game... A fairly lively and very close final sprint looks to be in store for these three solo sailors (Peyron, de Pavant, Desjoyeaux) who, unless something unfortunate happens, look set to form the podium of this Transat Ecover-BtoB. The question is… in what order...?

As regards the chasing group, the strategic problems are a little different from those at the head of the fleet: with a 300 mile separation, or an extra day at sea, Samantha Davies (Roxy) and Yannick Bestaven (Cervin EnR) are playing at cat and mouse as they ‘invent’ another trajectory altogether. From today onwards, at the latitude of the Canaries, they must veer off in order to avoid falling into a zone of calms which will settle over the Azores from tomorrow... By shortening the course, that should be able to maintain their ranking whilst controlling their rivals further South. However, it’s at the finish in the Bay of Biscay above all that the chasing pack will lose ground on the leaders, as whilst the frontrunners justly celebrate their result in the Breton taverns, the wind will back from the South to the East, creating upwind conditions over the last 300 miles for all those behind Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat)! The frontrunners are expected in Port La Foret from Thursday evening.

Night Messages:

Sam Davies (Roxy): “Hello everyone! I hope the storm has passed over England and France without leaving too much damage in its wake. I'm thinking of my parents who are moored at Treguier (N France), and also the tree in our garden which is already bent over 20 degrees and seems keen to fall....I’ve read the messages on the Sat C and they’ve been pretty scary over the past few days: "navarea two, 445/07 - iroise

six containers 40 feet, adrift in vicinity 48-10.0n  005-37.7w at 090740z dec". I’ve been thinking about the people that work on these cargo ships as the last few days must have been hard. I hope these containers will head inshore where the clean-up will be easier. If we come across them it’ll put us and our boats in danger. Here it’s far from stormy. There’s a beautiful morning sky, electric blue with darker grey clouds which mark the end of the tradewinds. The wind is very shifty in both strength and direction, with calm zones and small squalls. I’m changing between the solent and code 0 depending on the wind and ROXY is slipping along towards the Azores....”

 

 

 

Derek Hatfield (Spirit of Canada): “Seeing all of the damage reports coming in from the fleet after the upwind pounding we were getting, I was hoping to get away with little damage. But, just as the wind started to weaken, disaster struck this morning when I discovered the outer forestay very loose. Upon checking the fore peak and assuming a pin had come out of the hydraulic tensioner, I discovered the compartment full of hydraulic oil from the cylinder. I’m assuming the hose has ruptured due to the pounding away in the front of the boat. I’ve taken the genoa forestay down and stowed it away for the rest of the race as this is something I cannot fix during the race. It’s very disappointing at this point to be hampered without the genoa but unless something else happens, we should be able to finish the race without a problem, just a little slower than anticipated. The goal is to qualify for the Vendee Globe and that’s what we aim to do. Otherwise it a great sunny day outside and the waves have subsided to the point that the boat doesn’t bang anymore.”

 

 

 

Dee Caffari (Aviva): “Position around midnight: 25 25.7N  27 30.1W, COG 035  SOG 10.

The sea state eased and the wind eased and the jobs were ticked off the list. Sails were re-hoisted and we are off again. The sun still felt warm today and I peeled off some layers once again. I also caught up on some sleep and eating that has been limited recently and I feel much better for it. I was devastated for Mike when I heard the Ecover 3 news today. Having cleaned up general mess today from some strong weather over the last few days was bad enough, add oil to that would be miserable.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bernard Stamm (Cheminees Poujoulat): "Since yesterday evening and the last big squalls, the wind has stabilized. It's not strong, 8-9 knots but the direction is fairly constant too. It was high time, because the fatigue was beginning to accumulate. I did manage to recharge my own batteries last night as a result. The passage of this zone of transition will be tiresome and I'll be trying not to stop making as much headway as I can. Behind us there is a light zone of wind that we'll have to avoid if possible. From then on we should hit some downwind conditions, which are bringing us this nice depression. It is so nice that if all goes to plan it won’t bring rain over Brittany and someone else will get it. Have a good day.”

 

 

 

Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel): “That’s it, it’s winter. It’s cold, grey and wet. The wind is still very irregular both in strength and direction and my work on deck has not been made any easier thanks to an aerial breakdown (electronic mast wand). The first one didn’t like the SE’ly tradewinds, the second didn’t like the NE’ly tradewinds!! We're making do though and are approaching the Azores. I think I'll pass to the East of all the islands as it's about time I got some easting into my course!!!! My position at 8h02 UTC, 35°42.646N, 25+54.904W, speed 16.4kt, heading 31°. Have a good day one and all.”

 

 

 

Translation KJ 

Translation KJ 

Translation KJ