45 knot speed peaks, slaloming past cargo ships and Cape Finisterre is already passed!
After leaving Brest at 1330hrs Sunday lunchtime the leading ULTIMs on the ARKÉA ULTIM CHALLENGE-Brest have already covered the 350 nautical miles across the Bay of Biscay and are passing Cape Finisterre around 0600hrs UTC this morning after reaching speeds of 45kts during the first night at sea. Charles Caudrelier (Maxi Edmond de Rothschild) leads the fleet but the gaps are tiny: only 17 miles separate the leader from fifth placed Anthony Marchand (Actual Ultim 3).
Speeds and routings have been as were predicted but it is still impressive to see how fast the leaders have devoured Biscay, but things look a little more challenging from midmorning today.
“They went very quickly last night with a favorable wind strength and a good angle. We recorded peaks of 45 knots.” reports Guillaume Rottee, the race director. “There have been small changes which reflect to the difference in the breezes between the East and the West. Charles Caudrelier has been gaining for a few hours now and they have had to be particularly vigilant, especially as traffic is particularly busy between Ushant and Cape Finisterre. They had to carefully overtake a number of cargo ships!”
High speeds are on the menu today. The winds should strengthen around 25 knots at the end of the morning with gusts to 30, 35 knots in the middle of the day.
“it is all very close amongst the first four. A nice quick uneventful crossing of the Bay of Biscay. No agreement on exactly what will happen with this low pressure area so we are all barreling in there, so far it seems, aiming for a similar spot. It will all start to get a bit funky around 11z this morning.” Reports Will Oxley from the Sodebo routing cell.
Around midnight last night Tom Laperche skipper of SVR-Lazartigue messaged,
“It’s the dead of night we’re going down towards Cape Finisterre and we’re all side by side with the different boats. There is a super irregular wind, which is quite rare: one minute we’re at 40 knots, the the next at 15 knots, and what’s more, we’re slaloming between the cargo ships! It’s not easy but I managed to take a few naps. The start was great, a lot of emotions as we set off round the world but very happy to have left. The procedures and the progress went well with the team. It was beautiful to pass Ushant and the start line in the lead. I did a few gybes, I ate well, took a few naps… The rest is becoming clearer but it’s not so obvious yet.”
