THE ROUTERS REPLAY Every Friday, the routers who support the ARKÉA ULTIM CHALLENGE-Brest solo skippers, debrief the week which is just finishing. This week has been marked by the fleet spreading our more, Armel Le Cléac’h’s stop in Recife, Charles Caudrelier’s crazy fast speeds, Tom Laperche’s sudden halt, Thomas Coville’s solid sailing and great observations, Anthony Marchand’s enthusiasm and Éric Péron’s steady progress. This week, Philippe Legros (Sodebo), Sébastien Josse (Banque Populaire) and David Lanier (ADAGIO Ultim) take a look back at the week that was
The general situation. “The descent of the Atlantic was very complex”
Sébastien Josse (Banque Populaire): “We can see that a little breakaway has been accomplished Armel’s damage took him off the pace while Charles Caudrelier and Tom Laperche took the lead with and Thomas Coville all the time remaining impsressive. There was a breakdown of the trade winds with that big cold front in the Canary Islands and that had the effect of funnelling the routes into the doldrums. There was no westerly option like in the Transat Jacques Vabre. It was an atypical situation that channelled the fleet before they finally got into more typically tropical conditions. Charles and Tom (before his damage) benefited from good timing and it went well, for them and after the Saint Helena high they got to their low pressure system with ideal conditions.”
Philippe Legros (Sodebo): “The week went pretty well for us. The descent of the Atlantic was very complex, with transitions you could not get wrong. We are happy with our position. We know that we won’t be able to come back at Maxi Edmond de Rothschild in the immediate future and for the time being, we shouldn’t be too worried about Maxi Banque Populaire XI either. With gaps that are now more substantial, we need to change our philosophy. We don’t have the same weather as the others, we have to stay in our own bubble and adapt to the slightly more hostile environment of the south.
David Lanier (ULTIM ADAGIO): “For Eric, there has been the descent into the trade winds, the crossing of the doldrums and all this with several little stormy areas, including one yesterday evening. Overall, he hasn’t had much wind, 10 to 12 knots, and he’s doing the best he can with that light to moderate wind. Eric is fine even if he slept a little less last night: he had a problem with the mainsheet that he had to repair. Éric lost a bit of energy, but he was able to leave with a boat that he has sailed well and he is well physically.
Tom Laperche’s damage. ‘A very high-risk area’
Legros (Sodebo): “After the beginning of the race and despite the violent passage of the front, we were happy that everyone was still in the race. We knew that the damage to Maxi Banque Populaire XI was minor, not structural, and we were all super happy that this descent of the Atlantic was completed without major damage. And now we are all so very sad about what happened to Tom. He was having an incredible, dazzling race. We can’t wait for him to arrive safely.”
Josse (Banque Populaire): “We saw a descent of the Atlantic like we like to see, with a lot of plays, high intensity and all staying in contact, just like coastal racing. And then they arrive in this very delicate area with the Agulhas current which carries so many floating objects and which is a converging area for many mammals. So often it is a where round-the-world racers are forced out, in the Vendée Globe as well as in the Jules Verne Trophy. This is a very high-risk area in terms of impacts on the appendages and we are not really safer until the Kerguelen Islands. This uncertainty is there for everyone. It should not be forgotten that the longest duration of an Ultim without major damage over a long distance is 17 days (Sodebo during its last attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy. »
David Lanier (ULTIM ADAGIO): “These are boats that go very fast. At 30 or 35 knots, a collision with a marine mammal, a log or any other floating objects is violent. We all hope that Tom will be able to get back to Cape Town easily and that the other boats won’t be affected. And now the situation is not easy in this area: the temperatures drops, there is always a swell, the air is cold, it is humid, the sea is no longer flat, with the massing cloud comes difficulty and uncertainty…
What’s next. “Finding the right compromise”
Josse: “Armel’s current job is hard psychologically. He can’t head east, he has to slide south under the high pressure which is positioned very southerly. There is a transition zone but it is not obvious. Then they will go at 15 to 20 knots on a flat sea so less dangerous in terms of UFOs. On the other hand, it is longer and more difficult than the direct route since it goes South while the others get to go East. The elastic will tighten a little more.”
Legros: “As far as we’re concerned, we’re still in the race with our small fronts and the high pressure system that is settling under South Africa. Then we’ll have a narrow gate to find. We need to be very effective, especially since in the long term, in the Indian Ocean, we are starting to monitor a violent system. We have to look short term but then we will probably have to make an important choice in crossing of the Indian Ocean. The idea will be to find the right compromise between performance and prudence.”
Lanier (ULTIM ADAGIO): “Compared to the passage of the leaders, the situation has changed. They went down very close to the Brazilian coast before heading west. For Eric a low pressure system is approaching and pushing the high towards the north-east, which may allow us to get closer to the direct route. Eric will try to exploit this situation, to cut the corner in half without having to go all the way to the south around. It points him in the right direction and will allow him to regain some ground.”
Race update: Anthony Marchand “I don’t feel the time passing”
In fourth place Anthony Marchand slides south, masterfully picking his way on Actual Ultim 3 through more much complex weather situations than those which were encountered by Charles Caudrelier, Tom Laperche and Thomas Coville. This Friday, ‘Antho’ shared his situation and his feelings: “We are arriving in the south, the others have taken a train of depression that is taking them to the Cape of Good Hope. For us, it’s more of an anticyclone that will take us there, with lighter winds, downwind, under a large gennaker, with gybes along the ice zone. It will be longer, less dynamic, but with a lot of manoeuvres. It won’t be easy. It’s not going to be a straightforwards.”
“The work rate is all on! I’m very happy to be at sea, even if the fact is that the guys up front are leaving fast and that is tactically annoying. I feel good in the boat. I have nice things all over the boat, and I keep it super tidy. Life on board is simple. We’ve been at sea for twelve or thirteen days and I don’t feel the time passing. It’s going in pretty fast. In a few days, it will be the Cape of Good Hope, a few days after that Kerguelen. The scenery and seascape change. In a short time, we’ll see the albatrosses. There are a lot of little things that change every day, which make it great to be here. Time flies very easily quickly at the moment.”
Meantime Thomas Coville (Sodebo) passed the compromised SVR Lazartigue, some 20 miles off, at around 1400hrs this afternoon to take second place, Coville now matching the pace of leader Caudrelier at some 940 miles astern
