Paul Meilhat's Biotherm crew has opened a roughly ten-mile gap over the chasing pack as the top five boats turn and head north, yet with the finish in Boka Bay not expected until Monday morning, the race is far from settled.
Offshore sailing has always produced its finest narratives from the people actually doing it. No commentator or analyst can capture what happens out on the water the way a skipper can, and Benjamin Ferré of Biotherm is among the most gifted communicators in the fleet. His voice messages from the previous night confirmed what his Vendée Globe campaign had already demonstrated. Here is how he painted the scene:
"We're sailing upwind. It's a night with a beautiful starry sky. There are thousands of stars, just like in The Lion King movie. I'm lying in the cockpit, looking at the stars, trimming and easing the mainsail."
That long starboard tack had its origins earlier in the day, when the fleet was crossing a glassy sea beneath a spectacular sunset. The scenery was something, but for Benjamin, known aboard as 'Pépino', the real satisfaction came from a different source entirely. For the first time since this leg began, Biotherm had reclaimed the top of the overall standings.
After the fleet departed the Sicilian coast and worked through a long eastward stretch, Biotherm gradually moved ahead. The key was a deliberate decision by Paul Meilhat's crew to track a slightly higher, more northerly line than their rivals. "It was Amélie (Grassi)'s plan," Benjamin explained. "We believed we'd get better wind up north, a better angle, and most importantly, a lower risk of falling into a wind hole."
It proved the right call. Benjamin called it "champagne sailing," and the results backed him up. Biotherm, who had led the overall rankings since passing through the first scoring gate just minutes after the start in Kiel, Germany more than a month ago, rounded the easternmost waypoint on the course with a ten-mile buffer before beginning the climb northward toward the next mark near Calabria.
The four boats behind are racing in a tight cluster, separated by just 16 miles. Among that group is Allagrande Mapei Racing, with Hugo Feydit reporting that the boat made a "great comeback during the night from Thursday to Friday." He was candid about the demands of racing so far, describing conditions as "always difficult to predict" and the overall experience as "a bit of a roller coaster."
"We've had light winds, strong winds, transition zones to deal with so it's the full Mediterranean racing package!"
Ambrogio Beccaria's co-skipper acknowledged that the current upwind stretch is not where Allagrande Mapei Racing is most at ease, saying "it is not exactly where we're most comfortable," while making clear the crew's resolve remains firm: "We'll keep sailing as best as we can, there's still a long way to go." The five leading teams have more than 48 hours of racing still ahead, with the Adriatic Sea to navigate, multiple waypoints to round, and the closing stages of the contest yet to be decided.
Further down the fleet, the fight for seventh place is generating its own story. Alan Roura aboard Team Amaala has been grinding through some of the most frustrating conditions the Mediterranean can produce:
"These last few days have been pretty long. We can count the hours when we've had more than 10 knots of wind, so when it happens, we really savor it! Most of the time, like this morning, we're stuck in windless patches.
"Of course, it's a bit tough to deal with because we're fighting to stay in touch with Canada Ocean Racing – Be Water Positive. Every time we get closer to them, we slow down again because of the lack of wind… But we know this is part of the game! We keep fighting. We know we have to adapt constantly because conditions are always changing in the Mediterranean.
"Today, Saturday, it's hard to know what's coming. We take it hour by hour. We don't really know when we'll cross the finish line, what day it is, or what's going to happen next… But the only thing that matters is to keep the boat moving and to keep the good vibes on board!"
