After pushing north towards Wolf Rock, the lighthouse at England's southwestern tip marking the course's turning point before the fleet heads south to Vigo, New Zealand's Chipmunk spent several difficult hours unable to match the pace of its rivals. Reporting from on board, Josh Marsh was frank about the team's struggles. "We had difficulties finding a good mode compared to the other boats," he said. "We struggled for a few hours."
With a nap rotation coming up, the crew had moved Chipmunk to the left side of the fleet in pursuit of an anticipated wind shift. "We're hoping for a left shift later. Looking to sail fast and be first on that shift," Marsh reported, adding that conditions on deck were cold and the workload high, though everything else on board was in order.
By the 02:00 report on Tuesday morning, Chipmunk had worked up to third place, sitting just 0.7 nautical miles behind race leaders Thomas Dinas and Eliott Coville on Auray Quiberon by Orlabay, with Maë Cottereau and Simon De Pannemaecker on Seiko – Les Étoiles Filantes in second. Across the six Défi Paprec crews the gaps were tight, with fewer than two and a half miles separating first from fifth. Recording 8.0 knots at that report, Chipmunk was the equal fastest boat in the fleet. The exception was Ivica Kostelić and Deniz Bagci on Amelicor, who sat sixth and had fallen 6.3 miles off the pace.
The Défi Paprec double-handed entries are racing in parallel with the main La Solitaire event, a 36-boat solo competition, and the double-handed front-runners were tracking through the mid to front section of that larger fleet. The solo race supplied one of the leg's more dramatic moments when young skipper Marin Carnot lost his mast near Wolf Rock, though Carnot was reported safe. Loïs Berrehar holds the lead in the solo fleet as the boats make their way south towards Vigo.
Chipmunk remains in contention. Day two will show whether the anticipated left shift paid off.
