One day into The Ocean Race Atlantic, and the fleet remains bunched tight, six IMOCAs jostling for position as they push east through a warm, lumpy Atlantic swell.
At 1200 UTC today, just 54 miles separated race leader Team Malizia (GER) from the New Zealand-skippered MSIG Europe in sixth, a tight margin for a fleet that's been racing barely 24 hours.
Team Malizia got off the start line to leeward of their rivals and simply sailed away from them into the darkness, showing serious pace in the rough seas. Skipper Boris Herrmann was delighted with how the brand-new boat handled its first real test.
"We are averaging faster than the fleet," he said. "This new boat is really powerful upwind. We have been driving the boat since the beginning and outside it is warm like the tradewinds, it's fantastic conditions."
Below deck told a different story. The Gulf Stream's warm water has turned the cabins into ovens.
"It's 29 degrees celsius on board right now, a bit of a sauna," said 11th Hour Racing skipper Francesca Clapcich. "It will be better later in the race but for at least one more day it will be pretty hot. But the weather close to France is also going to be quite warm. I don't think I will need a beanie on this Transat."
While the crews fought the heat and fine-tuned trim through the night, the real tactical battle was about timing the fleet's first big manoeuvre, a tack back north towards the rhumb line. Team Malizia went first, tacking around 2300 UTC. Oliver Heer's Embrace the Challenge (SUI) followed shortly after. Paul Meilhat's United by the Ocean (FRA), Kojiro Shiraishi's DMG MORI Global One (JPN), and Clapcich's 11th Hour Racing (USA) all held on a little longer before doing the same.
A slow leftward shift in the wind overnight shuffled the top five, with gains and losses trading hands. By this afternoon, after just over a day of racing, Team Malizia led United by the Ocean by roughly three nautical miles, with 11th Hour Racing a further three miles back in third. Embrace the Challenge sat fourth, 19 nautical miles adrift, and DMG MORI Global One fifth, 39 nautical miles off the pace. Conrad Colman's MSIG Europe, the fleet's only non-foiling boat, was sixth, 58 nautical miles behind the lead.
Here's the interesting bit: if the forecast holds, that overnight tack might be the last time these boats change sides before they near the French coast, still more than 2,500 nautical miles away.
"That could be the last tack for a long time, if everything goes good," said DMG MORI's Samantha Davies (GBR).
The fleet is now effectively drag racing east, chasing stronger southerly winds on the fringe of a developing low pressure system. The foilers up front are already feeling it, hitting speeds of up to 20 knots at times through the afternoon.
That pace showed up in the Super Sprint results too. Measured on distance covered over 20 minutes at 1700 CEST, day two went to Team Francesca Clapcich powered by 11th Hour Racing, ahead of Team Malizia and United by the Ocean.
For whoever handles their boat best over the coming days, there's a real prize on offer: a tow from that low pressure system, potentially all the way across the North Atlantic. It will demand total focus and no mistakes, as the IMOCAs are wound up to full speed for what looks like a genuinely hair-raising ride east.
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