Tom Laperche, skipper of SVR Lazartigue, has led the Route du Rhum, Destination Guadeloupe fleet since rounding Cap Fréhel, and now faces the trickiest obstacle of his race: a tropical depression sitting squarely between him and the finish line.
Contacted during this morning's routine check-in, he reported morale on board remains solid despite the looming system.
"Morale is pretty good," Laperche said. "There's a bit of fatigue, because we've been out on the water for several days now trying to sail the boat as well as possible, but it's going fine."
The depression is unlike anything he has faced before.
"We're really concentrated on the tropical depression we're going to have to cross. It's pretty unusual and I don't think I've ever encountered this kind of situation before. There's likely to be strong wind, thunderstorms, squalls, and it's certainly not going to be a straight line to the Caribbean!"
Conditions since his gybe have been kinder, letting the Ultim foiler eat up miles with relative ease.
"You always have to find the right compromise: going fast, without going too fast either. The boat wants to accelerate, you have to let it slide, but without taking unnecessary risks."
Strong winds are forecast for much of the day, before the trickier job of threading a path through the depression's interior begins. Laperche is hunting for a passage close to the centre, based on the latest weather files.
Beyond the depression, he expects to pick up upwind conditions again on the final approach to the Caribbean. Sailing solo on a large foiler through unstable weather brings a particular danger: being overpowered.
"In these unstable conditions, with big boats sailed solo, you really have to avoid ending up overpowered. That means at certain moments we're a bit short on sail area and it's frustrating. But when you've got a bit of a lead, it's easier to accept."
Near the centre of the system he could find himself becalmed one moment, hit by gusts from every direction the next. Margin is everything.
Then there is the cold. Two days from the finish, Laperche is still rugged up in a down jacket, oilskin trousers and boots, hardly the tropical picture most imagine. "The short and the fifteen knots of trade winds, that's not quite yet!" Being from Brittany, he says, the chill barely bothers him.
