Tom Laperche is on the brink of finishing the Route du Rhum, with the SVR-Lazartigue skipper expected to cross the line at Pointe-à-Pitre within 24 hours. Nothing is certain yet, though. The final miles around Guadeloupe are notoriously tricky, and the weather isn't making things easy.
"We're continuing to move pretty fast. Right now we're at 25 knots, that's not bad!" Laperche said. "What's difficult is that the wind is very unstable. We regularly get squalls with gusts to 30 knots, while in between we're more at 15 or 20. In the end we're a bit under-sailed on average, but if we put up all the canvas, it gets a bit scary when it climbs to 30 knots. We're not here to do anything stupid!"
The route around Guadeloupe itself is the next challenge.
"I'm watching closely all the tacks we're going to have to make, the wind effects around the islands, getting past the buoys and the fine lines we'll need to follow," he said. "We're close-hauled, with wind almost on the nose, so there's a lot of winding the handles! With this south-westerly, we should probably pass near Montserrat and Antigua. Once we're west of Guadeloupe, it should get easier. We'll be pushed by the wind, we'll be on the windward side of the island, it should go well."
Even then, the final approach won't be simple.
"With all these islands and archipelagos, we'll have to work out exactly where to go. We can't get too close to Guadeloupe either, because of the wind effects. There are also a lot of fishing zones that worry me a bit. Race management gave us a few points around Guadeloupe, but only three or four. And there are plenty more in places we don't know about."
Rest, Laperche says, has become part of the strategy.
"I slept well through the first part of the night. You need to arrive sharp enough to manoeuvre these big boats and be precise at the end. When you're exhausted, you quickly make mistakes, and that costs you double the energy afterwards. It's a bit of a cascade. We're always a little on the edge on these boats, so any rest you can get, you have to take it!"
