Five days out of Saint-Malo, the Route du Rhum fleet is scattered across an Atlantic that cannot decide what it wants to do. Some skippers want more wind. Others have had plenty, thank you. A tropical depression is parked near the Caribbean, a nasty weather system is brewing around the Azores, and the trade winds have largely gone missing. Nobody in any of the six fleets is being handed an easy run home.
Tom Laperche (SVR-Lazartigue) has fewer than 630 miles left to Pointe-à-Pitre and more than 540 miles in hand over Thomas Coville (Sodebo Ultim 3) and Louis Burton (Armand Thiery). That sort of lead would normally mean picking a restaurant for dinner. Instead he is stuck in a tropical depression full of heavy cloud, light patches and unpredictable gusts.
"We're right in the middle of it. We're waiting for the wind to swing back to the south-west for the run to the Antilles. I'm a bit tense because I don't want to lose too many feathers in this transition," he said.
To make things stranger, the finish may have to be sailed upwind, tacking repeatedly through a zone where trade winds are normally guaranteed. "It's extremely rare to have none at all in this area. We won't be going in a straight line. It reminds me of Franck Cammas, who had to tack his way to Guadeloupe in 2010 when he won aboard Groupama 3."
His cushion gives him room, not licence. "We could go half as fast as everyone else and still arrive at the same time. But that's not the point. You have to work with what you've got, without taking risks." Fatigue doesn't care about the scoreboard either. "We've had some pretty intense days and it leaves its mark. I try to nap whenever I can, to stay sharp at all times."
In Ocean Fifty, Basile Bourgnon (Edenred) is finally getting something resembling civilised sailing. "This is almost the first time on this crossing I've been able to properly sleep." His hands tell a different story. "I've got blisters from coiling sheets constantly. We're manoeuvring non-stop, it's exhausting and you have to compensate."
The payoff: more than 115 miles in hand. "I knew conditions would favour the boats up front, so I put the hammer down at the right moment." The next blow of wind, due tomorrow, will demand a different approach entirely. "For a while, everyone will be managing their boat more than racing it. The key will be staying sharp and not doing anything silly." Sprinter one day, cautious sailor the next. Not quite the same job.
Corentin Horeau (MACSF) doesn't like owing anyone anything. The roughly 100 miles he gave up to Boris Herrmann (Malizia 4) the previous day have been clawed back with interest. He now leads the IMOCA fleet by more than 245 miles and still holds the fastest pace in the class, after a rough patch he would gladly have skipped.
"Yesterday was carnage. I even put the helmet on. The boat handled it well, but after a while I eased off." There was a broach, the boat flat on its side at 90 degrees. "In that kind of situation alarms go off everywhere, everything falls apart. It's always frightening, even though I've been through it several times before."
Conditions eased on Friday, though wind still swinging between 16 and 22 knots kept him busy on the settings. Behind him, Sam Goodchild (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) has climbed to third, ahead of Francesca Clapcich (11th Hour Racing). Horeau is wary of celebrating too soon. "With a lead like that on a normal transat, I'd say we're fine. But this isn't a normal transat. There's still a depression out there with storms. You never know how it's going to play out."
Those words took on extra weight overnight. Ambrogio Beccaria (Allagrande Mapei), fifth overall, took a heavy fall in his cockpit in rough, confused seas and, suffering severe back pain, has withdrawn from the race on medical advice. He is diverting to the Azores, where medical follow-up will be arranged on arrival.
Éric Péron (French Touch - Oceania Hôtels), leading Rhum Multi, had his lazy-bag tear away in heavy weather on Thursday, causing rigging problems on his ORMA trimaran. Bad weather, it seems, shows the same regard for a sailor's gear as a careless mover does for furniture.
Further north, patience is wearing thin in Class40. Guillaume Pirouelle (Sogestran - Seafrigo) still leads, but Achille Nebout (Amarris) and others are closing in. Robin Follin (Solano), third, is around thirty miles west of the small Portuguese island of Flores this morning, in conditions he describes bluntly. "In the last few hours I've had up to 32 knots. It's calmed down a lot since, but the sea is still a mess. I thought it would settle after the front passed, but there's still huge confused swell coming from every direction."
Despite the workload, he sounds remarkably composed on the radio. "I'm very calm, just ticking along steadily. On a transat there are real strategic calls to make, and I enjoy that." Everyone finds their fun somewhere.
For Mathieu Claveau (Inherent - Phare 40), the puzzle is geographical as much as meteorological. Around 550 miles north of the leaders, he's sailing at roughly the latitude of Saint-Malo, almost level with Rimouski on the other side of the ocean. Palm trees feel a long way off.
"For a Mediterranean sailor who loves southern sun, it's pretty ironic to end up here." His self-styled "ride of the Dragon", skirting the depression to the north, is no pleasure cruise. Rather than follow routing that would expose him to winds over 50 knots and seven-metre seas, he has put the leaderboard aside for now. "You need to go slowly enough to let the worst of the depression clear south, but fast enough not to get caught by the strong easterly winds behind it. Not simple."
In Rhum Mono, Tanguy Caradec (Eurvad) finds himself, like many others, in the relatively calm heart of the system, a lull he intends to use before the heavy weather returns. "I'm seeing gusts of 37 or 40 knots, thankfully not 50 or 60. We'll just hunker down. I'll put in three reefs and if that's not enough, I'll drop the main and run under the J3."
Others have already made the harder call. In Ocean Fifty, Erwan Le Draoulec (Lazare x Hellio), who dislocated his shoulder, is due to reach Horta in the Azores this morning after retiring on medical advice. Vincent Riou's Class40 Pierreval - Fondation GoodPlanet suffered the same fate: despite repairs in A Coruña, he decided against heading back out into the forecast conditions. Different stories, but both point to the same truth: knowing when to stop can itself be a form of seamanship.
The Atlantic isn't finished yet. On Saturday the Azores depression could still deliver gusts of 40 to 45 knots and five-metre seas to part of the fleet, while Tom Laperche tries to pick his way through light patches approaching Guadeloupe, hoping to reach Pointe-à-Pitre by evening, Paris time. Some want to slow down. Others want to put the foot down. Six classes, six different stories, and an Atlantic with absolutely no sense of restraint.
