Forty-eight hours into the Route du Rhum, Destination Guadeloupe, fatigue is setting in. Bodies are tired, but minds are sharp: skippers are already weighing the first big strategic calls of the race, deciding when to turn south and catch the trade winds.
By midday the fleet was still moving fast, but gaps were opening between boats. In the Ocean Fifty class, a handful of skippers had already broken away to the south, among them Luke Berry (Le Rire Médecin Lamotte), Erwan Le Draoulec (Lazare x Hellio) and Laurent Bourgues (La French Fab), soon joined by Basile Bourgnon. Six Class40 boats had also turned south, led by Gaëtan Thomas (Barco Brasil).
Fabien Delahaye has pulled out of the race after injuring himself aboard LEGALLAIS.
Life on board carries on despite the Atlantic conditions, and breakfast remains a priority. Francesca Clapcich (11th Hour Racing, IMOCA) tucked into Mac and Cheese, Charlie Capelle (Acapella, Vintage Multi) had scrambled eggs, and Mikael Mergui (Hirsch - Centrakor, Class40) enjoyed a chestnut purée he's dubbed his "Route du Rhum vintage". Several skippers, Capelle and Mergui among them, sent video updates from the water.
Not everyone has had such an easy run. Early Tuesday morning, just before 5am, Charles Caudrelier alerted his shore team to damage on the port foil of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, his ULTIM. The skipper is fine, and the situation is under control.
Aboard Tagaroa, Amaury De Jamblinne De Meux has a broken boom end fitting at the sheet attachment point, and is weighing up whether to make a stopover for repairs.
Armel Tripon has his own problem. Sailing downwind at more than 20 knots roughly 650 nautical miles northeast of the Azores, in manageable seas and 20 to 25 knots of wind, his IMOCA Les P'tits Doudou suddenly rounded up into the wind. The issue traced back to one of his two rudders. He has since raised the damaged rudder and slowed the boat while he works out a fix.
With the fleet barely two days into a race that will take the best part of a fortnight, these early setbacks are a reminder of how quickly fortunes can turn on the Route du Rhum. For now, the drama is confined to a handful of boats, but the Atlantic has a long way yet to test the rest.
