The Ultim podium is settled, but further down the fleet the Route du Rhum has turned into a battle of nerves between rivals, and in some cases, a battle against exhaustion-fuelled hallucinations.
Tom Laperche (SVR-Lazartigue) has already taken the win among the giant trimarans. Thomas Coville (Sodebo Ultim 3) finished second last night, with Louis Burton (Armand Thiery) completing the podium in third. Guirec Soudée (Liamm) is expected into Pointe-à-Pitre mid-afternoon, Paris time. That leaves the chasing fleets to settle their own scores, where counting chickens remains a risky business.
In IMOCA, Corentin Horeau (MACSF) is sitting on a lead he probably never dared dream of at the Saint-Malo start. The sailor from Trinité now holds 320 miles over Boris Herrmann (Malizia 4), who has clawed back a little breathing space on Sam Goodchild (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) and Élodie Bonafous (Association Petits Princes – Quéguiner). With 380 miles left to run, his cushion is nearly as big as the distance remaining.
"In my wildest dreams I never imagined this," Horeau said. "But I need to stay careful. I've never sailed around Guadeloupe and apparently it can get pretty complicated. If I've still got 100 miles in hand by the time I'm rounding the island, that'll already be good."
He's currently making over 20 knots on a near-direct line to the Caribbean, though he's bracing for a 24-hour lull as the wind dies. "My lead lets me ease off the pace a bit, get more sleep in, and arrive in good shape for the calm patch and whatever follows," he said.
Behind him, the Ocean Fifty class is scrapping hard. Basile Bourgnon (Edenred) once held more than 120 miles over his rivals; that's shrunk to around 15 as Pierre Quiroga (Wewise) and Thibaut Vauchel-Camus (Solidaires En Peloton by Delanchy) close in. Bourgnon lost time after a technical issue during a tropical depression, in which violent squalls cost him a sail.
"I'm chasing down Basile, who's come back within reach after a technical glitch," Vauchel-Camus said. "We copped some brutal squalls and he lost a sail there. He's been limping ever since. Between that loss of speed and the time it took to get the boat going again, we've made up all our deficit."
Vauchel-Camus admits fatigue is setting in strangely. "I'd hung wet clothes up to dry in the boat, and a few times, catching sight of them out of the corner of my eye, I thought someone was with me. I thought, great, I can hand over and get some rest. But no, I'm alone. There are these little hallucinatory moments where you think you've got company. It's pretty strange."
Among the Class40s, Achille Nebout (Amarris) has retaken the lead by nearly 20 miles after the fleet found wind again, with Guillaume Pirouelle (Sogestran – Seafrigo), Pierre Leboucher (Institut Imagine), Guillaume L'Hostis (Alternative Sailing – Constructions du Belon) and Robin Follin (Solano) tightly grouped behind him.
Leboucher was blunt about his own slip: "I made a mess of it in the light stuff and let Achille get away." He described torrid conditions in the days prior, with unstable winds and enormous swell making it hard to find a good line, and harder still to settle the boat enough to rest.
His Lift V2 is now flying again, under J2 at 20 to 23 knots, with a brief burst to 24. "My boat's going well, I've just got a small niggle I shouldn't need to worry about too much," he said. "But I don't know what state the others are in, or what percentage of their potential they've still got left. I just know Achille's having some trouble changing sails." That was a reference to Nebout's own troubles, including a broken J2 furler and a broken backstay.
Further back, the two Rhum categories are making their way across the Atlantic at very different rhythms. In Rhum Mono, Kieran Le Borgne (Armor-Lux – Le Finistère Assurance) leads Patrick Isoard (Groupe Cogedis pour Enfants du Mékong) and Tanguy Caradec (Eurvad). Among the Vintage multihulls, Damien Seguin (Arkéa – Handicap International) holds around 100 miles over Éric Péron (French Touch – Oceania Hôtels).
There was better news from the Azores. Ambrogio Beccaria (Allagrande Mapei), who arrived into Horta yesterday after being forced to divert, has been cleared of fractures following hospital checks. The Italian skipper is dealing with a severe rib contusion, a reassuring diagnosis after earlier concern over a back injury.
