Corentin Horeau still holds a healthy lead in the IMOCA class aboard MACSF, with the Trinité-sur-Mer sailor expected into Guadeloupe on Tuesday afternoon. Everywhere else in the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe fleet, the race remains wide open. In the Ocean Fifty and Class40 divisions especially, it is effectively a fresh start, with three trimarans in a genuine fight up front and seven Class40s separated by barely anything.
The Atlantic is taking a breather. After flogging the fleet from the Azores down to the Tropic of Cancer, conditions ease for the next 48 hours, a lull that could reshuffle the standings before boats reach the butterfly-shaped island.
Horeau is probably the only skipper not replaying the last few days in his head. Having broken clear on 3 November, his cushion is about to shrink. He is the first to emerge from the tropical depression and therefore the first to slow down, shifting from a light northerly flow into a gybe to pick up south-easterly breeze before Guadeloupe's hills appear on the horizon.
Behind him, the IMOCA podium fight is fierce. Boris Herrmann (Malizia 4) holds second. Elodie Bonafous (Association Petits Princes-Quéguiner) has climbed to third after rigging troubles slowed Macif Santé Prévoyance.
"We had a few extra bits to repair and I had to fix a sail. I had to climb the mast yesterday morning. I bruised myself all over, hurt myself. Up there it was moving a lot. It cost us a few minutes and a few places, but we're not giving up, we'll fight to the finish," said Sam Goodchild this morning, now 46 miles behind the skipper racing MACSF's sister ship.
Sébastien Simon's charge aboard Groupe Dubreuil-Air Caraïbes stands out too. Stung early in the race, he has spent the last 72 hours showing off the speed of his new Verdier design, clawing back 220 miles and four places to threaten Francesca Clapcich (11th Hour Racing). How his boat, seemingly built for breeze, handles the lighter patches ahead will be worth watching.
In Ocean Fifty, it is shaping up as a three-way fight 500 miles from the finish. Basile Bourgnon (Edenred), Thibaut Vauchel-Camus (Solidaires en Peloton By Delanchy) and Pierre Quiroga (Wewise) lead the chase, with rookie Léonard Legrand (Sodebo Fifty), aboard one of the lightest trimarans in the fleet, closing from 50 miles back.
The puzzle today is what sail is missing from Bourgnon's locker. Probably not the big gennaker, since he is holding pace this morning reaching in light air. More likely the J0, or perhaps the J2, the all-purpose sail likely furled when he was slowed in the tropical depression's rougher conditions. Whatever the answer, Bourgnon's 122-mile buffer at the eye of the storm has vanished, and Vauchel-Camus now sits just five miles back.
Bourgnon has worked hard to get back in line with his rivals, tacking repeatedly to the west. The emotion in his congratulatory video to Tom Laperche hinted at how physically and mentally drained the overall leader since Saint-Malo has become, with the trap now closing. Whether he can hold on, and negotiate Guadeloupe's tricky final approach, remains to be seen.
The Ocean Fifty fleet emerges from this Rhum with credit. Matthieu Perraut's capsize aboard Elvest is the only real blot, and eight of the ten starters remain in the race, a solid result for boats with a reputation for fragility in heavy weather.
In Class40, seven boats are within 50 miles of each other with 1200 miles still to sail. Achille Nebout (Amarris) leads, but the gaps are tiny. The trade winds, largely absent from this edition, are forecast to return from Thursday, and whoever still has two spinnakers left in the locker may hold the key.
Further back, stragglers are still untangling themselves from the Azores depression. Rodolphe Sepho (Rêve de Large 5) is diverting to Horta to sort rigging problems that have dogged him for two days. "He spent more than five hours up his mast, which is quite a physical ordeal," said Yann Chateau from the race direction team, who is also tracking Sasha Lanière (Alderan), still searching for a jury rig since dismasting on 6 November.
In the Vintage classes, Kieran Leborgne (Armor Lux-Le Finistère Assurances), sailing the former PRB, a two-time Vendée Globe winner, has stretched his lead to 88 miles over Patrick Isoard (Groupe Cogedis pour les enfants du Mékong). Among the multihulls, Damien Seguin (Arkea Handicap International) continues to extend his advantage over Eric Péron (French Touch Oceania Hotels).
Thierry Roger (Perros Guirec) is sailing an unwavering great-circle course on his small 12-metre Newick design, while rivals Patrick Etheimer (Fifty Fifty) and Charlie Capelle (A Capella Proludic La chaîne de l'espoir) have pulled into Lagos, Portugal, and Mohammedia, Morocco, respectively, to dodge the tropical storm. Christophe Bogrand (Des Enfants et des arbres) is back underway from Horta after repairing a torn mainsail rail.
