The leading Ultims are already closing on the Azores, surging along at 30 to 35 knots through a sea that seems to be coming from every direction at once.
Behind them, the Ocean Fifty trimarans are posting eye-watering speeds of their own, their crews working amid a deafening roar below deck.
Every skipper out there is fighting to hold the right line, trimming and correcting constantly to wring the best out of their machine in a wind that refuses to settle. Get it wrong, even briefly, and the miles bleed away fast.
Strategic calls keep coming thick and fast as the fleet works out how best to handle the rest of the descent south. Rest, when it comes at all, is being treated as something close to precious cargo.
The names involved will be familiar to anyone following the IMOCA and Ultim scenes closely: Francesca Clapcich, Armel Le Cléac'h, Sam Goodchild, Tanguy Caradec, Elodie Bonafous, Sébastien Simon, Sophie Faguet, Guillaume Pirouelle, Kéni Piperol, Laurent Bourgues, Aina Bauza Roig, Alexis Thomas, Ian Lipinski, Mathieu Claveau, Arnaud Boissières, Manuel Cousin, Florian Gueguen and Pierre Leboucher.
Conditions are expected to stay demanding as the fleet pushes on. Margin for error is thin, and time to rest is thinner still.
