Passing the south-west tip of Cornwall for a second time proved to be the trigger for the leaders to launch into some big moves in their quest to traverse the English Channel as fast as possible. The first to open hostilities was Legallais (199) with skippers Fabien Delahaye and Benjamin Schwartz putting in a tack northwards. Sogestran – Seafrigo (197) immediately mirrored this move along with Groupe SNEF (178). Too bad! The sailors aboard the Class40 Project Rescue Ocean (162) were able to just sit back and watch the progress made using these radical options towards the English coast. This prompted the crew to continue making headway towards Guernsey and to put off their own series of tacks until later. In so doing, Axel Trehin and Erwan Le Mené have moved up into the lead of the provisional ranking. Inspired by this option, Everial (177), Eora (169) and Captain Alternance (190) chose to follow in the wake of the Breton duo. Meantime, the routing is continuing to give two very different courses either side of the Casquets TSS. The main difference between the northern and southern options is the passage around the Alderney Race and off Barfleur. The deciding factor in this situation would appear to revolve around whether or not they will be forced to punch into the current or not…
One thing for sure is that there is a change of ambiance aboard the Class40s as they switch their T-shirts for boots and foul weather gear. Indeed, no matter which strategy they adopt, all the skippers are in for a gnarly ride to the finish with a strong swell scooping them up in the English Channel. The latter has also been intensified by some powerful tidal coefficients, which are only making the situation worse. As such, the sailors must be prepared to hunker down if need be. “We’re going to switch to a different mode. The idea is to make sure the boat remains intact in these sea conditions. That will be our main focus, which will change the way we view the situation,” explained Erwan Le Draoulec at today’s radio link-up. Sophie Faguet described these conditions in more detail. “We’re being knocked about with around twenty knots or so of established breeze and quite heavy seas. To the north, the wind is not as strong and the seas aren’t so heavy. In contrast, the passage to the south is more complicated and there will likely be some punching into the current involved in rounding Cap de la Hague. I don’t know whether the skippers will opt to preserve their boats because scow bows don’t really like the waves as we know, or whether they’ll just head straight into it.” As we go to press, the various options out on the racetrack are beginning to be revealed but it’s still extremely difficult to predict the outcome of this latest thrilling clash in the English Channel. The denouement of this 15th CIC Normandy Channel Race is expected tomorrow afternoon between 12:00 and 15:00 hours according to the latest ETAs.
In the battle of the sharps, Trim Control (115) aptly remains in control, leading this race within a race by sailing fast and clever. Alexandre Le Gallais and Henri De Malet are managing to keep pace with the latest generation scows and even leave some of them in their wake. Belco CEC (147) is lying in second place in this category at the head of a trio of sharps who are grouped within 4 miles. This small gang includes Free Dom (139) and esatco (141), who are sailing within sight of one another.
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