First light today revealed the outcome of the initial strategic options, which divided the fleet on Monday. Heading offshore to hunt down the much-awaited breeze and seriously distancing themselves from the shortest route in the process, those skippers taking a southerly option around the Casquets TSS have reaped big rewards from their risk-taking. In essence, by being the first to hit the NE’ly breeze, they have been able to make for the south-west tip of England on a single tack, posting speeds of around ten knots whilst their rivals to the north struggled to reach 6-8 knots.
Sailing a flawless course since the start of the match, Guillaume Pirouelle and Cédric Château have snatched back control of the fleet after temporarily losing hold of it due to their southerly option being further from the rhumb line. Leading the way around the last mark of the coastal course, Saint Marcouf and the Isle of Wight, the skippers aboard Sogestran – Seafrigo are also set to be the first to negotiate the next passage mark as they’re about to go around Land’s End. That said, the Norman duo certainly won’t be able to rest on their laurels. Indeed, massed together off Mount’s Bay and Lizard Point, England’s southernmost headland, a throng of eleven Class40s are poised to pounce on the leaders. These include Groupe SNEF, Xavier Macaire / Carlos Manera, currently lying in second place just 1 mile astern. Meantime, those boats who took a northerly option at the Casquets TSS lament a ten-mile deficit in relation to the back runner of the lead peloton, Alternative Sailing – Constructions du Belon. Inshore, positioned close to the coast to shelter from the current, Vogue Avec Un Crohn, is leading the chasing party.
Out on the racetrack, the menu for the coming hours will consist of the various protagonists making their way across the Celtic Sea on a direct course. Sailing upwind with their sheets eased, the sailors will have to be diligent with their trimming in the drag race to Tuskar Rock, an emblematic lighthouse in this event, which they’re likely to reach overnight tonight.
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