Mid-Atlantic, no change at ‘half time’

With the incredible pace scarcely relenting during their third night at sea Yann Guichard and his crew of Spindrift racing have continued to maintain the small advantage over their nearest rivals as the KRYS OCEAN RACE plunges towards the halfway mark on the headlong sprint from New York to Brest. Guichard acknowledged this morning that he is pleased to have kept Spindrift racing at around one knot quicker on average despite what he said has been dark night. That consistent edge has allowed them to redouble their margin to second placed Groupe Edmond de Rothschild to 34 miles on the early morning sched. As the theoretical midpoint beckoned all the crews continue to try and keep tiredness and fatigue at bay, bearing in mind that the muscular winds look set to continue almost all the way to the finish.

Curving on an NE’ly arc this morning, mid-Atlantic between Newfoundland and the Azores, the leading trio have stayed in tight formation; with Groupe Edmond de Rothschild and third placed FONCIA only 10 miles apart laterally, sharing near identical speeds and course.

“We continue on the edge of the front on a long port tack with a stable 24 to 26 knots of wind but it continues to be a struggle doing any manouevers.  We are not really powered up fully and are taking care because it is the sea state is that determines how much sail we have up. We range between a having a one reef and using either the Solent or the genoa depending on the sea state. We try and limit manouevers to watch changes, which we do every two hours, but really it depends on the person helming at the time.” Guichard told the radio call to the leader this morning.

The fourth and fifth placed duo Musandam-Oman Sail and Race for Water continue at a pace which minimises their losses, no doubt hoping for some change in the weather before Brest. Stève Ravussin, the Race for Water skipper noted: “The daggerboard issue has not been great for morale. Now that we have fixed it we are sailing the boat as well as we can to try and catch up with our rivals.
We have settled into to life on board after three days.  It is still very damp and we all have bruises all over the place. Every time we nose dive we all get thrown forwards.  In the bunks we find ourselves with our knees right up against the partition!”