The rounding of the island of Spargi in the Maddalena archipelago by the second part of the Class40 fleet was a difficult moment for some, with a final passage at 5:00 a.m. last night for QWANZA (No. 98); it was difficult not to think for those familiar with Tuskar Rock in the Celtic Sea, the northernmost point of the “Normandy” course: a holy grail to be reached, often with great difficulty: the currents from Ireland were replaced by the light winds of the Mediterranean.
Joys and sorrows alternate in this first race: joy for the leading group, our two duel-goers who still have their blades sharp, even though CREDIT MUTUEL (#158) is slowly but surely building up a small capital of a few miles on CENTRAKOR (#183); joy for Mathieu Claveau and Victoire Berger who continue their impressive run, only 20 miles behind the leaders; joy for AQUAMARIN (#135) who has made a gap with the other pointus group; joy for Joël Paris and Thibault Lecarpentier (#32) on REVE A PERTE DE VUE who have managed to catch up with the group of pointus and are also running a very good race.
It’s a shame for CROSSCALL (No. 166), who is struggling to recover from the previous night, where they spent several hours becalmed near the Corsican coast. The crew is talented, the boat is performing well, but they missed the chance to stay in contact with the leaders. QWANZA, who had managed to make up a significant deficit in the previous phase, was disappointed, but their passage around the island of Spargi was a painful one. Finally, between the two groups, the top-class boats PHENIX HA PLUS PME (No. 142), FRAISE.ORG (No. 149), and L’AGENCE TELECOM-SOTRAPLANT (No. 157) are struggling to escape the Sardinian coast to find the wind that will carry them towards the Balearic Islands. 150 miles off the southeastern tip of the island of Mallorca, the two leaders will encounter winds of around twenty knots in the coming hours and are expected to reach the Spanish coast tomorrow morning. They will then have to negotiate a large area of windless terrain to the west of the island before being able to make any predictions about the time and order of arrival in Marseille. A final analogy with “Normandy,” where the adage is more like “nothing is ever won, nothing is ever lost”: in a different genre, ocean racing in the Mediterranean clearly requires a lot of nerves, as well as a fair amount of resilience and determination.
Messages from the Night
Ian Lipinski (CREDIT MUTUEL) “Third night aboard Crédit Mutuel. I think tonight will be more conducive to rest (by the way, Alberto is sleeping soundly!). Indeed, we’re downwind, sailing a little more freely than last night. Rounding the south of Corsica was no easy feat, with some rather stressful light winds. At the same time, I didn’t imagine they could be as persistent as the one Crosscal suffered. What a cruel game, when you see that Aurélien and Jo, just a few dozen meters apart, saw Centrakor slip past them and take 100 miles from them in less than 20 hours, without them being able to do anything. Centrakor was in for a scare at that moment, because it was a close call for it to get stuck near that point. For our part, we were also quite stressed at some points. moments, and we tried to control our tiny lead without making any mistakes that would open the door to the pursuers. We were lucky and may it last…”
Goulven Marie (QWANZA) “Good evening, Not a breath of wind for several hours, a speed fluctuating between 0 and 0.2 knots… the rounding of the island of Spargi was fatal to our CIC Med Channel Race. We had come back well after our early setbacks. But an entire night for this detour compromises the chances of arriving in Marseille on time. The routing is based on four days, not including the new calm zones around Palma. We’ll make the final decision by midday, but yesterday’s euphoria is giving way to bitterness.”
Mathieu Claveau (SET TO SEA / ACT FOR THE FOREST)
Good evening, Earth,………..The night is fortunately calmer, the models are converging, and the options are less pronounced. We’re slowly descending toward Mallorca downwind. We still changed headsails in the middle of the night to be able to bear away as much as possible, but otherwise the key word is: rest. We’re still very happy with our race and our current position. Our hope of catching the leading duo is slim, unless the entire fleet regroups in the lee of Mallorca. Aquamarin is hot on our heels, and we’re doing everything we can to maintain our lead. We’ve started on the second box of Haribo sweets! However, one of our 10-liter water bottles having pierced itself from the start causing
