It was a fairly quiet night in Lorient, as all the Ocean Fifties made it to La Base – the last being Devenez partenaire du Cheval blanc (Laurent Bourguès) at 5.25 am on Wednesday morning. The only other boat to arrive since Tuesday evening was the Lift 45 Maxitude (Xavier Bellouard), who was third to cross the line in the crewed IRC class (at 1.42 am) and currently leads the corrected time standings.
Who will be next on the line? “A few IRC crewed yachts and a fleet of Multi 2000s are all nearing the finish line, with Didier Bouillard’s Minor Swing set to be the first to cross, as he is not far off now, even though there isn’t much wind.” With thunderstoms forecast, the finish times are quite uncertain, but they should all arrive today”, explains Race Manager Francis Le Goff.
Also expected this Wednesday, though more likely in the mid-to-late afternoon, the Imoca April Marine-Tahiti Déménage Tout, skippered by Arnaud Boissières and currently heading upwind towards Lorient, will no doubt be followed by the leading double-handed IRC yachts, with the Dutch crew on Karma (Rogier Van Overveld/Marteen Jaan Reijnders) leading the way 70 miles from the finish.
What about the Class40? “Corentin Douguet (SNSM Faites un Don!) steered his boat skilfully through the transition zone, which really shook up the fleet; there was a fierce battle at the front between the top three or four in difficult conditions,” continued the race director. This morning, the leader is riding swiftly downwind towards the Rochebonne mark in 15-knot winds, but around 11:00 or midday, just as they are about to round it, the wind will drop sharply and start shifting in all directions. This could last two or three hours and may well shake things up again.”
It goes without saying that the DRHEAM-CUP/GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE DE COURSE AU LARGE is still far from producing a final result for the Class40s (the first boats are expected to arrive overnight from midnight), with Corentin Douguet leading on Wednesday morning by around ten nautical miles ahead of Luca Rosetti (Maccaferri Futura) and Guillaume Pirouelle (Seafrigo-Sogestran), and by around fifteen nautical miles ahead of Achille Nebout (Amarris) and Robin Follin (Solano).
