2015 Transat Jacques Vabre Day 17 - A message from Eric and Sam

by Juliette Lucking on 12 Nov 2015 2015 Transat Jacques Vabre – A little message from Eric and Sam received this morning of November 11. With a little bit more than 500 nm till Itajaí, Stand as One maintains its seventh position in the IMOCA category by multiplying the manoeuvres along the Brasilian coast.

This country is huge! It’s been days that we sail along the coast of Brasil without seeing the end. Itajaí is at the very bottom. The battle continues between us, MACSF, Newrest Matmut and Bureau Vallée. We are still second in the small group that has been sailing together since the northern hemisphere. We are all in a tiny area together, like a handkerchief. Everything can change due to the timings of a sail change, a cloud that blocks the way, a night without steering. We're watching out for the others, and we are gripped to the rankings that we are checking every two hours.
We know that all of our friends and sponsors back on shore are buzzing with us and it's good. We are keeping them all in suspense.

Two hours ago we sent the spinnaker up. It was only the second time in the race. This is not the last manoeuvre, far from it, but it feels a bit like the end of the trip. We were waiting to send this Spi to close off the last big portion of the race.