Panerai Transat Classique Day 10 - Nothing can be taken for granted

by Panerai Transat Classique on 17 Jan 2015 In this edition of the Panerai Transat Classique, with minimal distance between the competitors, nothing can be taken for granted in this edition of the Panerai Transat Classique. Quietening down initially in the west, the faltering trade wind will give the fleet the opportunity to catch up with the leader Altair. With only a few days to go before the crews touch down in sunny Martinique, the suspense is at its zenith.

The coast of Martinique, so near but yet so far... It’s been confirmed, the trade winds on the route to Martinique will be dying down. Contestants in the Panerai Transat Classique 2015 will have to adjust their arrival times accordingly and add a few hours to their estimates. Leading the pack, Altair should be crossing the line off Fort-de-France on Monday evening (local time) if, of course, the winds don’t completely die away. And that’s the current worry aboard this old lady from 1931 because the zone of calm will be moving in from the northwest and, therefore, will affect the race leaders first. But what’s bad news for some is good news for others! The rest of the fleet are hot on her tail and, encouraged by the news, redoubling their efforts. Expect an exciting finish. When we last checked corrected times, Adventuress was only eight hours behind, Argyll eleven and Gweneven just half a day: a mere wink of an eye on the scale of an ocean crossing.

Gybing

In the last twenty-four hours Altair had to gybe twice to add a bit of northing to her heading to get back on to the shortest track. Managing to stabilize the distance that separates them from the race leader, Amazon and Adventuress are currently engaged in a relentless duel with barely twenty nautical miles between them. Faïaoahé has had enough of 'braving the Arctic weather', to quote Jeremiah Bailey in his latest message, and gybed southward to fall in with Argyll, Corto, The Blue Peter and Gweneven. There’s now a compact group spread over a distance of eighty short miles. All boats are clocking up averages greater than 8 knots, and the war of nerves has begun. Another dangerous contender is Vagabundo II, currently fifth in corrected time, and Desiderata who, in her own quiet way, has run an admirable race and refuses to be outdistanced. Nobody aboard wants to miss the fun and games planned for Martinique, especially the magnificent parade in Fort-de-France Bay, considered to be one of the most beautiful bays in the world, and the spectacular 'yole ronde' races. These traditional boats of Martinique are demanding craft and the bravest sailors in the Panerai Transat Classique will be given the chance to have a sail on them.

Happy birthday!

Today, 16 January, we would like to wish a happy birthday to Lucie Gaudin on Faïaoahé, who will be celebrating her quarter-century in the middle of the Atlantic, and Yann Salaün, who is aboard Amazon. Yann, 58, is a regular participant in the races organized by the Atlantic Yacht Club with three editions of the Transat Classique to his name, one Atlantic Trophée (Douarnenez in Brittany to Horta in the Azores, and back), one Brest Classic Week and the '150 miles out from Sainte Marine'. Well done, Yann, and thank you for all your support. Elsewhere on the Atlantic in this struggle worthy of the Titans, Rémy Gérin, owner of Faïaoahé was also the subject of a heart-warming celebration which he described in a message earlier: 'Well, let me thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for your hundreds of emails and your thousands of wishes on this day blessed by the gods. So, my St Rémy’s Day went like this: solo watch in the early hours followed by The Lion King on the harmonica (thanks Admiral), coffee just like at home, our first flying fish, and some incredible colours between the squalls (weather still rough, in fact). We’re sailing with two reefs in the main, the yankee and the forestaysail; while earlier in the morning we had three reefs in and just the yankee. Sea’s rough and it’s blowing a steady 20 to 25 knots, with gusts up to 35 knots in the squalls.' Happy St Rémy’s Day! But get your mind back on the race, Rémy, because from now on every mistake is going to cost dear... In the light winds to come the crews are going to have to show all their determination, patience and skill if they want to keep their podium chances alive.

PS: Some of you may have noticed that one or another of the yachts disappears from the race chart every so often. Well, don’t worry, it’s usually just the positioning beacon playing up or getting masked by an object (sail, line, etc.) and cannot emit properly.