2016 Transat Bakerly - All roads lead to New York

by Florence Hill on 4 May 2016 What’s happening? The wording was very clear: The Transat normally involves beating into the wind, through the cold and fog, right up in the northern sector of the North Atlantic. After a day of racing since leaving Plymouth, the head of the fleet is in the middle of the Bay of Biscay and, expected to reach Finisterre this evening, the skippers in the IMOCA class will link onto the westbound expressway tonight. The reasons behind such a break in the legend relate to the confirmation of a course further to the south than usual, which is both breezy and quick, skirting the edge of the Azores High.

At the helm of the Mono60 Edmond de Rothschild, Sébastien Josse has already been able to note that his machine is right on the pace, twice positioned at the head of the fleet, yesterday evening and this morning. At daybreak, he was racing within sight of his rivals; Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire VIII) even crossing within 100 metres of his wake. Together with Vincent Riou (PRB), this threesome is forming a neat little group, which looks set to last for quite a few miles.

Yesterday, the start of this Transat Bakerly setting sail from the British coast enabled Sébastien Josse to confirm the potential of the most recent of the Gitana fleet, crossing the English Channel faster than his closest rivals to take the lead at teatime. “The first 24hrs of a race are always a bit special,” he admitted this morning. “You have to get into the match and though it was rather a good start, it could have been even better!'. At 19:15 (GMT+1) on Monday evening, the skipper bore away and modified his course for several long minutes…“I had a sail change that dragged out a bit and caused me to lose a fair amount of ground just as I’d managed to get some interesting separation in relation to my pursuers. It’s nothing very serious. We’re only at the start of what is a crossing spanning over 3,000 miles.” Next, everyone passed the north-west tip of Brittany, aiming for the shortest route between the island of Ushant and the TSS of the same name. The skipper of Edmond de Rothschild was focused on just one thing: to quickly snatch back his rightful place in the leading group.

So, did he manage to eat last night? “Not a lot.” Did he sleep? “Little.” However, this Tuesday morning, the boat decorated in the five Rothschild arrows had returned to pole position. “In terms of the weather, the pattern envisaged prior to the start has been respected. All in all, it’s been a fairly calm, pleasant introduction to proceedings,” he continues. “It’s nice that we’re able to match race. Armel passed within 100 metres of my stern. Things are very tight with Vincent too. I’m delighted because that’s exactly what I was after in this race,” adds the native of Nice, chuffed like his fellow rivals with what are proving to be interesting sailing conditions for gauging the potential of their machines.

At midday, there was another change of leader. Vincent Riou, positioned further over to the west, had taken control of the fleet ahead of Sébastien, while Armel Le Cléac’h completed the podium. At this stage in the game though, the rankings don’t really mean a great deal. The further south and hence away from the direct route the skippers plunge – let’s not forget that they have to make for New York and not the West Indies! – the better positioned the boats further to the west are as the ranking is calculated in relation to the distance to the finish.

From this evening, the decor is set to change. The wind will build in the coming hours as the skippers have to negotiate another headland. “We’ll make Cape Finisterre in the evening for a nocturnal rounding. A low positioned over Morocco is fuelling an ENE’ly breeze, which is set to accelerate as it approaches the headland. We’ll have to complete a series of manœuvres in the right place, in what will be heavy seas in this zone, where the continental shelf rises. We are very familiar with these phenomena, but they still require the utmost vigilance. At that point, we’ll set a course to the west and the speedos will likely display some fine average speeds over the coming days,” concludes the skipper of Edmond de Rothschild.

IMOCA ranking at 16:00 (GMT+1):

1 - Vincent Riou (PRB) 2,882.2 miles from New York
2 - Sébastien Josse (Edmond de Rothschild) 2 miles behind the leader, speed 17.5 knots
3 - Armel Le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire VIII) 6 miles behind, speed 18.5 knots
4 - Jean-Pierre Dick (St Michel-Virbac) 15.7 miles behind, speed 18.7 knots
5 - Richard Tolkien (44) 38.2 miles behind, speed 4.3 knots
6 - SMA (Paul Meilhat) 67 miles behind, speed 11.2 knots