Transat Jacques Vabre Race - Close fought war on the Gulf

by Transat Jacques Vabre on 9 Nov 2013 As the 26 Class 40 duos take shelter in Roscoff to miss the strong winds of the Bay of Biscay depression the three other classes (Multi 50, IMOCA and MOD70 ) are set up for a tough night with big seas and strong winds.

Class40: In for the night
By 2100 hrs this evening all of the Class40 were over the line in safety and moored at the port of Roscoff complex after 180 miles from Le Havre, enjoying some welcome respite before setting off again. The duos will set off for Itajaí at the earliest tomorrow night at 2200hrs following the time deltas of their arrival order of arrival.

Multi 50: Actual flying
Actual ( Yves Le Blévec / Kito de Pavant ) still leads the fleet seven miles ahead of FenêtréA -Cardinal ( Erwan Le Roux / Yann Elies ) . Arkema - Aquitaine ( Lalou Roucayrol / Mayeul Riffet ) and Master Jacques ( Loïc Fequet / Loïc Escoffier ) are at 18 and 24 miles behind respectively. All of the the pairs take care to preserve their boats and equipment in difficult conditions At 2000h , Eric Nigon and Samy Villeneuve (Vers une monde sans SIDA) were almost in to Brest where they aim to repair their masthead instruments.

IMOCA: MACIF escaping
Other than a spell at the front for PRB part of this afternoon, François Gabart and Michel Desjoyeaux ( MACIF ) are back ahead this Friday night, stealing away from Vincent Riou and Jean Le Cam byt 13 miles. At 18 miles behind . Bernard Stamm and Philippe Legros ( Cheminées Poujoulat ), were up to third continuintg their comeback. For the IMOCA fleet as well crossing the Bay of Biscay looks pretty tough tonight and tomorrow especially.

MOD70: Gulf War
In the Bay of Biscay a great battle is raging between Oman Air - Musandam (Sidney Gavignet / Damian Foxall ) who have managed to get back to within half a mile of Edmond de Rothschild (Sébastien Josse / Charles Caudrelier) on the 2000hrs ranking. Making more than 23 knots they are charging across Biscay, running away from the worst of the depression, heading to pass Cape Finisterre in the very small hours of Saturday morning.