Leyton on the Transat Jacques Vabre - Day 14

Leyton rounds Fernando de Noronha in second place in the Transat Jacques Vabre © Leyton

Now into lighter winds and flatter seas - ten to 12kts - the change of regime after days and nights in the muscular tradewinds is a welcome one for Sam Goodchild and Aymeric Chappellier on the OceanFifty Leyton as they anticipate the final 750 miles to the Transat Jacques Vabre finish line in Martinique.

Still in third place in the OceanFifty class Leyton has caught up more than ten miles on the leaders Primonial and there might be more compression as they fleet slow through the Doldrums again, Goodchild and Chappellier are poised ready to take any opportunity that comes their way.

Reporting from on board Leyton last night Sam Goodchild said: "We've had a bit less wind and a bit less water on deck so that means we have been able to put dry clothes on, so we are not so salty, not so itchy. We are happier people. We did our last gybe in the morning and so had the whole day to recover a bit and have a big check over the boat and have a sleep longer than 45 minutes and not get pounded by waves every time we go on deck and so that is good. And now with less wind you can go on deck and not get wet that changes life a lot. We are going back through the Doldrums again before Martinique, it should be a bit less active than before (on the way south) but still some unpredictability, it is still the Doldrums and then deciding when to cross over into the northern hemisphere tradewinds again and then downwind into the finish from there. And so, generally light winds. We are just going all put trying to get to Martinique as fast as we can, hopefully a few options will open up in front of us. We are watching Gitana coming into us a bit from behind but otherwise we are not really watching the rest of the race in any detail, just looking at who the big winners and losers are, asking why some boats are making gains and why other boats are going in a different direction, we have plenty going on to keep us busy and are thinking there will be some compression happening some time soon. So it has been a good day on Leyton."

Leyton rounds Fernando de Noronha in second place in the Transat Jacques Vabre - photo © Leyton