Please select your home edition
Edition
Henri-Lloyd - For the Obsessed

The Transat CIC Day 2 - Dalin and D'Estais in the lead

by The Transat CIC 29 Apr 07:43 PDT 29 April 2024
Transat CIC start © Arnaud Pilpré

After a sunny, spectacular start, the 48 solo sailors taking part in the Transat CIC had to deal with the first windy and bumpy night at sea, crossing a front with 30 plus knots of wind and a rough sea state.

According to the 4pm rankings, Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance), Nicolas d'Estais (Café Joyeux) and Patrick Isoard (Uship pour les Enfants du Mekong) are leading in the IMOCA, Class40 and Vintage classes respectively.

Just over 24 hours have gone since the spectacular start from Lorient, after a rather eventful night with winds in excess of 30 knots and a particularly unpleasant sea state, and after having cleared the TSS exclusion zone at Ushant around midnight, the bulk of the fleet has emerged almost unscathed from the first hurdle on their route to the finish line in New York.

Conditions are now much more manageable for the leaders, who are heading northwest towards the southern tip of Ireland, where they should be able to take their next routing option.

Taking the lead in the IMOCA class right from the start was Charlie Dalin aboard his Verdier design (MACIF Santé Prevoyance). He has kept up an impressive pace since, and according to the 4pm position reports has nearly 16 miles buffer on his compatriot Jérémie Beyou on Charal and over 21 on Paul Meilhat (Biotherm). The first group also includes Nicolas Lunven on Holcim - PRB and Yoann Richomme (IMOCA Paprec Arkéa), within 25 miles of the leader.

In sixth and seventh position respectively are the first two female skippers, Britain's Sam Davies (Initiatives Coeur) and Switzerland's Justine Mettraux (Teamwork - Team SNEF), some 27 and 28 miles from the leaders. Reached on board this morning, Justine said: "I had some communications issues, no satellite connection and I couldn't send or receive anything, but it's solved now. Yeah, a busy night, tiring for me trying to get the boat to go fast, trying not to do any damage during sail changes. I will try to have some food and get some sleep to get ready for the next 20 hours that should be softer. So all good!"

As for the other international skippers Boris Herrmann (Malizia - Seaexplorer) sits in 8th place hanging on to the main group, while Italian Giancarlo Pedote on Prismyan is in 14th position some 44 miles back, and Japanese Kojiro Shiraishi (DMG MORI Global One) is 19th. In their respective races to make Vendée Globe qualification Britain's James Harayda (Gentoo Sailing Team) and Swiss-German, Ollie Heer (Oliver Heer Ocean Racing) are in in 23th and 29th place.

In the 13 boat strong Class40, it is interesting to note that the race favorites are all in the top group with Nicolas d'Estais (CAFÉ JOYEUX) keeping just the slightest margin, one and half mile, on Ian Lipinski (Crédit Mutuel) and Fabien Delahaye (LEGALLAIS) and some five miles ahead of the Italian duo Ambrogio Beccaria (Alla Grande - Pirelli) and Alberto Bona (IBSA), who have been exchanging positions in the last few hours.

Although the first night was somewhat gentler for the Class40s, the situation changed this morning with the passing of the front. "As you can hear, things are different from yesterday. It's bumpy," said Ambrogio Beccaria (Alla Grande - Pirelli) in a voice message, referring to the loud noise in the background. "I didn't manage to have any food, which is annoying. I'm used to eating well. I will have to try because I do not want to be short of energy. Last night was amazing, nice weather, an incredible moon. The pace is pretty tough, I have the impression that my friends are trying to head more north and I hope I'm not taking the bad decision, looks like I'm alone here. On the other hand we have moved out of the front".

Keep pushing

The end of the day promises to be slightly more settled for the IMOCA boats and the Class40s, who will all have passed through the front by the afternoon. "The boats are heading north-west towards a tacking point to the north in search of a westerly shift. The seas should ease a bit. The skippers should be able to assess the state of their boats and what they'll have to do to deal with what comes next. There's going to be a bit of a transition period, but they're still going to have to push hard," explains Race Director Francis Le Goff, who adds that "according to the routing, there are probably alternative solutions to the south and not everyone is headed for the most northerly point, as was the case with the performance routing, which explains the lateral split in the fleet".

A little further behind, the two Vintage boats, which will be on the southern edge of the low, will have a little less wind than the IMOCAs and Class40s had last night, and will be getting out of the front late this evening.

The sailors still at sea are now 46 following Jean Le Cam's retirement yesterday (Tout commence en Finistère - Armor Lux) for personal reasons, while during the night, Arnaud Boissières (La Mie Câline) also informed the Race Direction that he was rerouting to Les Sables d'Olonne after suffering a failure on his port foil system.

They Said:

Boris Herrmann (GER) IMOCA Malizia - Seaexplorer: "The first night at sea was quite ok, at one point I was in sixth position, going well but then right at the end of the strong wind and bad sea state some of the others pushed harder. I felt it was pretty rough on the boat already so I lost a bit. I'm seeing Justine to the right and Maxime Sorel, the wind is lighter, 14 to 16 knots but a very bumpy sea state was the real problem last night. We went for the J3 and one reef. Nothing broke, all good despite some very hard impacts with the waves. Everything as forecasted, as the models were predicting."

James Harayda (GBR) IMOCA Gentoo Sailing Team: "It's super loud on board, the morning has been good but a bit nerve wracking. Obviously my goal is to finish this race to get the Vendée Globe miles in and sailing in 35 knots of breeze at 100 degrees true wind angle is not the best way to do that. But there hasn't been much of a choice. I have a couple of repairs to do later when the breeze goes down, but apart from that everything is under control. I think I will try and pass south of this next front coming, trying to stay in under 30 knots reaching and avoid the worst. Nice to be back here and I have a nice little battle with Lazare."

www.thetransat.com

Related Articles

Perseverance is Clarisse Crémer's middle name
Back racing hard in The Transat CIC and today is some 700 miles from the finish line After a strong, solid start to the Transat CIC, Clarisse Crémer suffered damage to the J3 bulkhead of her L'Occitaine en Provence on May 1st which required her to divert 500 miles to the Azores for five days whilst her technical team completed repairs. Posted on 14 May
The Transat CIC Prizegiving
Podium finishers honoured Competitors and invited guests honoured the IMOCA and Class40 podiums of the 15th edition of The Transat CIC at the prizegiving Sunday in New York. Posted on 13 May
The Transat CIC Update
New York offers finishers sunshine but still dark clouds over the Atlantic At 13 days since the fleet left Lorient just seven solo racers are still racing across the Atlantic on the 3,500 miles Transat CIC. Posted on 11 May
Ambrogio Beccaria wins The Transat CIC in Class40
Crossing the line of the historic race at 03:47:55 hrs this morning Italy's Ambrogio Beccaria on his all Italian designed and built Musa 40 Alla Grande Pirelli added the hugely prestigious Transat CIC Class 40 title to his steadily growing collection of solo and short handed ocean racing honours this morning. Posted on 10 May
The Transat CIC Update
Ambrogio Beccaria has Class 40 finish line and victory 'in sight' With less than 140 miles to go to the finish line of the Transat CIC solo race across the North Atlantic from Lorient to New York Italy's Ambrogio Beccaria appears to have dealt with the last weather hurdle earlier today. Posted on 9 May
Transat CIC: Le Turquais top daggerboard finisher
Half the IMOCA fleet in now in New York The top 13 finishers - that is to say half the IMOCA class on the Transat CIC solo race across the North Atlantic - are now either in New York or en route from the finish line which is 110 miles offshore. Posted on 8 May
Transat CIC IMOCA podium arrive in New York
Finishers dock in the heart of the Big Apple Freezing fog banks, a light winds head scratcher at 150 miles from the finish, deciphering the vagaries of the Gulf Stream....all these final challenges, and more, were all but forgotten when The Transat CIC IMOCAs enjoyed a sunny arrival in New York. Posted on 7 May
Sam Davies third in The Transat CIC
British sailor completes an international IMOCA podium in the race An exhausted but delighted Sam Davies sailed her Initiatives Coeur across the finish line of the Transat CIC at 20:11:37hrs local time NYC (00:11:37 hrs UTC) to take a well earned third place on the legendary solo race across the North Atlantic. Posted on 7 May
Boris Herrmann second in The Transat CIC
Career best for the German skipper of Malizia - Seaexplorer Germany's Boris Herrmann sailed to the best result of his 14 year IMOCA ocean racing career so far when he finished in second place on The Transat CIC on Sunday. Posted on 6 May
Yoann Richomme wins The Transat CIC
IMOCA Paprec Arkéa first to arrive into New York French skipper Yoann Richomme made it two back-to-back solo Transatlantic wins today when he brought his PAPREC ARKÉA across the finish line first on the historic Transat CIC race across the North Atlantic from Lorient in Brittany to New York. Posted on 6 May
RS Sailing 2021 - FOOTERVaikobi 2024 FOOTERMackay Boats 728x90 BOTTOM