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 4 pm 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, it's a busy night, It's 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.
