The leaders make their getaway

Crêpes Whaou! is continuing on her way without hitch, speeding along at more than 17 knots this morning. Franck-Yves Escoffier and his crew are due to reach Saint-Malo tomorrow afternoon.

Behind them, the other 50' Open multihulls are now in the low-pressure area. Pierre Antoine's Imagine and Hervé Cléris's Prince de Bretagne, who are battling it out for second place, both covered more than 300 miles over the past 24 hours. The same is true of the leading Class 40 boats, Mistral Loisirs - Pôle Santé Elior, Pogo Structures, Telecom Italia and Novedia Group - SET Environnement, who are making good headway in strong northwesterly winds allowing them to go above 13 knots.

Oliver Krauss's crew, the class leader, sailing further south than his opponents, was the first to pick up the speed, which has enabled him to achieve a lead of more than 35 miles this morning at the 0500 GMT rankings over Halvard Mabire and 88 over Tanguy de Lamotte.

Behind them, a group led by Beluga Shipping (Boris Herrmann), is only just out of the ridge and is gradually finding more wind, while the rest of the fleet will not be picking up the low in the immediate future and so will continue to struggle in light winds, which remain variable in strength and direction.

"We're blocked by the ridge, which is stopping us from taking the direct route towards Saint-Malo. The winds are light and continually changing. During the night, we went through our complete set of sails, and there was no stop to the manoeuvres, all the time averaging 3.5 knots!" complained the crew of Esprit Large - Talmont Saint-Hilaire. "The four frontrunners has leapt past this hurdle and are now speeding along on the front ahead of it. For us, it's a different race."

How can they find their way out?
That is up to them. By the north or by the south, that is the question. Two groups are appearing, with on the one hand, those who are opting for a northerly course, closer to the direct route, but where in 48 hours or so they are likely to find themselves in 25 to 30 knot headwinds, if they are unable to reach the ridge in time. Then, there are those, who are choosing the southerly option, where they can be certain of finding conditions that are as strong as in the north, but downwind, thus enabling them to put on the speed. This is the option already chosen by Groupe Sefico (Philippe Vallée), who with a route a long way to the south, is making reasonable headway, climbing back up the rankings going from 16th to 9th in 24 hours, but this is considerably prolonging the voyage. We can hardly wait to see what happens next...