Storming along towards the gale

"Can you hear that?", asked Arnaud Boissieres (Akena Verandas) over the satellite phone this morning. And in fact yes, we could hear "that" - the dreaded sound of sails flapping around in no-wind-whatsoever, the terrible sound of hopelessness, of a boat kicked around by the swell, unable to move. The ice gate has been teasing the second pack of the IMOCA fleet, but is definitely playing hard to get. Gutted, Arnaud wasn't in a very talkative mood today and quickly went back up on deck. Suffering from the same frustrating conditions, Sam Davies gave us a more detailed account. "0 knots of wind and 0 knots of boat speed. There's a light wind ridge to cross but low pressure system coming - gusts up to 50 knots! I might be complaining of no wind now but in the back of my mind in 24hrs I might be complaining about too much wind! So I'm checking everything on the boat - preparing her for a lot of wind so we manage to get through in one piece then after ice gate focus on getting to Boston."

Because yes, a big gale is on its way, as strange as it may seem now for the back of the fleet. Yann Elies aboard Generali confirmed he could feel the first signs of serious weather approaching from the west: "Conditions are nice, we're reaching at 14 knots, but it won't last because we're going to be hit by a nice gale... Seas are already getting rough". As if to illustrate his words, a treacherous little wave almost knocked Yann off his seat while we were chatting with him during the video conference. Further ahead, Armel Le Cléac'h's Brit Air is already facing Force 7 winds - officially denominated "near gale" - and has switched into low-profile / wise seamanship mode. "I have 28 knots of wind, increasing from the West - rather tough today, so I'll put the racing aside for the next 20 hours, to concentrate on the preservation of the gear. I took two reefs in when the wind was blowing 23 kts, usually you'd wait more but I anticipated. There will be more sail reductions to come, maybe we'll go as far as sailing under mainsail alone to let the worst of the gale pass." Armel, a cautious sailor by nature, is also completing his Vendée Globe qualifying passage during The Artemis Transat, and understandably does not want to take any risks.

Where does that leave race leader Loick Peyron and his clandestine passenger? Gitana Eighty's skipper is on his part already qualified for this winter's big round-the-world event, but that certainly does not mean he will be ready to put his boat at risk. Leading the race, the French legend can daydream about a third victory in the event, a feat unheard of (Loick is the only skipper to have equaled, with two wins on the North Atlantic, Eric Tabarly). Peyron always took pride of completing his races aboard a clean, safe and unhurt boat, and he will also make sure everything is set and secured to face the gale. Moreover, Vincent Riou's presence aboard is a constant reminder of the fact - obvious but so true - that in order to win, one has to cross the finish line... on his own boat. It is also somewhat difficult, as Loick commented this morning, to get back into pace when your singlehander's life has to adapt to having a second person on board.

Strategically speaking, as Jean-Luc Nélias pointed out in his morning analysis, "The rescue of Vincent Riou and the passage of the ridge yesterday evening induced a 50 mile separation north-south between Gitana and Brit Air. We've already looked at the fact that such a separation provides the opportunity for an attack, and if we look at the animation we can see the two boats arriving at the same time in Boston! What suspense! We can also see that the next tack this coming night is not made at the passage of the cold front, but when the wind turns to around 270 (west). Its a very delicate moment, because the timing of the tack could determine the result of the race, and the duelists won't know the position of the other boat as its during the night when there is always a position blackout." Read Jean-Luc's article and watch his video animation hereLoick Peyron wins the Musto Trophy
Having crossed the Musto race gate (Cape Race longitude) yesterday at 22:42 GMT, Loick Peyron, captures the Musto Newfoundland Trophy, an evocative work in stainless steel by sculptor John Mellows.

Steve White, Spirit of Weymouth
"It's a real shame for Vincent. We have a keel designed to hit ground at 12 knots [Spirit of Weymouth has a fixed keel] and not worry about it! I ran into something a couple of days ago - don't know what - but impact big enough to throw me from companionway step that I was sitting on to the cockpit floor. There was a big scrape mark on the rudder..."

Dee Caffari, Aviva
"It's unbelievable news about Vincent. I immediately got on to the team to ask them what I should be looking for with my keel but they said it was a different system. We checked it through anyway which was good. As far as I know, I've not hit anything in this race - touch wood - but as I said at the start, anything can happen to anyone at anytime so we take nothing for granted."