Out the other side

For most, the gate obligation was completed in time, but one Class40, Yvan Noblet on Appart' City, reported critical damage shortly before crossing the ice gate in 4th place, just over 40 miles behind Beluga racer in 3rd. Retiring from the race, Noblet is now heading for the St. Pierre and Miquelon Islands, 25km of the coast of Newfoundland. Appart' City is currently 400 miles SSE of this French speaking territory.

In 2nd place, Thierry Bouchard has had very good progress since passing the ice gate: "For the moment, everything is OK," the skipper of Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR told the race office this morning. "I got to the ice gate just before the big winds arrived and managed to bear away just in time." To reach the gate at 40°N yesterday, almost the entire fleet were beating into a south-westerly breeze that was building by about 1 knot every half an hour. This afternoon, Bouchard has a 4 mile lead over Boris Herrmann on Beluga Racer and trails Soldini by 93 miles - a 28 mile gain since this morning as the race leader hits light airs to the north. "I've been able to make a good, quick route north to keep an eye on Giovanni and Boris," Bouchard continued. "Today, the wind has stabilised and I can catch-up on some rest as I don't think there will be many manoeuvres today."

One of the happiest Class40 skippers this morning was Simon Clarke who has made consistently high speeds on Clarke Offshore Racing overnight and during today: "The southern option was a good idea as the wind was always going to go south," said a very talkative Clarke earlier. "The idea was try and avoid beating to the gate, but the problem was just getting there." Yesterday afternoon and this morning, Clarke produced some of the highest speed averages in the fleet: "We did it in one leg and avoided beating, but obviously from a long way away." On Friday morning, he trailed Louis Duc in 10th place on Groupe Royer by 94 miles in terms of Distance to Leader and while Duc's more northerly position meant and upwind descent to the gate, Clarke's reaching attack from below 40°N was faster and the distance deficit had narrowed to 65 miles this morning.

"It was still a bumpy old ride," confesses Clarke, "and I really struggled to make it because there was so much current." Maintaining a good course in the south-westerly current was a balance between hardening up into the breeze or bearing away requiring constant helm adjustment: "It was unbelievable and it couldn't have been in a worse place," continues Clarke. "If you put your bow up, you got taken away from the gate. If you put your bow down, you got properly taken completely the wrong side of it and as a result of the current, it was really bloody rough."

This afternoon, Clarke Offshore Racing is 42 miles behind Louis Duc on Groupe Royer and 30 miles behind Christophe Coatnoan on Groupe Partouche - a massive gain since dawn yesterday when he trailed Groupe Royer by 94 miles. "I'm taking it realistically and I'm after Groupe Royer and maybe Groupe Partouche who hasn't crossed the gate yet and I think we're going to be pretty close." Since talking to Clarke, Christophe Coatnoan has crossed the gate after tacking onto starboard at around 0900GMT to ensure he squeezed across 40°N before reaching the western limit at 50°W. "My objective is to go as fast as I can to catch them." Clarke Offshore Racing is in excellent shape for hard sailing: "I haven't really had a chance to really look around the boat, but there aren't any massive cracks," he confirmed, chuckling happily. "The boat is really well put together and I think because it's flexible it has survived." Clarke has been involved in many offshore racing projects and knows what works in boat construction. "I really think that a more rigid, carbon boat would have snapped in half by now."

Before the wind finally dropped after midnight last night, Miranda Merron on 40 Degrees was proving stubborn in 40 knots of breeze: "No way was I going to use the storm jib," she explained to the race office earlier, "and I'm really glad we got through the ice gate before the front came in because it had really become a constriction." Merron was preparing breakfast as she spoke: "It's now blowing 12-13 knots and I've just had the most amazing sleep, about half an hour, but it felt a lot longer." Heading north, conditions are also changing rapidly: "It's getting colder now, so I've put some more clothes on and I'm making tea and hot food." After the storm her Class40 is in good shape, a condition helped by the addition of extra internal strengthening structure on 40 Degrees: "There's nothing major," she confirmed, "but I need to have a good crawl around now it's light as the boat has really taken a hammering. The boat has a Category 0 bulkhead and I'm really glad it has been fitted." The Class40 fleet heard of Yvan Noblet's retirement from The Artemis Transat via a message from the race office during the storm and sympathy from all skippers has been unanimous: "I'm so sorry to hear about Yvan," comments Merron, "it's such a shame as he was having a really good race..and he's a top bloke."

This morning, 40 Degrees was in 5th heading a tight pack of three boats: Alex Bennett and Fujifilm in 6th and Benoit Parnaudeau in 7th separated by 11 miles: "I can't believe that Alex Bennett is so bloody close after 14 days of racing and that Ben has now joined the party. It's great!" This afternoon, Merron is in 4th as she climbs passed the damaged Appart' City, with Bennett and Fujifilm 11 miles astern and Parnaudeau 15 miles behind 40 Degrees.
For Halvard Mabire on Custo Pol, the last 24 hours have been frustrating. Midday on Friday, Mabire was lined up to clip the eastern end of the ice gate in 7th place ahead of Alex Bennett on Fujifilm in 8th. However, in a move to ensure bearing away as soon as possible, Bennett threw in a starboard tack mid-afternoon to get below the ice gate. Mabire takes up the story: "Last night wasn't so good," he admitted this morning. "After Fujifilm tacked across me, I slammed straight into 45 knots before I could free-off, so I lost some miles and somehow, he [Bennett] has had really good speed since then." This afternoon Bennett leads Custo Pol by 28 miles and Mabire already has a busy schedule for the day: "I've now got a good 15 knots of breeze," he reports, "but I'm beginning to get really tired." However, there will be limited time to relax: "During the strong winds, I noticed quite a few little things that I need to attend to on the boat. Nothing serious, but as I'm still getting accustomed to the boat, I should have a look at them."

What next?
After a sound kicking last night, there's a possibility of a light airs period ahead, driven by a high pressure system just north of Newfoundland. Giovanni Soldini has already run into light SW 5 knot winds and his speed average has remained stalled throughout today. There is a chance that the Italian race leader may remain trapped throughout the night and into Sunday morning. Further south, Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR and Beluga Racer are currently hanging onto the breeze with a 15 knot SW wind and there's a chance they may stick with this until tomorrow and could close the gap on the race leader. For the middle pack lead by 40 Degrees and the group to the south, the wind may become lighter into the evening. With around 700 miles to the finish line for the race leader and complex weather between the Class40 fleet and North America, the finish line in Marblehead could be a very congested area.

Class40 ranking and Distance to Leader figures for 1400GMT Saturday 24th May
1 Telecom Italia 0
2 Mistral Loisirs - Pole Santé ELIOR 93.7
3 Beluga Racer 97.3
4 40 Degrees 165.7
5 Appart City 173
6 Fujifilm 893.2 176.7
7 Prévoir Vie 181.1
8 Custo Pol 204.3
9 Groupe Royer 236.9
10 Groupe Partouche 249.5
11 Clarke Offshore Racing 279.5