The latest race news from the race
© St Michel - Virbac
Dick on course for records as Anglo-Spanish duo re-take lead
The countdown has begun for the arrival of St Michel-Virbac this evening in Salvador de Bahia. Focused and with redoubled vigilance along the coast of Brazil, Jean-Pierre Dick and Yann Eliès are counting the hours that separate them from victory. It would be the fourth for Dick, an unprecedented performance on the Transat Jacques Vabre. And a finish before 23:00 would mean that he improves his own record for this 60ft monohull class, that he established in 2005 with Loïck Peyron (13 days, 9 hours, 19 minutes and 2 seconds).
Behind them the race is on both in the Imoca field and particularly in the Class40, where the Anglo-Spanish pair of Phil Sharp and Pablo Santurde (Imerys Clean Energy) have had a strong night and are back in the lead by 20 miles from their French rivals. Of the 26 boats still in the race this morning, many have not said their last word.
Imoca: “Concentration”
ETAs
St Michel –Virbac, Saturday, November 18, 19:00 UTC
SMA – Sunday, November 19, 09:00
Des Voiles et Vous!, Sunday, November 19, 17:00
Malizia II, Monday, November 20, 12:00
At 09:00 UTC St Michel-Virbac still had 106 miles to go and are acutely conscious that just ahead of them, the Ultime, Prince de Bretagne, dismasted on Wednesday, just 93 miles from the finish.
Speaking last night, Dick refused to mention the word victory. “Concentration”, the 52-year-old skipper from Nice said instead. The watch for fishermen and UFOs along the coast – they are only 30 miles offshore - has been doubled.
Such application and rigour encapsulates the 13 days of racing by Dick and Eliès, the heavy favourites at the start, who have made no mistakes and controlled the race from start to finish. They have patiently built their lead mile by mile into lead that has looked uncatchable since they emerged from the Doldrums.
If victory was a taboo subject, Dick did evoke his earlier memories of arriving in the port of Salvador of Bahia, the destination where he announced himself on the world stage 14 years ago. It was his first victory on the Transat Jacques Vabre on his iconoclastic Farr-plan boat that was “my first real statement,” he said. “Another page is turning over and whatever the outcome of the race tomorrow, we’re very proud (of our performance).”
113 miles behind them, the foil-less SMA are keeping pace but not gaining, whilst in third place Des Voiles et Vous! is gaining but not enough (288 miles behind the leader). The podium looks set, but behind that the race is on. German skipper, Boris Herrmann and his French co-skipper, Thomas Ruyant have the boat to take fourth. Malizia II is the former Edmond de Rothschild and a latest generation foiler. They were the first of the peleton to “pop out” of the Doldrums and look like they are escaping. But despite losing 40 miles in the last 24 hours, their more seasoned pursuers cannot be discounted. Kito De Pavant and Yannick Bestaven in fifth place have been one of the stories of the race, getting the most of their 2006-boat Bastide Otio.
It will add a certain piquancy that 25 miles behind are Tanguy De Lamotte and Britain’s Samantha Davies on Initiatives Cœur, a 2010-boat, but heavily upgraded and with foils added (it was Jérémie Beyou’s Maître CoQ, which third in the 2016-17 Vendée Globe). Bastide Otio is the former Initiatives Cœur, on which De Lamotte and Davies finished fifth in the last edition of this race in 2015. On paper, when they are less headed and can reach in stronger easterlies off Recife, the new Initiatives-Cœur should be able to roll over the top of the old one. We will see.
Behind them, five boats lie within 70 miles of each other, 1,000 miles from the finish: La Fabrique, Vivo A Beira, Generali, La Mie Câline-Artipole and Newrest-Brioche Pasquier. The latest generation foiler, Bureau Vallée 2, in seventh, is the hinge between the two groups.
Class40: Imerys Clean Energy win on the west
ETA: The leaders, Thursday, November 23, 02:00 UTC
Phil Sharp and Pablo Santurde are not the types to just go with the flow. Having suffered at the beginning of the Doldrums from their shift in the west, they re-took the lead last night, sometimes advancing at 8 knots while the group to the East - V and B, Aïna Enfance et Avenir, TeamWork40 - barely exceeding 3. “A day in the Doldrums is a good dozen sail changes,” Sharp said. “I haven’t slept more than an hour in the last 24 hours and if the boat is in perfect condition, we’re beginning to get tired.” Imerys Clean Energy made 194 miles in the last 24 hours, 20 more than their pursuers.
They emerged from the Doldrums overnight and Sharp is aware that his second-generation boat is inferior on paper to V and B and Aïna Enfance & Avenir in the reaching angles and speeds they may have on the coasts of Brazil. They need a lead if they want to be first to Bahia and had 20 miles at 09:00 UTC.
Multi50
ETA
La French Tech Rennes St-Malo, Sunday, November 19, 01:00 UTC