The oceanic ridge crossing, the first meteorological difficulty in this Vendée Arctique, has been rough for Louis. His East decision was the good one, but he had plain sailing whereas his direct rivals (Benjamin Ferré, Eric Bellion, Sébastien Marsset…) benefited from a windy stroke of luck yesterday morning. It allowed to pull themselves out of this sticky situation. All day long, they had ideal circumstances to go North. Louis didn't have such luck. But that's fair play when sailing out at sea.
This morning, the Imoca Fives – Lantana Environnement speeds up at more than 14 knots on the direct path. Solo skippers still have 3,000 milles (5,500 km) to run. The race is only beginning!
Everyone gets a turn
Louis should benefit from a sustained tail wind this Wednesday, while the front runners and those who chose the West start to get stuck in plain sea areas.
This anticyclonic bubble should rise up during the day and get accross to Scotland… just before a life-saving depression on Thursday!
It seems like there will be new strategic choices to be made soon…
Message from the ship
The start of the race is pretty hectic!
A first quick night, slightly out of sync with my comrades: I couldn't navigate under a 270 when the road is at 320. It went faster later on when the NE wind started to blow.
This first night didn't spare me much: a hydrogenerator support went off, a few bugs on the command controls, a damaged drifting rod… I even believed for a moment I peeled off a drift, but it probably was kelp that got stuck. It generated big vibrations. I stopped the boat several times, to check everything and to manage a few stuff.
The sencond night was quieter. Perhaps too much… I attempted to get to the oceanic ridge just slightly more North than the rest of the pack. At first, it went quite well, but then I got stuck for a long time in air pockets... While checking the competition speed, it seemed pretty random.
In the end, I got out of there with more than 80 nautical miles lagging behind, compared to the first drift boats.
Well, the Fives - Lantana Environnement boat is fine and if we look at the weather, it's far from being over! For now it goes under the spinnaker, heading for Iceland!
Have a nice evening,
Louis