Last Wednesday, they were launching their boats from Saint Malo. 1,300 miles later, there are thousands of stories to tell! And it's far from being over... There is still a big half of the track to finish, even if - as seen before - the worst is now behind the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe solo racers.
Express repairs
Acting as a full F1 team, Louis repaired and secured his rigging and his mainsail's rail (partly) in record time! 1h40 were enough to:
- Drag himself on his starboard outrigger,
- Ensure bottom shrouds were fastened,
- Go back down,
- Put tension back on all of the rigging (port side bottom shrouds and shrouds),
- Fix again the mainsail's rail.
It broke because of the lazy-bag damage: the sail wasn't held anymore, it gave ways to the winds and breakers, thus tearing off the rail. This damage was impeding the mainsail in the 2-sails-reefed setup. He can now use again his mainsail.
Looking forward to sail again, he decided to repair the lazy-bag later on as he shouldn't need to take the reef in conditions as heavy as the ones encountered in the past couple of days.
Trade winds or chimeras?
Yesterday, 7:40PM, in the middle of the Azores archipelago. The race starts once more for our Fives skipper.
At 8AM this Wednesday morning, he clocks out in 24th position, 2,200 miles (4,000km) away from the goal... still facing the winds. The trade wind and its carrying breezes are 600 miles (1,100km) South. A windless zone separates Louis from it. The IMOCA fleet is negociating as best as possible facing winds or lacking them.
It seems there are still a few stories to write on the epic way to Guadeloupe...
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