Sidney in the cockpit looking at the rain squalls on the horizon. Image copyright Artemis Ocean Racing.
by Artemis Ocean Racing media
Sam Davies and Sidney Gavignet on board Artemis Ocean Racing worked hard through the night and day in continuing difficult, variable wind conditions that have dictated the speed and course of the boat over the last few days. The Trade Winds, normally settled at this time of year, are not playing ball, making progress challenging with large clouds and rain squalls disrupting the airflow as they suck up the breeze. Sidney calls them them ‘cloud-eaters’ and overnight he added: “I try to remember the last time we had a stable night of sailing - I think it was 5 days ago!”
However, the Artemis Ocean Racing duo have made some gains on their nearest rival, 9th placed Akena Verandas, who are now 120 miles ahead as opposed to 160 miles a day ago: “We have found a little bit of Trade Winds so we’ve got our spinnaker up which is good news, hopefully, we won’t have to take it down until the finish! We’ve managed to claw back a few miles which is good for morale and we’re still working really hard. We know that if we manage to claw back miles, it’s not going to be very many and we have to be patient,” said a philosophical Sam this afternoon. “Even though we are behind, the longer it is to the finish the more chance we have got of catching up the miles! Although, having said that, it is not that long to the finish for the leaders… But, for the boats in front of us, the more time there is to the finish, the more chance we have of clawing back some miles.”
At the 1300 GMT rankings, Artemis Ocean Racing have 2,242 miles to go to the finish in Costa Rica, whilst the leaders negotiate their passage through the Caribbean Islands, passing south of Guadeloupe. “We are approximately 900 miles from the Caribbean… The weather files we’ve received in the Trade Winds are not particularly accurate. The Trade Winds have a mind of their own and the routing software we use doesn’t really give us an exact idea of the best route through the Caribbean islands. There will be lots of tactical choices in between the islands – wind shadows and local effects – we’ve started thinking about that, but at the moment it is too early to call. I haven’t sailed much in the Caribbean so it’s exciting to sail in a new piece of ocean and maybe bump into Captain Jack Sparrow if I’m lucky!”
Sam lying on coachroof upside down! Day 11, TJV. Image copyright Artemis Ocean Racing.
Yves Parlier and Arnaud Boissieres on 1876 have made the biggest gains in the last 24 hours approaching the Caribbean from the NNE, but their progress will stall as they encounter lighter winds the further south they race. At the front it is a simple two-horse race, 2nd-placed Groupe Bel have closed the gap on the leader Safran to just 47 miles, halving the distance in 24 hours; while Mike Golding is now 184 miles behind in third. Michel Desjoyeaux and Jérémie Beyou on Foncia, are now only 240 miles astern of Mike Golding and Javier Sanso, who have been experiencing charging problems, and they will be nervously looking over his shoulder in these final days of the race. The leaders are expected to reach the finish in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica on Monday or Tuesday.
Life on board Artemis Ocean Racing is very different from the end of last week when the Atlantic storms were at their height: “Instead of being out in a fire hose and your skin being pitted by high-pressure salt water coming at you, now it’s a different kind of hostility from the heat and sunshine! But it’s nice and the boat is drying out, and we’re finding that things are repairing themselves without us even having to do anything – like the wind instruments are giving us wind data now, the nav lights turn on now!” However, the 4,730-mile Transat Jacques Vabre is taking longer than expected and diesel is becoming a valuable commodity: “We’ve still got diesel at the moment but we are having to be really, really careful how we use our electricity, and we’re trying to optimize our charging to be as efficient as possible. Hopefully, we’ll make it – we might not be able to motor into the marina at the end – but we should be okay to the finish! We’re fine with food because of all the bad weather in the first week, we haven’t had enough time to eat and sleep properly so there is plenty left.”
Artemis Ocean Racing
Transat Jacques Vabre
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