TJV: Silent Running for Puerto Limon, Two by Two

W-Hotels. Image copyright Marcel Mochet/AFP.

by Régis Lerat

And then there were four... or not, as the case may be. The four IMOCA Open 60's which are into the final the miles of their Transat Jacques Vabre, scrapping over fifth to eighth places, are now all in stealth mode Spain's W-Hotels, France's Veolia Environnment and Akéna Vérandas and the British pair on Aviva, all chose to utilise this option at the same time, where their performance data and positions are not relayed to the outside world and, each other.

One reality is that with the sophisticated weather modelling and knowing the exact position of each of their rivals before the stealth plays are enforced, each of the crews will have a very good idea of what is likely to happen, unless it gets light and shifty, as Brian Thompson noted from Aviva today:

“We all have similar routing and similar weather information and that gives us an idea, but if it get's really shifty and light, people will do different things. Some people will try to get to the coast early, some will try and leave it to the last minute, it is going to be hard to know. There will be different philosophies. It will be hard for people watching but it will be interesting for sure.” Said Thompson.

Alex Pella and Pepe Ribes on W-Hotels were leading the group, lying in fifth when they went undercover, but were being pressed quite hard in the early morning by Roland Jourdain and Jean Luc Nélias on Veolia Environnment.

The Spaniards had picked up speed again after a sticky, slow spell night but had a lead of just 15 miles to protect over the last 180 miles.

Ribes and Pella have the strategic advantage of having Veolia to their north, but anything can happen in these light evening and night breezes. When third placed Mike Golding and Javier Sanso came in nicely during yesterdau morning tacking to the line in an offshore 5-7 knots breeze, but by evening as Michel Desjoyeaux and Jérémie Beyou arrived they were ghosting along the shores on Foncia at just three to five knots in very gentle winds. And after nightfall the breeze dies away, the palm trees still and tropical air is oppressive, still and humid.

There was a 45 miles gap back to the second of the duelling pairs. Only 2.5 miles separated Akéna Vérandas from Aviva. Thompson said on this morning's radio vacations that they had crossed behind Akena but was not sure if Vincent Riou and Arnaud Boissières had seen them. The French duo were just a little quicker, but Thompson was definitely up for a close fight to the finish.


Foncia's crew. Image copyright Marcel Mochet/AFP.

Brian Thompson, GBR, Aviva: “We are under a rain squall here about 100 and something miles from Costa Rica. Akena have been really storming the last few days across the Caribbean Sea and we are having a great race. I am not sure if they saw us, but we saw them last night. The crossed just in front of us with their kite up. They were heading north and we were heading west. It is the first time since we were off Cherbourg, so it was quite incredible after 4500 miles to see them again.”

“Calli was determined to catch Dee in the last Vendée Globe and now there is not much between us, it is going to come down to the last few miles. Everyone is in stealth mode, so we and you won't know where everyone else is.”

“We have decent breeze just now but it will drop off during the day, so it will shift a little bit more NE'ly then in the final 30 miles it will just go very, very light. And that will be tricky enough for us as it will be overnight.”

“ I think it is better to just go whichever way will get us to the finish line fastest. In 2001 when I did the MiniTransat, in effect we were all in stealth mode (there was no tracking), I was leading and assuming the boat in second was doing one thing and in fact he was doing another thing, and I was trying to cover him as a coast boat, so I think from that experience I have learned to just sail the wind you have and try to get to the finish, and if you see another boat, then that is a big help. That is very likely to happen in the last 30 miles. Could be a close boat race.”

“The course is really interesting, really interesting all the way through, with lots of obstacles, lots of options all the way through. We have been pushing hard all the way through. Things break and we have been really positive about fixing them and getting on, that has been one of the great things about this race. We have got on all really well, and been competitive against top boats.”

Transat Jacques Vabre