Britain’s Samantha Davies and her French co-skipper, Paul Meilhat have tacked south-west at Cape Finisterre in third place.
In the same wind as the latest generation IMOCA 60ft monohulls, Initiatives-Cœur, their VPLP – Verdier design launched in 2010, but heavily upgraded and with huge foils, has kept pace.
“You can see it (on the tracker), we’re really happy with the speeds we were doing yesterday and it’s not scary at all either,” Davies said. “I’m really happy and the boat feels great.”
The bulk of the fleet tacked on Monday night, led by Davies, who were the first to turn onto the more direct road to Salvador de Bahia. They were quickly followed by the bulk of the fleet.
Was that a dilemma for the leader, Charal? Follow their route to south or join Hugo Boss?
Charal tacked.
On a tactical level, the skippers, Jérémie Beyou and Christopher Pratt’s decision to accompany the rest of the fleet late in the night was pragmatic, because the scenario for the next 48 hours is quite uncertain. “It’s a more tactical than strategic decision,” Pratt admitted on Tuesday morning.
The decision is not final and Davies and others may still look west.
Class40: Another match race to Brazil?
The situation is not so different in the Class40, as they were struggling upwind in the middle of the Bay of Biscay Monday afternoon, with the professionals beginning to leave the amateurs behind in the 25-boat fleet.
The going has been too tough for the Japanese duo, Hiroshi Kitada and Takeshi Hara, on the Class40 KIHO, who informed the race office that they had abandoned Tuesday afternoon.
Wednesday 30 October – Leaders at 12:00 hrs
Class40
1 – Aïna Enfance and Avenir (Aymeric Chappellier / Pierre Leboucher)
2 – Leyton (Sam Goodchild and Fabien Delahaye)
3 – Made in Midi (Kito de Pavant / Achille Nebout)
Imoca
1 – PRB (Kevin Escoffier / Nicolas Lunven)
2 – Charal (Jérémie Beyou / Christopher Pratt)
3 – Apivia ( Charlie Dullin / Yann Ellis
GBR
5 – Initiatives-Cœur (Samantha Davies / Paul Meilhat)
18 – Malizia (Boris Herrmann / Will Harris)
20 – Hugo Boss (Alex Thomson / Neal MacDonald)
25 – Pip Hare Ocean racing (Pip Hare / Ysbrand Endt)
Multi50
1 – Solidarias en Peloton – Arsep ( hibaut Vauchel-Camus and Fred Duthil)
2 – GROUPE GCA – MILLE ET UN SOURIRES
3 – PRIMONIAL
