The four Ultim 32/23 Class trimarans emerged unscathed from the past 24 hours of very strong winds and particularly rough head on seas.
They continue their descent of the South Atlantic in upwind conditions averaging around 30 knots for the fastest on a course for Gough Island, located at the edge of the ice zone.
The night from Saturday to Sunday was profitable to MACIF (François Gabart / Gwénolé Gahinet) which halved the gap separating him from the leader, Maxi Edmond de Rothschild (Franck Cammas / Charles Caudrelier).
Maxi Edmond de Rothschild was slowed in a zone of weaker winds than its competitors.
At 8am this Sunday, Maxi Edmond de Rothschild was 51 miles ahead of his immediate pursuer, while Sodebo Ultim 3 (Thomas Coville / Jean-Luc Nélias) trails by 192 miles, and Actual Leader (Yves Le Blevec / Alex Pella) by 315.
The worse bit of this second part of the “Brest Atlantiques” is over for the fleet who have been sailing upwind sailing in 25/30 knots gusting to 40 and especially rough seas against them for the past 24 hours.
According to the routing, the first could reach Gough Island overnight from Sunday to Monday, then Cape Town, the second and last mark they need to pass on the “Brest Atlantiques”, on Wednesday morning.
