The Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, leader of Brest Atlantiques crossed the equator last night at 02:13 hrs.
Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier took 7 days 6 hours and 57 minutes to find the Northern Hemisphere since their passage in Cape Town, for a total of 13,465 miles from Brest, averaging 24.7 knots.
The Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, after a long westerly edge westward, gybed cape north on Wednesday around 20:00 hrs, a few hours after the trimaran MACIF which, as Gwénolé Gahinet had announced, had himself gybed in the middle afternoon.
MACIF clearly slowed down at night in a soft zone, an extension of the Saint Helena high pressure, evidenced by a very low average speed of 6 knots between the 04:00 and 08:00 classifications.
Which inevitably benefits their competitors who have replayed the rubber band in their favor:
The Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, about to attack the crossing of the Pot-au-noir, has 815 miles ahead at 08:00 hrs, Actual Leader (Yves Le Blevec / Alex Pella) 430 miles.
Actual Leader, meanwhile, who are now roughly equidistant from Africa and South America, is continuing to sail north-west at speeds of more than 20 knots, following two days at a slower pace.
