Even more open is the battle for fourth down to 10th. There has been a reshuffle at Cabo Frio, north of Rio. Short term gains are with the skippers who have elected to stay west – closer to the rhumb line – so Jérémie Beyou (Charal) in fourth, Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) in fifth and Boris Herrmann (Malizia-Seaexplorer) in sixth. But while their gain may be short term and will depend on their ability to work back to the east progressively to find the SE’ly trade winds, Nico Lunven (HOLCIM PRB) and Paul Meilhat (Biotherm) continue their investment to the east, - largely avoiding the worst of the ridge of hight pressure and light winds – but it is not clear which group will come out on top.
Not easy
Lunven expands, “ This climb up the South Atlantic is not easy, I knew it from having done it previously on the Volvo Ocean Race or as a router on land for Armel Le Cléac’h last winter, I know that this part is not easy, and it is underlined here! A complicated part in terms of weather, we have very unstable conditions, lots of storms – I haven’t had any too violent yet but still some very disruptive squalls. There is also a nasty chop, for example today it could have been a great day of sailing, there was 10-15 knots of wind reaching, under J0, but I have a chop in my head, the boat is slamming, it’s hell! So it’s noisy, it shakes, and it’s not going very fast, so it’s frustrating! On top of that I have some small problems, three days ago my masthead was torn off, along with the antennas and the aerials, so that means steering in compass mode only! I have a spare aerial on a pole at the back, which is already a great help, but unfortunately not enough to steer effectively in wind mode! So that means compass mode and always having to adjust the sails or adjust the boat's trajectory with the remote control, it's tiring and exhausting! As soon as there is a bit of stability, I take the opportunity to go to sleep, setting alarms everywhere so that I can wake up quickly if the boat slows down! When you are able to be on it on usual 100% wind mode, I think that it does not hinder the boat's performance too much, but on the other hand it requires a very significant investment, and the time I spend doing that, I do not spend it doing weather, resting, etc. For the rest on the other hand it is not too serious, I have a VHF antenna at the back which allows me to pick up the AIS system quite satisfactorily, I am quite surprised, so that is good for safety! Otherwise apart from that, the rest is fine. But it is especially annoying at night, because obviously I only have storms at night, the weather is nice during the day! I have squalls and storms at night, and as the wind force is not at all reliable with my spare wind, the direction is ok, but the direction not at all, when the wind goes from 10 to 30 knots with a 50 or 100 degree shift, then if you don't have your eyes wide open... when it's pitch black and you can't see anything, and the boat is leaving, racing at 30 knots and you don't even really know where the wind is coming from and the force that has it, I already have a lot of hair left but I'm losing a little more! Otherwise apart from that it's a shame, because the boat is great. I had a small hydraulic leak at the keel, but it seems to be just a nut that must have become loose and come loose, so if that's all it is, it's nothing. But as it is very difficult to access, to get your hands and a key through, it was not easy, but yesterday I managed to give it a little unexpected tightening, and it seems that it is no longer leaking, let's hope it lasts!”
