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Armel Le Cléac’h and Sébastien Josse seem to have found the perfect trajectory as they speed towards the Doldrums. Off to the West, they have extended their lead over the past 48 hours and are impressive in terms of their speed and their ability to sail with the wind astern to find themselves in a good position to enter the Intertropical Convergence Zone. “Their positioning probably favoured them, but they have been impressive,” admitted François Gabart this morning. “It’s up to us now to impress them!” added the skipper of SVR Lazartigue, who remains upbeat, although now in third place, 160 miles behind the leader.
Banque Populaire XI did not need to carry out the costly gybes the chasing boats have been forced to do to avoid the wind shadow of the Cape Verde Islands and to get in the right position to tackle the Doldrums. This means that they now have a lead of more than 100 miles as they approach this zone that they should enter late this morning. “This completely the opposite situation to 2021 when we had a good lead over Banque Populaire, which melted away in the Doldrums, before we managed to get away from them ahead of a line of squalls,” remembered Charles Caudrelier on Maxi Edmond de Rothschild.
Except that one crossing of the Doldrums is never like another. Positioned between Latitude 5° and 8°N, “they don’t seem very active today,” said Christian Dumard. “It is highly likely that the first in will get through relatively easily. It may be more complicated for those further back, particularly Sodebo Ultim 3 and Actual Ultim 3,” explained the Transat Jacques Vabre weather expert. This opinion was shared by Charles Caudrelier: “It would be better to get across during the day, rather than later when the skies will become cloudy and squalls are forecast. We all know what is required, where the best place to enter is, the timing, the importance of getting in front of the heavy downpours rather than behind them, as there is no wind there. But having said that, it is very random. You can sometimes get across in a few hours or get stuck under a cloud.”
The heat is on
The next twelve hours are going to be crucial for all of the fleet, as they line up to get over this hurdle. The three frontrunners should get through during the day, with the two boats behind crossing during the night. “We managed to get some rest during the night. The seas were smoother and Armel and I are treating this as we have done since the start, aiming for high performance. The two of us go out on deck to do all we can to get the full potential out of the boat. We know this shouldn’t last thirty hours, so it is worth giving it our all now,” said Sébastien Josse on Banque Populaire XI this morning.
While the ULTIM boats have more gear and possibilities than the smaller multihulls like the Ocean Fifty or old ORMA boats (foils, daggerboard foils,…), to adapt to the sudden acceleration in a squall, dealing with the big headsails and carrying out manoeuvres is just as slow and demanding. “That’s why we are going into permanent watch mode. We are following the squalls on the radar and the routers are watching the satellite images,” explained Charles Caudrelier, who first crossed the Doldrums in the 2005 Transat Jacques Vabre, which he won with Marc Guillemot on the Safran monohull. François Gabart has clocked up many crossings through the Doldrums since his 2012 Vendée Globe victory and also knows, “that just a few miles away, the situation can be very different.”
There will be a lot of discussion today between the routers ashore and the sailors at sea, with everyone aware of what is at stake, remembering that the ULTIM boats are not yet at the halfway point in the race. After this tricky area, they will pass the course mark at Sao Pedro, which is only 500 miles ahead of Banque Populaire. At that point, we should get a clearer idea about the gaps between the five ULTIM boats, before they tackle the second half of the Coffee Race.
