Virbac 2003 croise derrière Sill 2004

Photos : G.Martin-Raget/Royale Production

On the descent of the Irish Sea from the Fastnet it has been a low speed race against the ridge of high pressure that is currently hounding the fleet in the Irish Sea in this 1000 milles de Calais. The crews of the five remaining Open 60’s admit to being very tired after the night’s park up around the Fastnet Rock and yet concentration is going to be a pre-requisite in the light conditions forecast for their return to Calais, particularly with the shipping lanes snaking round the Scillies. They’re currently in a very variable north-easterly on a port tack on a direct course to the next passage mark of the Scillies.

Ecover was indeed first round the Fastnet at midnight followed by Bonduelle at 0010 (French time). PRB smoked past a stalled Virbac to take third, with the latter trapped in a windless zone just metres from the famous mark. At the same time Ecover was still leading...by just 185 metres...but four hours later Bonduelle had snatched back pole position 12.2 miles ahead of Ecover, tailed by PRB, 24.7 miles from the leader. The king of the fleet in this 1000 milles de Calais then streaked away from its pursuers making 10.3 knots of boat speed whilst their rivals were making anything from half to five knots or so...

By midday the leaders Bonduelle and Ecover seemed to have hit a bit of pressure but further down the fleet Virbac had 5 knots of wind and PRB and Arcelor Dunkerque between 0 and 3 knots, evenly distributing the fleet across the Irish Sea at 20 mile intervals.

Crew aboard the yellow peril Bonduelle, Grégoire Metz was relishing being head of the fleet at the midday radio session. “There isn’t a lot of air but we’re making progress. We did pretty well last night but you mustn’t forget that we’ve got Monsieur Jean Le Cam aboard ! He’s pretty good at this sort of thing !” The latter is triple winner of France’s celebrated Solitaire du Figaro Solitaire du Figaro #LaSolitaire - a race renowned for being won and lost in tactical and strategic coups. Prior to passing Ecover this morning the man himself, “King Jean” (as he’s known in France) spoke of a “type of small depression wedged downwind of the island which should generate more pressure leaving Ecover more becalmed than us.”

After leading the French fleet around the Fastnet last night Mike Golding (Ecover) was feeling a little frustrated at the noon radio session with Bonduelle then 21.3 miles ahead after pulling off a blinder as its south/ south-easterly course took it away from the clutches of the ridge of high pressure that had snapped up the rest of the fleet. “There’s not a great deal of wind with flat seas. We had a difficult session last night. We had a good rounding with good speed around the rock and then we were virtually stationary fifteen minutes later. Bonduelle must have seen us come to a standstill and tacked outside us - proof that it pays to be behind sometimes. We’ve still got 400 miles to close down the distance though. In the Irish Sea there is likely to be more pressure to the east and there is a transition zone down the centre. Further down the course the wind shadows from the land may well come into play. At 1445 GMT a chirpy Golding had reduced the deficit on the leader to just 15 miles and was making 7 to 8 knots of boat speed with a flock of birds on deck for the ride.

The crew aboard third placed Virbac (Jean-Pierre Dick) confessed that the memory of the tour of the Fastnet this morning is one that will remain in the sailing archives for a long time to come. “The rocks, the mirror-like sea, everyone on deck, the shifty winds...At the moment we’ve got a ridge of high pressure hunting us down and we’re just hoping it won’t catch up with us. It’s a game of wait and see. The axis of the wind is wild with a difference of 20 to 30º. At the moment we’ve got 4 knots of wind and we’re making 5 knots. Ecover and Bonduelle are in a good position and the wind is with them up front so it’s going to be difficult to do anything before the Lizard (SW England).

Fourth placed PRB have suffered the conditions during the day too. “There’s no wind, between 0 and 3 knots and we’re trying to grab whatever breeze we can. We hope that the way will clear soon. Virbac’s easterly option to our west paid off for them last night so we’re going to have to try and perform well in the light reaching.”

As for Arcelor Dunkerque we could say that it is “stretching out its deficit” at the rear of the fleet, now 83.9 miles from the leader but skipper Joé Seeten remains in good spirits 1.7 miles from rounding the Fastnet at 1430 GMT after being becalmed for three hours.

Quotes from the Boats (0230 GMT)

 Fanchic (Francois Laurent -PRB) : “Things went rather well for us. “We had a bit of air to pass the rock and even passed Virbac going the other way... but at the moment we haven’t got any wind at all. We’ve even got a whale next to us and it’s so calm we can here it blowing !”

 Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac) : “We’re currently freestyling just meters from the Fastnet. The seas are mirror-like without even a puff of wind. We were even back-pedalling earlier. It’s not going to be easy to make a comeback...It’s better to laugh than cry but it’s hard and not very positive all this !”