28th Mini Fastnet Race - Day 3
by Catherine Ecarlat 26 Jun 2013 22:43 BST
26 June 2013
If you want to win the Fastnet, you have to work for it
Just for once, the Celtic Sea has been utterly calm since last night. One after the other, the competitors of the Mini Fastnet got caught up in windless pockets, managing to gain speeds all of 0.5 knots. It's tightened up the front of the fleet and there have been precious few route options available to get out of the lull patches. The fleet has spread out from east to west with varying degrees of success.
In the Prototypes, the Gahinet/Mouly duo (Watever-Nautipark) did a good job of negotiating this delicate passage, and should round the Fastnet lighthouse at the head of the pack late afternoon. In the Production boats, Justine Mettraux and Isabelle Joschke (Teamwork) are also holding onto their lead after some serious frights in the rankings last night.
For over an hour, last night and again several times this morning, part of the pack fell one by one into areas of dead calm.
This situation did, however, bring the silver lining of tightening up the game both at the front and at the heart of the fleet.
In the Production boats, the female duo in Team Work (Mettraux/Joschke), who were at a complete standstill early last night, had to watch as their rivals gained on them. However, Justine and Isabelle managed, little by little, to regain their lead. This afternoon they are leading by two nautical miles ahead of LMS (Chaigne/Chenard).
Three of their direct competitors - Damien Cloarec/Gildas Mahé (Lomig), Ian Lipinski/Charlie Pinot (Pas de futur numérique), Clément Bouyssou/Paul Mariette (No War) – tried for a westerly route that didn't pay off particularly well, and they are currently sitting 6 to 7 nautical miles behind the leaders.
In the Prototypes, on the other hand, it was thanks to a western route and neat navigation that the Gahinet/Mouly team (Watever-Nautipark) was able to hang on to their lead. They have outdistanced by 3 nautical miles the three other boats that have managed to get some way ahead of the pack: Chasseur de prime (Bertrand/Pulvé), Roll my chicken (Segre/Raison) and Mare (Riechers/Brasseur). Those who chose the easterly route, however, have lost a bit of ground, following Mécénat chirurgie cardiaque (Léopold Léger/ Léopold Léger) and Teamwork (Delesne/Canevet), Prysmian (Pedote/Bourguès).
The leading competitors should round the Fastnet late afternoon today. The sailors will quickly forget the long hours of dull sailing that they have had to endure. Downwind, on a direct route for Douarnenez, the joys of zipping along will only be all the more wonderful!
And, as the French say that good news never comes alone, a 15-knot north-westerly breeze is due to make an entrance from tomorrow morning, becoming 17 to 23 knots in the afternoon and maybe up to 25 knots for Friday!
It looks like the rhythm of this Mini Fastnet is about to change radically. As is so often the case – the race is far from over!
Tracking of the fleet can be found here.