Leyton on the Transat Jacques Vabre - Day 12

Leyton rounds Fernando de Noronha in second place in the Transat Jacques Vabre © Leyton

The last 24 hours have been good for the Leyton OceanFifty duo Sam Goodchild and Aymeric Chappellier on the Transat Jacques Vabre race from Le Havre to Martinique. Rounding the Brasilian island of Fernando de Noronha this morning around 0730hrs UTC (London) this morning Leyton is up to second place and now only about 50 nautical miles behind the leaders.

On the 11th day of racing they now have around 2000 miles left to sail to the finish line. Fernando de Noronha is the southernmost turning mark of the course and so now the OceanFifty fleet are racing fast downwind in the SE'ly trade winds. To their left is a 'no go' forbidden zone designed to channel the course away from the Brasilian coast and so from now they will be gybing downwind in fast conditions, trying to catch the lead boat before the finish line.

Goodchild and Chappellier have clawed back more than 150 miles over the last couple of days. They will have to re-cross the Doldrums as they sail NW towards Martinique.

Goodchild answered a few media questions this morning: "Last night things went quite well, there was a bit of a sea and so the conditions required our full attention, it was pretty full on. We have been pressing hard all the time since the start, our objective is to get the boat into the best positions on the course as fast as possible and that is ongoing, we will keep pushing to the finish line."

"We know a bit less about this section of the Atlantic and the next 2000 miles or so to the finish line. The second passage across the Doldrums should normally not be as radical as the first, coming south, but you never know. It is a new dynamic and there are some brisk winds and so we need to look after ourselves and the boat. Today and the next couple of days, we will be doing a series of gybes along the exclusion zone, located close to the Brazilian coast, hoping that we can then get ourselves little rest and do a little longer gybe."

"The boat is going well and we are learning a lot. This is the first long Transatlantic crossing that we have made with the boat and every day we learn new things that make the boat a little faster."

"Meantime we work in watches, we sleep, we eat and we talk a lot about tactics and making the boat go faster."

Leyton rounds Fernando de Noronha in second place in the Transat Jacques Vabre - photo © Leyton