Day 4 Daily Download - up to third and surfing downwind
It’s been another impressive 24 hours for the team on 11th Hour Racing in the Transat Cafe L’OR as they surf downwind towards the island of Madeira, approaching the end of their fourth day at sea.
Good morning from onboard 11th Hour Racing! © Francesca Clapcich | 11th Hour Racing
Francesca Clapcich and Will Harris had established themselves in the leading group and were holding fourth place, but by the 0600 UTC update they have now climbed to third, 23 nautical miles behind the new leaders, Sam Goodchild and Loïs Berrehar on MACIF Santé Prévoyance.
This morning 11th Hour Racing was 20-odd miles behind second-placed Charal and seven miles ahead of Allagrande MAPEI in fourth position. This group of four is well ahead of a lone boat in fifth place chasing them down – Teamwork-Team SNEF led by Francesca’s good friend Justine Mettraux – and 120 miles ahead of the next group, also made up of four boats, among them Initiatives-Coeur, Association Petits Princes-Queguiner, (which has fallen back with an undisclosed technical issue on board), and Bureau Vallée.
After heavy running conditions down the Iberian coast, the challenge now is to deal with a large blocking area of light winds that is spreading for thousands of miles across the Atlantic. The famous Azores High – currently centred about 1,200 miles southwest of the race leaders – is going to be a major obstacle as the fleet continues south towards the Canaries which they have to leave to starboard.
This means the crews are forced into a narrow passage between the islands and the African coast in light winds with the breeze likely to be strongest close to the shore. For Francesca and Will this will be a phase of the race when they will need to use all their experience and instincts to pick their way south and hold position against boats in their group which may be better suited to these sorts of conditions.
For now the goal is to continue to get as far south as possible with the aim of eventually hooking into the northeast trade winds that will take the fleet west towards the Caribbean.
Onboard, all is well on 11th Hour Racing which is being piloted by a happy crew enjoying the racing and each other’s company and the boat remains in good shape. This morning Francesca sent a great shot of dawn breaking over a flat sea as they surfed downwind at 15 knots, with over 3,000 miles to go to the finish at Martinique.
Ed Gorman