The Ocean Race Atlantic fleet is tightening dramatically as the top four crews sail fast in close formation on the seventh day of the inaugural transatlantic race from New York to Lorient. The leading group is skirting around the northern edge of a high pressure system that had slowed progress with persistent light winds, while the back markers eye a more direct route to the finish on the north-west coast of France.
On Tuesday morning, the most southerly boat in the group, Kojiro Shiraishi’s DMG MORI Global One, still held a narrow lead over Paul Meilhat’s United by the Ocean in second and Francesca Clapcich’s 11th Hour Racing in third. With under 1,000 nautical miles left to race, no more than four nautical miles separated this trio in terms of distance to the finish. Meanwhile, Boris Herrmann’s fourth-placed German entry, Team Malizia, remains an ever-present threat after closing the gap to the frontrunners by quite a few miles overnight.
DMG MORI Global One navigator Nicolas Lunven reported as he watched the sun come up: “We are still leading the fleet but 11th Hour Racing and United by the Ocean are still very close just behind us. They are a bit faster, which is normal as we are hitting a high pressure zone with no wind, but at least we have a beautiful sunrise just in front of us.”
Lunven added that the wind was light, around 12 knots, and the team was reaching. He expected the high pressure to slowly move south-east, bringing the fleet up to the Brittany coast at a reaching angle in very good conditions and nice weather, making for a pleasant end to the race.
Aboard 11th Hour Racing, navigator Will Harris was also predicting good conditions for the final days of the Atlantic crossing. However, he said the speed with which the blocking high pressure moved out of the way would be a key factor in who might have the fastest route to the finish. Harris believed the race might not be decided until the yachts were on their final approach to Lorient.
“Hopefully we will get some nice reaching and maybe even some downwind conditions towards the end,” Harris said. “What I expect is that it is going to come down to the final 100 miles of the race, when we are approaching the north-west corner of France. How this front moves out of the way is going to determine who can be the fastest to get towards the finish in very quickly changing conditions. I think it’s going to be a very close finish and we just have to keep pushing all the way to the end.”
The crew of Team Malizia took advantage of lighter winds overnight to work on improving the angle of attack of their port foil, which they had been unable to adjust for several days since discovering damage to its inboard end. Skipper Boris Herrmann explained: “We waited for the wind to drop and to have less sea state to be able to work on the foil case. At the advice of the shore crew, we built bumpers to squeeze in front of the foil, so that it would be in a better position for us, with more rake. Now, at least, we have a little bit of rake, 1.6 degrees, so that’s better than negative rake. Now the boat has a really nice attitude, flying over the water with the bow up, and a few knots more speed. The boat seems happy, and we are happy too.”
Despite being separated from the leading pack by 280 and 344 nautical miles respectively, fifth-placed Embrace the Challenge and sixth-placed MSIG Europe see an opportunity. The leading four’s northerly diversion around the high pressure system has potentially opened up a chance to claw back precious miles by way of a more direct route to the finish.
One crew member noted: “What is very special about the current situation is that although we are very far behind the leading pack, due to our mainsail repair, it actually opens up a much more direct route to Lorient. Conditions are quite calm now but the wind will freshen up and go towards the south. If everything goes well it is pretty much a straight line to the finish. Liz Wardley has done a fantastic job on the mainsail repair, so we are not really worried about that any more. Rather than find a route with moderate winds, we will try and find the fastest route, which is always nice.”
During Tuesday’s Super Sprint it was the backmarkers in the overall race to Lorient, Embrace the Challenge and MSIG Europe, at the top of the table. They took advantage of more favourable winds and sea state to claim the top two spots, with Team Malizia in third place and further cementing their position at the top of the Sprint leaderboard.
