At 1200 UTC / 1400 CEST today, as the fleet headed eastward in around 15 knots of south-easterly breeze, just 54 miles separated the race leader Team Malizia (GER) from the non-foiling MSIG Europe in sixth place.

After powering off the start line yesterday to leeward of their competitors, Team Malizia showed impressive speed in the lumpy sea state to lead the pack to south-east and into the hours of darkness. Skipper Boris Herrmann said the crew was pleased with the performance of their brand-new boat so far.

“We are averaging faster than the fleet,” he said. “This new boat is really powerful upwind. We have been driving the boat since the beginning and outside it is warm like the tradewinds – it’s fantastic conditions.” 

Nevertheless, conditions inside the yachts during the night were sweltering, largely due to the meandering warm-water Gulf Stream that weaves its way through this region.

“It’s 29-degrees celcius on board right now, a bit of a sauna,” said 11th Hour Racing skipper Francesca Clapcich. “It will be better later in the race but for at least one more day it will be pretty hot. But the weather close to France is also going to be quite warm. I don’t think I will need a beanie on this Transat.” 

Although straight-line speed was uppermost in the sailors’ minds as they worked continually to optimise their boats’ setup for the prevailing conditions with trimming and regular sail changes, the navigators were also focused on the timing of the race’s first critical manoeuvre – a tack from port to starboard that would take the yachts back north towards the rhumb line.

Team Malizia were the first to show their hand, turning their boat through the wind at around 2300 UTC / 0100 CEST. Oliver Heer’s Embrace the Challenge (SUI) followed suit soon after, with Paul Meilhat’s United by the Ocean (FRA), Kojiro Shiraishi’s DMG MORI Global One boat (JPN), and Francesca Clapcich’s 11th Hour Racing (USA) all pushing a little further south-east before also tacking.

A gradual left rotation of the wind during the rest of the night saw gains and losses in equal measure made amongst the top five teams. This afternoon, after a little over 24 hours of racing, Team Malizia led United by the Ocean by around three nautical miles, with 11th Hour Racing in third, a further three nautical miles back. Embrace the Challenge sat in fourth, 19 nm behind the leader, with DMG MORI Global One in fifth, 39 nm off the lead. Conrad Colman’s New Zealand entry MSIG Europe – the only non-foiling boat in the race – sat in sixth 58 nm behind Team Malizia.

Remarkably, if the weather forecast plays out as predicted, the fleet’s overnight tack could turn out to be the last time the yachts’ sails swap sides until the teams close in on the French coast – currently still over 2,500 nm away. 

“That could be the last tack for a long time – if everything goes good,” confirmed DMG MORI’s Samantha Davies (GBR). 

For now, the crews are locked in a drag race to be the first to reach stronger southerly winds on the outer edges of a newly-forming low pressure system to the east of the fleet. The effects of this new breeze are already being felt by the top five foilers, who have accelerated to speeds up 20 knots at times this afternoon. 

That speed was evident on the second day of the Super Sprint, where the teams are measured on their distance over water over a 20-minute period at 1700 CEST (and coincides with the daily OnBoard Live show). For the second day of the sprint series it was Team Francesca Clapcich powered by 11th Hour Racing taking top spot over Team Malizia and United by the Ocean.