One week ago, the six pioneers in the Arkea Ultim Challenge left Brest with the mixed sentiments of emotion and excitement synonymous with major debuts! Since then, the solo sailors have really got their teeth into the race and the past eight days have set the tone: intense! At the front of the pack upon exiting the Bay of Biscay, Charles Caudrelier and the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild rank among the key movers and shakers at the start of this round the world. A bill they share with the youngster of the event, Tom Laperche, very at ease at the helm of his giant. The two sailors are embroiled in a thrilling high-speed battle royal on the descent of the South Atlantic, which is very much living up to expectations. However, the race has only just begun, as the sailors are keen to point out. This Monday afternoon, the skipper of Gitana Team had covered nearly 5,200 miles over the ground over a theoretical route which features over 22,000 miles in all.
Once a Figaro sailor, always a Figaro sailor
On Saturday at 20:14 UTC, the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild crossed the equator after 6 days 7 hours 42 minutes 11 seconds, concluding her descent of the North Atlantic. This is clearly no record time, the latter still held by Thomas Coville since his victorious 'Trophée St Exupéry' in 2016 (single-handed round the world record under sail, editor's note), which saw him cover the distance from Ushant to 0 degrees latitude in 5 days 17 hours and 11 minutes. However, it's important to remember that not only did the solo sailors in the Arkea Ultim Challenge not choose their departure weather window, but the atypical weather scenario for the North Atlantic has also been far from favourable for setting a record time. That said, this combination of factors does provide a good indication of the high pace and commitment of Charles Caudrelier and the five other sailors in this ULTIM round the world race.
"The results are positive since we're in a good position. The first week of racing has had an intense Figaro ambiance! We've been in close contact, in race mode, since Brest... initially with the fleet as a whole and then over the past few days Tom (Laperche, editor's note) and I have managed to make a clean break. It's rather special and it's made me wonder how we're going to keep this up as it's not exactly a round the world pace. Right now though we're into a good rhythm, the tacks are longer and we have fewer transitions to deal with and hence fewer hefty sail changes. I'm beginning to really feel at one with the boat, I'm eating well and I'm getting into a good sleep pattern. We set sail 8 days ago and the time has just flown by for this first week of racing. When the boat finally leaves us a little bit of time to ourselves it's time to get some sleep. I haven't yet listened to any music or podcasts... it's race mode here! Inshore racing on a planetary scale. It's pretty exhilarating," admitted Charles Caudrelier.
The South Atlantic opens its doors
A few kilometres from Gitana Team's base in Lorient, a weather cell is alternating day and night to support Charles Caudrelier and help him carve out the finest possible trajectory around the planet. Indeed, it's worth noting that routing is permitted in the Arkea Ultim Challenge. As such, there are three experts – Erwan Israël, Julien Villion and Benjamin Schwartz – who are part of a watch system set up to decipher the latest weather models on which they base their daily analysis and co-produce the route for the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild on this planetary challenge. To assist them with their mission, this trio also benefits from the vast experience of American meteorologist Chris Bedford, who has been supporting the team for several years now.
Like his two 'housemates', Julien Villion brings to the table his talent as both a sailor and weather expert, having racked up considerable experience alongside the famous French weather router Jean-Yves Bernot from 2016 to 2018. In fact, he was one of François Gabart's 'artisan-routers' during his 42-day round the world record in 2017.
Late morning today, he shared with us his analysis for the coming days and shares his insight into what lies in store in this second week at sea: "Our observations over the past few days have played out according to plan and the South Atlantic is shaping up to be rather favourable for us. Since crossing the equator on Saturday evening, progress has been fast and since the early hours the course, which involved making headway south along the length of Brazil, has bent round to the south-east. We're now slipping along the western edge of the Saint Helena High. The wind has lifted enabling us to bend our trajectory inwards and begin our long tack towards the Cape of Good Hope. When you look at the situation in the south, it's fairly dynamic with some solid depressions rolling through. Furthermore, we're on track to hook a ride on the train of depressions. The good news is that we should be able to stay ahead of the front for this descent, with very manageable seas. In essence, we're slipping along in a corridor of downwind breeze between the Saint Helena High and the depressions rolling through to the south.
The next 24 hours will be spent honing our trajectory in this corridor of breeze. As ever, we'll have to strike a balance between wind shift and wind strength to make headway towards the tip of South Africa as fast as possible. Our routing sees us at the longitude of this first cape on Friday afternoon."
A change of atmosphere on the cards
Currently sailing down the Brazilian coast, this afternoon the five-arrow giant was passing offshore of the latitude of Rio de Janeiro and the atmosphere is summery on deck and in the cockpit of the maxi-multihulls. Though the heat is making life and the sleep phases a little more complicated aboard, Charles Caudrelier was making the most of the conditions to get the boat shipshape again and even do some laundry... Well-versed in round the world sailing, the skipper of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is well aware that there will be a very different atmosphere by the middle of the week. Indeed, once he hits the famous launchpad to the Southern Ocean, the temperatures will drop right off and he'll have to pull on his heavy foulies again, as the skipper of Gitana Team explained: "In two or three days' time, we'll begin to feel the chill of the Deep South, the wind will kick in again and we'll be off on the grand tour!"
Of note elsewhere on the racetrack is the fact that Team Banque Populaire has been compelled to make a pit-stop in Recife in northern Brazil. During the depression that scooped up the fleet midway through last week, Armel Le Cléac'h suffered substantial damage to the bow of his blue maxi-trimaran, which notably included the loss of his pulpit. Added to this, he also has some foil issues. Fortunately, technical pit stops are permitted in the Arkea Ultim Challenge – Brest, though a minimum of 24 hours of stoppage time is required. As such, welcomed into port this morning by his shore team, the 'jackal' won't be able to head back out to sea until tomorrow morning, Tuesday 16 January, as the best-case scenario.