The Ocean Race Atlantic: Day 2 Race Report

The second day at sea in The Ocean Race Atlantic onboard 11th Hour Racing has seen Francesca and her crew maintain third position in the six-strong fleet as the charge to the east continues, with around 2,500 nautical miles still to sail to the finish at Lorient.

Francesca and her team - the Swiss-French sailor Elodie-Jane Mettraux, Will Harris of Britain, and Alberto Bona of Italy - made a smart transition from the lighter winds that dominated the early phase of the race to the stronger breeze associated with the low pressure system that is powering them to the east.

But the breeze is only part of the story because the big variable right now remains the Gulf Stream and 11th Hour Racing, together with second-placed United by the Ocean, which is about seven miles ahead, and DMG Mori Global One, about 16 miles behind in fifth place, have chosen a more southerly route than the leader, Team Malizia.

“We are trying to keep up with Paul Meilhat and United by the Ocean - he is just further ahead of us - but also he definitely wanted to stay south, the same as us, so our strategy over here is pretty similar between United by the Ocean, DMG Mori and ourselves,” said Francesca as she finished a four-hour night watch.

“I think we made a decent transition from the light wind into a bit more breeze and now we are in a wide area of breeze with the Gulf Stream going north, so it doesn’t really help us staying south, which is our goal. We will have to deal with this for a few more miles, then there is going to be a calm place in the Stream and then it is going to turn towards the south again, so that will help us,” she added.

Francesca said the transition into the breeze changed the feel of life onboard 11th Hour Racing with the boat fully powered-up. “We had some pretty high speeds,” she said. “It was some uncomfortable riding, especially inside when you try to sleep, but in the last few hours it has been a bit more calm and we have been able to catch up on some hours of sleep for all the sailors off-watch, so that has been good.”

She also spoke about Malizia 4, the brand new Antoine Koch IMOCA skippered by Boris Herrmann who early this morning was nearly 20 miles ahead of 11th Hour Racing. Francesca said they have had phases where they have done well against the new boat. “They got pushed towards the north and their speeds were not incredible, so we made some gains there with them - we are pretty happy with our positioning and happy to be further south,” she said.

Looking ahead, the 11th Hour Racing skipper says the weather scenario, with an Atlantic low tracking steadily east, could mean several days without major course changes. “We might be able in the long term to avoid any manoeuvres and just be able to straightline point to the east,” she said.

Sailing in such a powerful phenomenon as the Gulf Stream, the vast warm water surface current that runs from Florida up the US coast and then east into the open Atlantic and which can run at up to five knots, has been a challenging experience for all the crews in this race. Back eddies and variations in the rate of flow make it a sometimes unpredictable force which can quickly influence boatspeeds.

Francesca said she and her crew are constantly monitoring its rate of flow to try to make sure they are in the best areas to suit their race strategy. And she reflected on the Gulf Steam’s importance to world climate and the impact of climate change on it. 

“It’s a consistent phenomenon over here,” she said, “but what we have seen over the last few years is that the Gulf Stream has been less active than what we saw in the past and this is normally not a good sign. It just means that climate change is happening and our planet is suffering,” she said. “It’s time we all do something about it.”