Tropical convergence

Advocates of a southern course this weekend, to try to shorten their route, Kito de Pavant and Yann Régniau were quickly rewarded, climbing from 9th to 5th place in 24 hours. This Monday, the "northerners" are sailing down towards the Antilles Arc, where their routes will converge with that of Groupe Bel, which is holding on to a 6th position under Spirate* and high mainsail. Roughly 4 days from the finish in Costa Rica, the two leaders seem well-positioned for victory, while, in their wake, five boats are located within 100 miles of each other. Sparks will fly in the islands!

New intersection!
"We are soon going to cross tacks with the "northerners". We will see during the night, or early in the morning, whether we have reaped the rewards of our daring option! I do not think that we have lost, but have we really won? One thing is certain, we are positioned at a good angle, which makes it very easy to sail down to the West Indies", Groupe Bel's skipper explained at midday.

The beginnings of a Caribbean brain-teaser
After 11 days of testing racing, their bodies are dreaming of only one thing: rest in the colorful waters of Central America. They are not there yet, but it's getting closer by the minute! "The nights are mild as opposed to the day. The morning watches with the sun on your back are terrible and require a bucket of seawater on your head every ten minutes. Luckily the sails then act as a parasol and the heat becomes more bearable." Kito is in a location he knows very well, having sailed nearly 40 transatlantic crossings in his life as a sailor. Kito knows that you have to be very careful passing between the islands, due to the thermal effects of the relief! On board, the duo has put on its thinking cap: "It would be logical to pass by Santo Domingo, like everyone else, but we can also pull it off to the east of Puerto Rico. We saw that during the night; when we play with the shifting winds, we make better progress to the south. We'll see!"

There is still plenty of suspense, and the next few hours will be decisive, despite the fatigue accumulated since 2 November. Yet, for Yann Régniau, a newcomer to this Transat Jacques Vabre, the most testing thing is the mental strain: "I'm on great form! Everything is going very well with Kito, but I've discovered that waiting for the rankings and the boat's position in relation to the fleet is very stressful.

Duel with a tanker!
Dolphins, flying fish, Groupe Bel has already met with many things on this Transat Jacques Vabre, but, during the night, Kito and Yann had to deal with a very large contender! "We had to tack under large clouds, which forced us to gybe just as we were passing in front of a tanker (the Atlantique Leo) which was sailing at 30 knots. It panicked and made signs to us with the deck spotlight, but we ended up accelerating."

* Name given to Groupe Bel's large red spinnaker, which bears the effigy of the Laughing Cow® disguised as a pirate.

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