2015 Transat Jacques Vabre

[Photoboy]

The first ranking at 15hrs UTC shows a small lead in the IMOCA class for Yann Eliès and Charlie Dalin on Queguiner ahead of Newrest/Matmut of Fabrice Amadeo and Eric Peron with SMA, Paul Meilhat and Michel Desjoyeaux third. Less than a mile separates the top three boats after two and a half hours of sailing, still making about eight knots upwind. At the Seine Maritime buoy SMA are leading.
In Class 40 Team Concise are second but almost side by side with their training partners Bretagne-Crédit Mutuel Élite.







Alex Thomson, GBR, Hugo Boss: “It was not too bad but we caught a very big lobster pot off Cherbourg and so we had to stop many times. We lost at least 10 or 12 miles but apart from that it has not been too bad. Our option is to try and stay south to try and avoid conditions which are too strong. Our boat is only eight days old and so we don’t we feel it is very prudent to go the fastest route and so it looks healthy, we lead the fleet today but the long term shows we will be one day behind by Cape Verde.


It is wet on deck. We have 20-25kts the wind is forward of the beam and it is very choppy seas. It is a bit grey. But we had a good night. We cannot complain. We had a few little teething problems, nothing major but of course it takes a long time to learn a boat like this properly. So we feel pretty happy where we are. We both got a couple of hours sleep which is good and so we feel healthy.”



General situation Monday, 26 October to at 0600hrs UTC

The deep depression at 970hPa at 400 miles west of Ireland is directly in front of the bows of the Transat Jacques Vabre fleet. This depression is shifting slowly SE and losing its activity. But in the meantime seas are big and the winds are strong.



Forecast for the day of 26 October and into the night.

Ultime
Have made the clear choice to go south of the depression, the winds are 17-23kts from the S but they will veer SW during the evening with gusts to 35kts. A big swell from the WNW is present.

Multi50
Are also going south the wind veers later for them as they get west later. They will get the worst swell tomorrow morning.

IMOCA
For those taking the passage to the north. SW winds 30-35 gusting to 40kts. Seas are big and it will rain this evening. S’ly fresh 20-25 gusting 30. Veers SW and builds. Sea becomes rough to very rough. Big W’ly swell.

Class 40
Same menu as IMOCA but slightly later as they progress more slowly into depression.




Tracker

Trend for the day October 27:
The depression fills as moves east south east, winds ease and the swell grows.

Richard SILVANI
Meteo France

Weather forecast over race area of transat Jacques Vabre 2013

1 General synopsis by October 26, 2015 at 00h UTC : Low 970 hPa at 400 miles in west southwest Ireland, with little move, expected 972 hPa at 12h UTC, then 983 hPa by 27 at 12h UTC at 250 miles in southwest Ireland. Le cold front axis over 12 west moving slowly east.

High 1029 hPa 40 north and 40 west moving slowly south

2 Weather forecast from October 26, 2015 at 09h UTC to October 27, 2015 at 12h UTC :

OUESSANT :South or south east 15/20 decreasing 10/15 kt later. Sea moderate or rough wave 1.5m west swell 3 m.

SOLE :Southerly 20 or 30 kt from east to west gusts 30 or 40 kt from east to west, decreasing 25 kt gusts 35 kt in west later. Sea very rough or high , wave 2m west swell 4 or 6 m from east to west

FASTNET :South 20/25 kt gusts 35 kt. Sea rough, wave 1.5m west swell 4m.

SHANNON :South 25 or 35 kt from east to west gusts 45 kt decreasing 20/30 kt gusts 40 kt later. Sea high in south wave 4m and west swell 6m. West

YEU : South 12/18 kt veering south west soon. Sea moderate becoming rough by west swell 3.5 or 4m.

PAZENN : veering South west 20/25 kt gusts 30 kt increasing 23/28 kt gusts 35 kt in north west of area at midday. rough locally high in west, wave 2m west swell 3m increasing 5m in far west. East of ROMEO : South west 25/35 kt from southeast to northwest gusts 35/45 kt from southeast to northwest, veering west 30/35 kt gusts 50 kt in west at end. Sea high or very high, wave 3m west swell 7m. Page 1

FINISTERRE :South west 15/20 kt gusts 28 kt increasing 20/25 kt gusts 35 kt in north later. Sea rough or very rough with northwest swell 6m. 3 Further outlook from October 27, 2015 at 12h UTC to October 28, 2015 at 12h UTC. Strong wind warning greater than 40 nds : None High wave warning greater than 6 m :

ROMEO and CHARCOT : houle of north west of 6m On Monday , October 26, 2015 at 07h 28 UTC.
Richard Silvani Météo-France








Jérémie Beyou: “ We were sailing under J1 at 120 degrees from the wind with all three stays in place. Suddenly stay no.2 came down with the sail and broke as it fell on the outrigger. We managed to recover it. Luckily it fell at that moment. A couple hours later, we would have been under J2. In that configuration, the boat would have been dismasted, as we would have removed the other two stays that hold up the mast.”

“The swivel came unscrewed. It may have been the locking system that broke. Today, we found a way to replace it with an identical piece, but we still need to check it out, so that we can set off in a condition that will allow us to face the weather that is forecast in the coming hours. It’s very hard, as we had been well placed in respect to the ideal option that we had decided on. In any case, we are waiting for the green light to know whether we can put any pressure on the boat in the heavy weather.”

[Photoboy]

Bang Up Conditions For Fleet

Here we go. The first 24 hours of the 12th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre, the two handed race from Le Havre to Itajaí, Brazil have been fast in a building breeze. But the Bay of Biscay and an Atlantic low pressure system will hit most of the fleet this evening and tomorrow bringing building seas and big winds with gusts over 40kts. There is no big surprise in store. The ominous system has been lurking west of Ireland for some time, but is only moving slowly SE before it fills and loses some of its intensity later on Tuesday. But the duos in all four classes have been preparing as best they can for the tough conditions, drysuits and boots are on now and may be for 48 hours or more.

The big question in the 20 boat IMOCA class is prudence or push? Prudence is Alex Thomson and Guillermo Altadill’s watchword this week with their eight day old HUGO BOSS. They lead the class by virtue of their solid sailing and their position to the east, making more south closer to the direct course, but the British skipper warned today that their cotton wool approach – to protect their brand new boat – will lose them one day by Cape Verde against the boats which have gone west to get under the depression quicker, through to the more favourable breezes first. With time on the water so vital between now and the start of next year’s Vendée Globe, Thomson – as with others – cannot afford to have his new boat spend any more time in a boatyard than what is programmed over the coming months. HUGO BOSS leads a group of five IMOCAs including Kito de Pavant and Yann Reginau on Bastide-Otio and MACSF – cousins Bertrand De Broc and 2009 winner Marc Guillemot on MACSF.

Thomson said they had snagged a lobster pot off Cherbourg last night but confirmed:


“ Our option is to try and stay south to try and avoid conditions which are too strong. Our boat is only eight days old and so we don’t we feel it is very prudent to go the fastest route and so it looks healthy, we lead the fleet today but the long term shows we will be one day behind by Cape Verde.

But pushing hard to the west, 230 miles west of Land’s End and arc-ing NWW is the group lead by Sébastien Josse and Charles Caudrelier who have about 240 miles of pain to get to the favourable, NWlies and the best angle. The risk is significantly higher for this group – winds over 40kts and seas of seven metres – but the rewards are expected to me much greater. Edmond de Rothschild is about three miles ahead of SMA, Paul Meilhat and Michel Desjoyeaux, with Vendée Globe runner up Armel Le Cléac’h and Erwan Tabarly about two miles further back on the Banque Populaire VIII. For this group, especially, tonight is likely to be the biggest break or make night of the race.

Sadly robbed of the chance to chose is Jérémie Béyou. The skipper from the Bay of Morlaix who has been an early retirement from his first two Vendée Globes – rig damage in 2008 and keel ram in 2012 – has had to retire after just ten hours of hard racing. He and co-skipper Philippe Legros pulled into Lorient at around 0815hrs this morning with damage to a stay expecting to be able to restart.

The team’s statement said
“ Following the damage that happened at around 2300hrs yesterday evening to a mainstay attachment, which holds the mast up from the front, Jérémie Beyou and Philippe Legros, who were in 4th place, were forced to make their way to Roscoff, which they reached this morning at 0830hrs. The shore team and suppliers analysed the situation and attempted to replace the faulty part.

In spite of their hard work, late today they were unable to guarantee that the replacement part would be solid enough to allow the two sailors to head back out to sea without any worries.”

In his statement Beyou confirmed his team are evaluating the options, whether to deliver to Saint Barth for the Saint Bart to Port La Foret B2B or have the boat early in the yard in order to get sailing earlier next year.

In Class 40 Club 103 is heading for a Lorient pit stop due to a bow and spinnaker pole problem. But at the head of the fleet, making good speeds are Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite, Nicolas Troussel and Corentin Horeau. The French duo appear to be going for the more conservative option, 108 miles to the SE of the British-French duo on Team Concise, Jackson Bouttell and Gildas Mahé. After holding the early lead, Team Concise are placing their faith in the north and west option, most extreme of the fleet along with Solidaires en Peloton which is right alongside them, some comfort through a night which could be pivotal. And Concise 2, Philippa Hutton Squire and Pip Hare have a steady course and a lot of faith in their well proven boat, happy to go west too.

The Ultimes, leaders of the course, are already down into the westerly breeze, Sodebo Ultim leading Macif by 17 miles, now tacked and heading for Cape Finisterre 105 miles in front of their bows at 1700hrs UTC this afternoon.

They said:
Alex Thomson, GBR, Hugo Boss: “It was not too bad but we caught a very big lobster pot off Cherbourg and so we had to stop many times. We lost at least 10 or 12 miles but apart from that it has not been too bad. Our option is to try and stay south to try and avoid conditions which are too strong. Our boat is only eight days old and so we don’t we feel it is very prudent to go the fastest route and so it looks healthy, we lead the fleet today but the long term shows we will be one day behind by Cape Verde.

It is wet on deck. We have 20-25kts the wind is forward of the beam and it is very choppy seas. It is a bit grey. But we had a good night. We cannot complain. We had a few little teething problems, nothing major but of course it takes a long time to learn a boat like this properly. So we feel pretty happy where we are. We both got a couple of hours sleep which is good and so we feel healthy”

Yves Le Blevec, skipper Actual (Ultime): “We are getting close to attacking a front which will see us with 35-40 kts in a couple of hours time. We are well rested after last night, we sailed relatively conservatively. Now we are dressed warmly and will reduce sail over time. We will take a reef in the mainsail. We must adapt the boat and the course to protect it but without losing time unduly. We expect the worst seas tonight. Now we have two metres waves but we are expecting much more. The other are further west and they are more radical than us but we give ourselves a speed limit to avoid damaging the boat and ourselves.”



Louis Burton on Bureau Vallée skipper (IMOCA): "It's going, it's wet, it goes very fast but everything is fine on board. It seems to be the belief that the route to the west will be the best. We made that choice yesterday before leaving. We have one reef in the mainsail and have between 25 and 30kts of wind with cross sea coming in from the west. We expect more wind and bigger seas as we get to the depression. We take a bit of a risk, but we take it step by step, and to be honest we are not yet really into the rhythm of the race.”



Eric Bellion, skipper As One (IMOCA): "The atmosphere is damp. Sam (Goodchild) has just woken up and we will put another reef in. All is well. We are going to the west, we have made our decision and will stick with it. But we know the seas will be big and the waves big but we will just stick with it. We are happy to be at sea, we have a great atmosphere with Sam.”

Adopteunskipper.net, skipper Nicolas Boidevézi (IMOCA): "We were not so good off the start line, it took us some time to get into the game but we managed to get up here with the boats of our generation. It will be hard at the end of the day today, from about early evening. We expect gusts of over 40kts and seas up to eight metres. We continue to push west. The centre of the depression is a little more north than we expected and we adapt. And there are still very many things we learn about our boat.”

Yann Eliès, Queguiner-Leucemie Espoir: “We are sailing with one reef and J2 with a wind of 30-35kts. It is wet because we are making 20kts since we left the top of Contentin. For now we have two to three metres of swell from our stern quarter. We are not close to the optimum route to Brazil but this is the investment we make. We make the choice and we hope it will be the good one. We hope the strategic plan will pay off. We have to get around the centre of the depression by the south. We have our dry suits on and will have them on for a while. I am lucky to have a guy like Charlie with me. He is a guy who loves the breeze and the melee that comes with the big winds. He is super motivated but trusts me because he has a bit less experience than me in these conditions.”

[Photoboy]

Edmond de Rothschild Abandons



Leaders of the more westerly group of the IMOCA fleet of the Transat Jacques Vabre, Sébastien Josse and Charles Caudrelier have confirmed they have abandoned the race. They are the second of the 20 IMOCA 60s which started Sunday from Le Havre to retire. The duo made the difficult choice which was dictated by good seamanship and their aim to bring the newest Gitana back to port safely.

The duo are in good health and will return the new IMOCA 60 Edmond de Rothschild to their home base in Lorient where they are expected to arrive late tomorrow afternoon.

At 1900hrs this Monday afternoon the Edmond de Rothschild co-skippers contacted Cyril Dardashti, the manager of the Gitana team, to say they would like to retire from the race which is heading to Itajaí, Brasil.
Sébastien Josse explained the reasons:

“Since the afternoon we had a series of incidents aboard Edmond de Rothschild. Taken individually these problems are quite minor and if we had better weather we could probably put them right. But all added up to one another and given the weather conditions we see these incidents as potentially endangering us and the boat. The weather files show more than 40kts of wind at times and seven metre seas. Charles and I consider it would not be responsible to carry on in these conditions. The boat was only launched two and a half months ago, and despite all the work which was done by the Gitana team to optimises and be ready is so short a time, these are problems associated with a recently launched boat. The decision to abandon was a very hard one but we do not want to jeopardise more than a year of hard work. The boat was designed for the Vendée Globe and that remains the major objective of the team. It is hard to retire but we must not lose sight of that as the goal.”

[Panama Red]

I thought those foils might be overly sensitive, but 20 boats in 24 hours?

Around the world might be pushing it for some of these rigs?

[Bitchin Bow Dude]

Unless they make that shit break away and carry lots of spare parts, they are going to have issues.

[Photoboy]

3 More Retire From Transat Jacques Vabre




The Ultime trimaran of Lionel Lemonchois and Roland Jourdain has capsized while they were 140 miles off La Coruna. The two co-skippers are safe and have taken shelter inside the trimaran. They have not requested assistance and their technical team is making every effort to organise help to rescue them and their vessel. At the time of the incident the boat was upwind in 20 to 25kts of SSW’ly wind






Jackson Bouttell (GBR/AUS) and Gildas Mahé (FRA) on the Ker designed Concise 8 informed their Team Concise directors that they have sustained damage and are heading for Cork 120 miles to their NE.

The two co-skippers are in regular contact with Transat Jacques Vabre Race Direction and are not injured in any way and expect to reach the Irish haven by mid morning Tuesday. A full assessment of the extent of the damage will be made on arrival. They anticipate missing the worst of the imminent strong winds. Further details will be released Tuesday morning.






Morgan Lagravière, skipper of Safran (IMOCA), heading to Brest:

"The area around the foils is seriously damaged. There is a leak here on the starboard side of the boat. It has spread around the foils area, the compartment bulkhead areas in front and behind are area affected in the front and rear of that area. After the incident we tacked, we are on the tack now to return to France. It is 150 miles to Brest in the right direction. We did not have so much sea it was 3-4 meters waves, 25-knot wind, conditions that we had seen before. We were sailing the boat close to the to the maximum level. It was not particularly rough. It was going quickly, so the boat was of jumping, but nothing extraordinary. We should get there in the middle of the night. We are sailing at a speed of 13-15 knots, so we still have a good ten hours before arriving. "


************************************************** *******************************

The second night of the Transat Jacques Vabre has been a hard one for most of the co-skipper pairs, particularly those which chose the northerly route. In the IMOCA class Edmond de Rothschild and Safran have turned around with damage, Class 40’s British flagged Team Concise which was the most northerly are heading to Cork and in the south the giant tri Prince de Bretagne has capsized 140 miles from La Coruna. Conditions will deteriorate today but the multihulls will see some improvements in the evening.

Conditions last night were not as bad as expected, a fulsome autumn depression with many big squalls, big pyramidal waves from the south in a SW then NW wind. The seas remain rough but are better for those in the east in Biscay and close to the Spanish coast but worse for those IMOCAs in the west.

At the head of the southerly group Alex Thomson and Guillermo Altadill still lead the IMOCA 60s chased by Bastide-Otio, MACSF, AEROCAMPUS and Spirit of Hungary in a SW’ly wind of 20kts which will veer to become more Wly. Those in the west will approach the centre of the low pressure today suffering the worst of the Sly wind today at 30kts which will become NWly 35kts. And so after the worst of the battering they will be able to cautiously slide south and head out of the low.

The Class40s don’t have the same opportunity to be heading out of the low today. They are lead by Nico Troussel and Corentin Horeau on a relatively S’ly route in 20kts of SWly breeze they have this for 36 hours, continued with moderate 4m waves. They have a new front approaching this evening. There is nearly 80 miles of lateral separation between leaders Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite in the south and Le Conservateur which is fourth sailed by Yannick Bestaven and Pierre Brasseur. Concise 2,

It must be hard for the Class 40 duos to look at the tracking of the fleet and not feel envious of the Ultimes. They are through the worst of the weather, in a W’ly regime of 15-18kts with Sodebo Ultim, Thomas Coville and Jean Luc Nélias leading Macif by nearly 40 miles. On Prince de Bretagne which was capsized by a gust, Lionel Lemonchois and Roland Jourdain await assistance.
The Multi 50s are in a tight group 200 miles from the NW corner of Spain with Thierry Bouchard and Oliver Krauss leading as the only boat on the southwards tack while their rivals still work west.

They said:

Nicolas Troussel, Credit Mutuel Elite skipper (CLASS40): “It is gusty the seas are building. We have 20-30kts and the winds will build in the evening when the depression deteriorates. I think we have three difficult days then it will get better.”

Thomas Ruyant, skipper of Le Souffle de Nord (IMOCA) "We expect to have 24 hours with difficult conditions but everything is fine on board yet. On average we have 30-35 knots with 3-4 meter waves. I can not wait to be in the south. There will be a small bit of work to do with a tack or a jibe. We expect the next files to determine that change of course based on the center of the depression. "

Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant, co-skipper of Actual (ULTIMATE) "It's going OK it is gusty and squally with a big sea. After seeing what happened to Lionel (Lemonchois, Prince de Bretagne) we are super careful.

[Photoboy]

Rennes Saint-Malo Collides With Container




At 4:50 p.m., Gilles Lamiré and Yvan Bourgnon informed the Race Management of the Transat Jacques Vabre they collided with a container. Following impact, both floats are damaged trimaran. The situation is under control and the crew is well.

Gilles Lamiré "We were sailing at a speed of 15 knots to the south, on autopilot with crosswind. Everything was going well when the boat stopped dead. Due to the position of Eve, I went out first: I saw a piece of float behind the boat and a container into the sea. "

Yvan Bourgnon "Missing 5-6 meters on the port and starboard float float is damaged on a meter. The challenge now is to bring the boat based on a single float. Our weather router works on an ideal way to get into the best possible conditions. We are moving at reduced speed (6 knots) under sail to Brest that we should join the next three days. "

[Panama Red]

They are having some fun now!

[Single Hander]

Mid Atlantic Destruction Derby

[Photoboy]

Hugo Boss appears to have stalled?


Tracking

[Angry Dolphin]

Looks like Alex is back on track!

[Photoboy]

Hugo Back Tracks




Alex Thomson Racing Transat Jacques Vabre Update


Alex Thomson and Guillermo Altadill, skippers of yacht HUGO BOSS in the Transat Jacques Vabre made the decision to hove to at 15.00 UT this afternoon. They have some technical problems which need immediate attention. The skippers will spend the next few hours attempting to make the repairs at sea and then will evaluate the situation with the technical team.
Stewart Hosford Managing Director of Alex Thomson Racing says “It is important that we ensure the repairs are made before continuing across the Atlantic. The skippers are well and working hard to ensure a swift solution to the problem if possible.’



Alex Thomson Racing will keep everyone updated on our website

www.AlexThomsonracing.com

http://tracking.transat-jacques-vabre.com/en/

[Photoboy]

Different Directions



Tracker


The leading pair of Ultime multihulls, opening the 5400 miles Transat Jacques Vabre course from Le Havre to Itajaí, are fighting through light winds just a few miles off the West African coast between Western Sahara and Mauritania while the last of the Class 40s are contemplating another Biscay bashing still 220 miles NW of Cape Finisterre. In the IMOCA Class Britain’s Alex Thomson and Spanish co-skipper had been hove to since 1530hrs this afternoon trying to deal with an unspecified technical problem.

Since 1530hrs HUGO BOSS (Alex Thomson and Guillermo Altadill) have been struggling with a technical problem which they are trying to solve. They have slowed their boat. The two skippers are in regular contact with Transat Jacques Vabre Race Direction and with their own Technical Team ashore.

Stewart Hosford Managing Director of Alex Thomson Racing says “It is important that we ensure the repairs are made before continuing across the Atlantic. The skippers are well and working hard to ensure a swift solution to the problem if possible.’

As the leaders of the IMOCA class passed the latitude of Cape Finisterre this afternoon, hopefully with the worst of the weather left behind in Biscay, the leaderboard has a very familiar look as the teams from the Pole Finisterre occupy the top four places. Yann Eliès and Charlie Dalin on Queguiner-Leucemie Espoir lead PRB 4 by 12 miles with Armel Le Cléac’h and Erwan Tabarly up to third on the new Banque Populaire VIII as they reach again in WNWly winds The foil assisted Banque Populaire was quickest these afternoon by 1.5 to two knots 16 miles behind Queguiner. And so to date Banque Populaire is the only one of the latest ‘foil’ generation to have not reported any technical issues so far.

A broad swathe of light airs caused by an elongated Azores high pressure ridge has forced Sodebo Ultim’ and Macif to the skirt the coast to avoid the no-go area which bars the most direct route. This Wednesday afternoon the race leaders, Thomas Coville and Jean Luc Nélias on Sodebo Ultim’ were only three miles off the beach, gybing downwind in 10-12kts of SE’ly breeze. They are south of the latitude of Madeira, still making good speeds. In the lighter airs the newer, lighter Macif had caught back some miles on Sodebo Ultim’ but Francois Gabart and Pascal Bidégorry were still over 34 miles astern and on the opposite gybe from the leaders. Both will almost certainly pass east of, or through the Canary Islands.

Life may appear easier for the two leading giants. They have done their time scything through the depressions to their north, indeed largely outrunning the worst of the conditions, but the smaller Class 40s still have bad weather to come before they can escape Biscay. After the retirement of Team Concise yesterday with structural damage this morning it was their Frenc sparring partners Nico Troussel and Corentin Horeau who confirmed they have had to retire. Persistent problems with the autopilots on Bretagne Credit Mutuel Elite had rendered the duo exhausted. A gashed lip for Horeau this morning only served to underline how beyond tired they were and with no possible fix the pair which had lead the race until yesterday had no choice but to tell Race Direction of their retirement.

Class 40 has been pared back to a head to head match race at the front of the 12 boat fleet. 2011 winner Yannick Bestaven on Le Conservateur with Pierre Brasseur have Maxime Sorel and Sam Manuard on the 2015 Manuard design V & B five miles off their starboard hip but seeming to be significantly quicker on the mid afternoon position report.

Speaking late last night Lionel Lemonchois told of the capsize of and subsequent helicopter rescue from the upturned Prince de Bretagne, the 80ft tri he was racing with Roland ‘Bilou’ Jourdain.

“It is the sky falling on your head.” Double Route du Rhum winner Lemonchois said, “The helicopter arrived above us and then a guy lifted us off, one after the other, Bilou first and then me. In total, it lasted twenty minutes. It was very impressive to see it after its cable swung around above the boat swung in all directions, but soon we could see they do this kind of thing all the time because it was very slick and very professional. "

They said:
Vincent Riou, PRB skipper IMOCA: "Like every day, it's war. The boat is making 20kts and we have to be on it all the time. Last night we had a slightly quieter time, 20-25kts of wind and we made two tacks. And here, again we have the SW’ly win. It should drop again quickly but we are not at all comfortable at this speed. On board life is simple. We rest, we push, we rest. The thing that is getting us down is the wetness. We have been soaked since Sunday. We are upwind and we should have better conditions than those who are behind us. It will not be so windy tonight with a small calmer zone to pass through. In fact I think there will be wind all the time. We work at it all the time, pushing to and finding the limits, staying reasonable. We make some manoeuvres, course changes. The worst is behind us now. We have two days on starboard, some sail changes to manage. I start looking to the Azores, which side to pass – windward or leeward – what is clear is that we will pass close to the islands. It is going well on PRB, for the moment, we’ll keep it up!”

Charlie Dalin, co-skipper of Queguiner - Leukemia Hope (IMOCA): "To move around the boat on deck you are soaked. There was a lot of wind, between 30 and 40 knots. We are very happy with our position, everything is fine on board. We sleep well since the start of the race even if sometimes a little one gets "airtime" in the bunks, like this morning banging my forehead with a cross sea. To sleep in such conditions is not simple. We still have a few hours of strong wind with gusts which hit regularly. We are at over 20 knots, but it will ease in the next 3 to 4 hours. Then we will enter a zone of light winds before it strengthens with another strong depression with 40 knots, maybe more. All is well on board Queguiner, we were able to repair all the problems, the boat is 100%. "

Tanguy de Lamotte, skipper Initiatives Heart (IMOCA): "It is going well. Let’s say it's pretty invigorating sailing conditions. You are jumping waves when you are over 20kts. We have 2-3 small minor problems, little damages on the boat, like a damaged hydro (generator) and one reef. But we are happy to be where we are. The wind is set to drop in the day. It was a nice introduction to the race, well tough conditions. Now now we're going South. It’s good for morale. I eat better now. I struggled to eat but I feel better. We are not so far from the three big guns. We are happy with our position. We are in good shape. Sam is pushing the boat, we are making over 20kt averages. There is a lot of waves and the boat is submerged every 15 seconds. The sea is white and above it bobs our white boat.”

Renato Auraujo, co-skipper of Zetra BRA (Class40)
"We are completely wet. There are really a lot of water on the boat. Last night was not so quiet, like the first, the wind blew hard. We already expected for this condition on the Bay of Biscay. The last hours have been very hard for us, but the boat is still all good. In theory, the worst has already happened! "

[Photoboy]

Hugo Boss Update

**Update on HUGO BOSS**
After several hours at sea Alex Thomson and Guillermo Altadill onboard HUGO BOSS made the difficult decision to return ashore. After attempting to address the issue onboard it has not been possible to ensure a sufficient repair whilst at sea to withstand an Atlantic crossing. Alex and Guillermo have made a suitable repair to get to the nearest port where they can analyse the situation. The current sea state and weather forecast have not aided the situation onboard.

The technical team are currently enroute to Vigo, Spain, where the boat will be repaired and hope to be back racing shortly.

Technical Director Ross Daniel explains; 'It is disappointing that the current sea state and approaching weather system have forced us to return to land to make the repair. But it is early days in our training programme as we understand the new boat and work towards the start of the Vendee Globe 2016. We will do everything we can to try and return to the Transat Jacques Vabre as soon as possible.'

[The Flasher]

That Hugo Boss program can't buy a break.