Cap Ingélec are steady leaders down the Portuguese coast  

After their second night at sea the 11 pairs of racers on the Transat Paprec are now well past Cape Finisterre and making progress down the Portuguese coast some 110 nautical miles NW of Porto. Camille Bertel and Pierre Leboucher (Cap Ingélec) continue to dominate the fleet but the gaps are small the first seven are in less than seven miles apart. They lead by just 3.3 nautical miles with about 750 nautical miles to sail to the La Palma turning mark.

"Everyone is still very much in the game" underlines Race Direction this morning

They will get to a front in the early afternoon.

“The gaps are so small in the middle of the peloton they are watching AIS every two minutes,” laughs Francis Le Goff, the race director.

“Camille Bertel – Pierre Leboucher have a very good rhythm and manage to hold their own all the time” explains Le Goff.

Around 0500hrs this Wednesday morning the leaders tacked west "They are currently into a S’ly on the port tack," explains Yann Chateau. “There is an approaching depression with a relatively unstructured front. The skippers should touch it at the start of the afternoon”. Says Yann Chateau, Assistant Race Director.

“Then they will have two options: either follow the Portuguese coast to pass south of the ridge, or go further west and then aim for the waypoint of La Palma”.

And even on land the Race Direction team consider that the various weather models do not consider there to be a conclusive advantage on one route or the other. Only time will tell.