Four within four miles after 12 days of racing!

The fleet is sailing in 10-12 knots of wind which is building to 12-14 knots before it will again soften this evening. First thing this morning Région Bretagne – CMB Performance (Gaston Morvan/Anne-Claire Le Berre) are in the lead just 1.9 miles ahead of Mutuelle Bleue (Corentin Horeau/Pauline Courtois), whilst in third Skipper MACIF (Loïs Berrehar/Charlotte Yven) is 2.1 miles behind. And a little further south Région Normandie (Guillaume Pirouelle / Sophie Faguet) in fourth is only 4.2 miles behind the leader.

Corentin Horeau and Pauline Courtois (Mutuelle Bleue) were able to claw back precious miles yesterday with the rotation of the wind actually temporarily took the lead before it swung back in second part of the night to the Morvan and Le Berre.

“Last night a little gybes were made. The leading trio stayed together but we saw Région Normandie go there a little earlier before making a small adjustment again during the night. All this opens up the game a little bit, at least between the leading trio and the two boats which went south first, Région Normandie (Guillaume Pirouelle / Sophie Faguet) and Cap Ingélec (Camille Bertel / Pierre Leboucher)”, observes Yann Chateau, Deputy Race Director of the Transat Paprec. He says there is now enough east in the breeze to make port gybe worthwhile.

In this morning from Edouard Golbery :

“It’s pitch dark, moonless night. You can't helm better than the pilot in these conditions, so it's a good time to write as any. Last nap (we each take 45 minutes by turn), I dreamt I was superman. Sometimes when you're at the helm and the boat stands at the tip of a 4m wave, you feel the potential energy gathering in the sails and the momentum building up until the dive starts, boat trembling, foils screaming their familiar litany of speed and sound, the hull hits the water no further than the mast and the boat starts to bounce it's way through like a skipping rock you sent on a slightly imperfect water. Just before this whole thing starts you feel like you're on top of the world, a little like superman. I'm wondering if we're not just a bunch of kids wanting to be a superhero for a while, to step out of our identity our flaws, insecurities and doubts and jump freely on that ride. Wanting to be the fastest obviously relates.

I dream a lot at sea. I think it's your body forcing you to go into deeper, more regenerating sleep. So everytime I close my eyes I start seeing things images of the past, situations that happened or never happened. You're always carrying a foggy feeling that you're not entirely there. That's why I took Edgar Alan Poe's book of fantastic stories to fit the mood. Unfortunately I haven't had the time to open it yet. Maybe when we engine back from the race arrival to the harbor.

I remember a fantastic story about a man embarked on some sort of ancient fantom ship lead by men that look older than life, skin tanned and marked by years in the sun and the salt, the boat  ends up going down a gigantic swirling Maëltrom.

"Ô mort, vieux capitaine, il est temps. Levons l'ancre!"

We're finding stronger winds than the weather files, the game is to stay in the strong patches of wind. When it dies a little too much, you gybe. Normally to go south. In our case the wind is more to the North, which begs the question : when do I start going south west towards where we're going ? That's the type of connundrum you keep twisting round and round in your head in a race. Good night fellow humans."