The Remontada for Everyone

Antoine Grenapin
May 6
4 min read

THE SIXTEENTH NIGHT

On this Tuesday morning, the leading trio remains unchanged with Wings of the Ocean (Alexis Thomas and Pauline Courtois, 1st), Cap St Barth (Cindy Brin and Thomas André, 2nd), and Skipper Macif (Charlotte Yven and Hugo Dhallenne, 3rd). Their choice to take a longer but safer northern route seems to be paying off all the way to the end. At the same time, the fleet continues to tighten: less than 60 nautical miles now separate the top 15 boats—heightening the suspense and testing the sailors’ nerves.

A Remontada in Full Swing

It took a football club winning the first leg of a prestigious competition 4-0, only to lose the second 6-1, for a new word to enter the vocabulary of sports—and beyond: “remontada.” Since its emergence in 2017, the term no longer belongs only to football. It implies a comeback, but not just any comeback—it’s the idea of returning when it seemed impossible, of coming back into the spotlight after being left in the dark.

At the Transat Paprec, the current “remontada” is both interesting and unprecedented—because it involves three-quarters of the fleet.

“A significant compression of the fleet”

It all started with Lola Billy and Corentin Horeau (Région Bretagne – CMB Océane), who were delayed by a pit stop in Lisbon to replace their port rudder. They fought their way back into the pack. Then came this massive windless zone between the fleet and the Caribbean. The result? The leaders were the first to get stuck in it, allowing the chasing pack to catch up.

“We’re seeing a very significant compression of the fleet, with boats coming from the back catching more wind,” explained Francis Le Goff, Race Director.

Some duos even came to a complete standstill—Charlotte Yven and Hugo Dhallenne (Skipper Macif) found themselves stuck at just 0.9 knots for a while!

Yet, “those who led the race up to this point are still among the front runners,” Francis added. The top three—Wings of the Ocean, Cap St Barth, and Skipper Macif—“may have a slight edge from having chosen a more northern route.”

An Arrival Expected Between Thursday Night and Friday Morning

But balance is fragile. Francis reminds us that “light winds are poorly modeled in this area”, and there’s “thunderstorm activity” and squalls to contend with.

“The weather is like Russian roulette,” says Victor Le Pape (Région Bretagne - CMB Espoir). “Nothing is certain, nothing is predictable, and it’s frustrating.”

“It’s the big unknown... like our own personal Doldrums,” adds Davy Beaudart (Hellowork).“There’s going to be a lot of action right up to the finish—it’s going to be great,” says Adrien Simon (FAUN).

“We’re not immune from seeing a boat or a group break away—like in the Solitaire du Figaro—and hold that lead all the way to the finish,” Francis says.

In the next few hours, the sailors might catch a bit more wind, especially those on the northern track. But approaching the islands will be “complicated.”

“They’ll have to seize every opportunity as it comes... It’s shaping up to be another puzzle for the fleet.”

This tricky weather, with its erratic winds, makes it difficult to accurately estimate the ETA of the leading boats.

Some models predict an arrival at 10 p.m. on Thursday, May 8 (local time, 4 a.m. in mainland France).
Others suggest 10 a.m. on Friday, May 9 (4 p.m. in mainland France).

But Francis emphasizes that “we’ll have to wait to refine these ETAs.”One thing seems clear: a close-fought finish is expected. In fact, the last two teams in the fleet—Ellie Driver and Oliver Hill (Women's Engineering Society, 17th) and Pier-Paolo Dean and Tiphaine Rideau (Les Banques Alimentaires, 16th)—are sailing up to 3 knots faster than the rest, and are rapidly closing the gap. A spectacular arrival in Saint-Barthélemy is on the horizon.

NEWS FROM THE FLEET

“It’s going to be a slow finish, but at least we’re using the time to dry our gear,” says Thomas de Dinechin (Almond for Pure Ocean).Romain Bouillard, sunglasses and sunhat on, reports, “We’ve found the sun again—everything’s drying. It’s summer out here.”

“We’re in lycra and shorts now—we’re getting close to home,” jokes Cindy Brin (Cap St Barth).“It’s the first time we’ve sailed without our foulies since the start of the race,” notes Laure Galley (DMG MORI Academy).

The crew is finally enjoying the surroundings:

Adrien Simon describes “a beautiful starry sky full of meteors—big green fireballs. Really cool to watch.”

Others captured the sunset in photos, like Maggie Adamson and Calanach Finlayson (Solan Ocean Racing) and Anaëlle Pattusch and Hugo Cardon (Humains en action).Martin Le Pape and Mathilde Géron were even photographed by a French cargo ship and had a chat via VHF.

Meanwhile, Ellie Driver and Oliver Hill took time to reflect on their close encounter with a whale.Cindy Brin and Thomas André busied themselves clearing flying fish that had landed all over their deck.

Romain Bouillard made a video starring “Poulpie,” his plush octopus: