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“We're past the hardest part,” breathes Cindy. After “a crazy night” from Saturday to Sunday, the Saint-Barth Yacht Club instructor has slowly regained her composure and confidence in her abilities. Since their eventful but successful passage north of La Palma, the Cap Saint-Barth crew has been slowly but surely climbing up the rankings. Much to the delight of Cindy, who has no intention of settling for a top 10 finish: “This position is already great according to Thomas, given the level of competition. But we've seen that we're capable of coming back on the pack, so if we're capable of coming back, that means we can go fast and that we're capable of doing well. We just have to believe in our lucky star, and we've seen that we have one.”
Whether it's a lucky star or the skills of the duo, the night has been advantageous for Cindy and Thomas: they're in third place mid-day (Hexagonal time), and have been since early morning. “We're going pretty fast compared with the others, so we're going to try to keep it up,” commented Cindy during her night shift. Indeed, in the middle of the day, the Cap Saint-Barth crew is making 12 knots. They are closely followed by Région Normandie, sailing at the same speed. The Selencia - Cerfrance crew in 5th place, on the other hand, are slightly faster at 12.9 knots. Wings of the Ocean continues to lead the ranking. In second place, Charlotte Yven and Hugo Dhallene (Skipper Macif), have opted for a slightly more northerly route, enabling them to make headway at 11.8 knots.
The battle is raging and the fleet is still very tight, even if a few skippers have decided to head further south, like the duo Mathilde Géron and Martin Le Pape (Demain). With weather conditions forcing the skippers to take the same route north of La Palma, the fleet is likely to follow a direct course to the West Indies. The rather moderate trade winds at the start of the week (15 to 18 knots) are giving the sailors a chance to recharge their batteries and, for some, enjoy their first shower. The change in weather conditions expected at the end of the week should, however, encourage the skippers to optimize their route strategy.
The adventure has already come to an end for Arno Biston and Vittoria Ripa di Meana, aboard Article 1. The duo arrived on the island of Tenerife during the night, to try and repair their spinnakers, which were torn during the weekend. But once there, the skippers learned that repairs could not be carried out until Wednesday April 30. Faced with such a delay, the crew decided to abandon the race. Only 18 boats remain in the running to win this 17th edition of the Transat Paprec.
