Français
There are only a few days left before the finish in Saint-Barth. Yet the mood on the water is far from festive. The 17 crews still in the running are finding their nerves severely tested. On the one hand, unpredictable squalls are making the skippers sweat, but also their equipment. "We spent the night battling against the squalls," says Thomas de Dinechin (Almond for Pure Ocean). The leading crew, Wings of the Ocean, even mentioned technical problems, without giving any further details. On Région Bretagne - CMB Océane, the spinnaker halyard split in two, leaving the two sailors with only the small spinnaker. With no choice, Corentin Horeau moved to the front of the boat for a sewing workshop.
The most trying part for the skippers remains the windless zone blocking their progress, even though they are now less than 600 nautical miles (1110 km) from the finish." We can't wait for it to be over, because right now it's too stressful," said Thomas André, aboard Cap Saint-Barth, who was in third place at 1pm. Just when it looked like the race was over, with the leading trio of Wings of the Ocean, Skipper Macif and Cap Saint-Barth on the podium, all the cards have been reshuffled. The fleet is now grouped on a line of almost 120 miles (222 km) laterally, erasing all the lead previously taken by the leaders. "Playing a race like this is never easy," said Thomas. Especially, given the race we did. We can be super proud of our run right now, but that's not going to determine what happens next."
There are still three options for the end of the race: a more northerly trajectory, like Cindy and Thomas, a southerly course, or those keeping to the direct route to Saint-Barth. "We 've cut the cheese in relation to those to the north," explains Martin Le Pape. This puts us back in a position to attack, and we're hoping to find a mouse hole. But with the weather still uncertain, it's impossible to draw any conclusions." The routings don't match up: there's one that rewards the southerners, and another that suggests that the northerners could win," points out Yann Chateau, deputy race director. On the other hand, one thing is clear. The fleet should arrive very close together, with only a handful of hours between the majority of competitors. The gaps will be so small that every aspect to be managed (squalls, sargasso, technical aspects) will play a decisive role in the final stretch. According to the latest estimates, the first boats should cross the finish line on Thursday evening (8th) or Friday morning (9th).
While waiting for the wind to return, each crew has its own way of dealing with stress. Anaëlle Pattusch and Hugo Cardon enjoyed their last mango, while Ellie Driver and Oliver Hill (Women's Engineering Society) admired the passage of a whale. On board Cap Saint-Barth, Thomas opted for humor. He filmed the cartography in the tone of a sports commentator: "Welcome to the Cap St-Barth boat for this live broadcast of the start of the Transat Paprec 2025. It's a great start in the middle of the Atlantic for a nice race lasting around four days. Unfortunately, a few boats were a little late, but that's nothing to worry about. Let ' s hope that for this new start, Cap Saint-Barth does as well as it did in Concarneau!
