Foncia-Kingfisher back into the lead

Alain Gautier and Ellen Mac Arhtur are back into the lead this morning aboard Foncia-Kingfisher.

The eight trimarans left Cherbourg yesterday at 1 p.m and are currently sailing off Brittany’s headland. Foncia-Kingfisher has a 13 miles lead over Groupama, skippered by Franck Cammas. Jean Le Cam aboard his new Bonduelle is in third.

The wind is light but is expected to pick up during the days as a depression is coming. This 2705 mile offshore fully crewed race from Cherbourg to Tarragone via the Azores is a premiere. The estimate time arrival is on Sunday May the 20th. Alain Gautier and his crew were leading yesterday as the fleet was heading off after a 12 miles coastal race.

Last night it was Yvan Bourgnon aboard Bayer who had taken the lead. This morning at 5 o’clock, Alain Gautier was back in the front. He had already sailed 183 miles since the start at a 12 knots average speed. It took less than 24 hours to those Formula 1 of the sea to sail outside the Channel and reach the Atantic.

They’re now heading towards Sao Miguel island (The Azores), the next course mark. The first boats should get there on Tuesday. The mutlihulls have been sailing in an easterly breeze and had therefore to jibe many times. We can notice that different strategical choices have been made as the fleet is spread out. Franck Cammas (Groupama), Marc Guillemot (La Trinitaine-Team Ethypharm) and Jean-Luc NZlias (Belgacom) chose a northern route. The leader is 30 miles southern when the most extremes are Lalou Roucayrol (Banque Populaire) and Yavan Bourgnon (Bayer) who are far more south. We will see during the days if they seem to stick to their choice.

Before the start, all the skippers insisted that it would be very important to position their boat in anticipation of the depression coming. They should come across it during the day with the strongest winds up to 35-40 knots forecast on Monday.