© Photo : Jacques Vapillon \ n.c. In the fog… The Cape Finisterre is now behind the first boats, still lead by the Belgian Peter Laureyssens and the Slovenian Andraz Mihelin regarding the prototypes and Hervé Pveteau and Sébastien Marsset for the production boats ranking. Even if the wind is still light and upwind off La Coruna, it is now North West for the leaders … Gaps should widen ! The first real breakaway is occurring off the Cape Finisterre. Indeed, even if the difference is still modest, it is obvious that the speeds of the leaders are superior to their pursuers’. Actually, in the afternoon, the wind was still West for those who went too close to the Spanish coast when it had already turned North West and stronger for those who had avoided the continental shelf. Playing this game, Peter Laureyssens (Ecover) has controlled very well this delicate passage remaining outside the 400 metres sounding line (that is to say, 45 NM from Spain) and Olivier Cusin (Négawatt) has been even more careful remaining more than 75 NM off the coast. The two solo sailors, are then in pole position for the straight line towards the Azores, settling themselves windward the pack lead by Andraz Mihelin (Adria Mobil Too) who did not manage to curve his course soon enough. Behind them, the pack including David Sineau (Bretagne Lapins), François Salabert (Areas Assurances), François Duguet (Crédit Agricole Skipper Challenge), Fabien Despres (Soitec)…and some ten other prototypes is dense and grouped. Duel for production boats Regarding the production boats, the situation is even more clear as the two sailors who inexorably break away are those who have passed far from the Iberian Peninsula : Hervé Piveteau (Jules) and Sébastien Marsset (Raisonances) were already located more than ten NM in front of Antoine Debled (ADD Modules), Thomas Bonnier (Architecture élémentaire) and the Portuguese Francisco Lobato (BPI), who were also followed by an army of production boats… Logically, they should find more and more fair winds as they gain ground on the almost straight course to the Azores, with a North breeze strengthening in the end of the day, up to more than 20 knots in the night. With crossbeam wind and an average speed of 7,5 knots when the others’ speed is only some 6,5 knots, this should widen the gap till some 20 NM on Thursday afternoon. And this begin to be a lot, especially knowing that the weather situation should be stable at least till Friday afternoon ! Thus, like in the « Tour de France », the leaders’ breakaway will be difficult to catch for each category because there is no specific option in the next hours : Straight heading to the Azores, the leaders will then be able to rest a bit, looking in the mirror, in order to anticipate the landing in Horta that can be delicate. Indeed, the Azores high pressure is stabilizing as a bean format between the Archipelago and the entry of the English Channel, which means that at one moment, skippers will have to cross it. The leaders should not arrive to this transit area before two days : will the high pressure be helpful or will it stand in their way so that the pack can come back ? Aboard the Minis, minds must already think about this problem as now, bad weather is over, and present time can only be better. This is the problem in offshore racing : a tactical choice made on one “M” moment carry along a chain of almost compulsory courses…. It is always possible to anticipate the future but one can never come back in the past ! Let’s remind you one main principle of the Minis races : solo sailors have no radio contact with land and can only receive aboard the weather information (reliable but limited) broadcasted by the organization of Les Sables – The Azores – Les Sables. On top of it, skippers only have the ranking with the distance to the goal and not the others’ positions… It is thus very difficult to know what the other Minis are doing and they can only concentrate on their own course ! Which is not very easy in a three cubic metres space shaken by the sea, with no news (almost) from the world. At least, if the weather was sunny, but no : the fog is here and should remain above their heads at least till Thursday evening…. Fog in the heads and fog outside. DBo. & AM.  jeudi 3 août 2006 Brèves : Fabienne Robin est arrivée Vol 774 pour Les Sables Bruno Simonnet et Marc Vertes sont arrivés Benoît Lenglet est arrivé Les trois mousquetaires Vidéos : Clip vidéo Remise des prix 28 août aux Sables Arrivée de Véronique Loisel aux Sables Arrivée de Pascal Chombart de Lauwe Téléchargement : ... Embarquez ... :  Vous souhaitez embarquer sur un bateau accompagnateur... RSS feeds Réalisation : Adonnante.com | Design : fabienne.est.une.indienne | Hébergement : BleuRoy.com