© Photo : Stéphanie Gaspari \ n.c. Andraz Mihelin still leading... Adria drawns the caravan … The Slovenian Andraz Mihelin is still heading the fleet on this Friday afternoon, less than 500 NM from the arrival in Horta (The Azores) when for the production boats, the Portuguese Francisco Lobato is coming back very fast close to the leader Hervé Piveteau. After the strong downwind winds off Spain, the breeze is now decreasing and the sea is getting easier. Andraz Mihelin (Adria Mobil Too) plays the tractor … Because the fleet looks like a caravan with the latitude gaps decreasing : downwind, the Minis that are heading straight to the Azores, begin to follow each other like a little train. Still an express train after the Thursday High Speed Train when the boats have almost reached the 200 NM in 24 hours ! But it is difficult to maintain very high average speed during more than twelve hours single-handed on a 6,50 metres sailing boat, because one also has to eat, take the weather information at 1.00 pm (French time), has another look at the strategy and rest a little… Speeds noticed thanks to the Argos beacons demonstrate that the sailors have slowed a little on Thursday night before accelerating on sunrise. But the wind is now less steady (some twenty knots) for the leaders, when latecomers or “damaged” have still almost thirty knots Northeast winds to handle. Three boats are heading to Peniche (Portugal) for damaged boats : broken masts for François Duguet (Crédit Agricole Skipper Challenge) and Laurent Bourgues (Adrénaline), rudders problems for Anthony Marchand (Hinano). Thus, sixty one Minis are still racing. Peter falls off, Adria passes… The news of the day, is that Peter Laureyssens (Ecover) has clearly slowed and that boats have been overtaking him since Thursday midday : apparently the Belgian skipper has suffered some technical problems that prevent him from pushing the boats but we do not know the reason yet. His speed is only seven knots when the closest competitors’ is more than ten knots. It allows Andraz Mihelin, leader for two days now, to be less under pressure and recover from the Spanish slides. However, he should be careful and keep watch on Adrien Hardy (Brossard) in the South and David Sineau (Bretagne Lapins) and Olivier Cusin (NégaWatt) in the North. Behind him, Fabien Despres (Soitec), Nicholas Brennan (Rafiki), Isabelle Joschke (Degrémont),François Salabert (Aréas Assurances) and his compatriot Kristian Hajnsek (Adria Mobil), have dropped the pack. Regarding the production boats, Hervé Piveteau (Jules) has to wary of the impressive coming back of the Portuguese Francisco Lobato (BPI) and both of them are among the first twelve in overall ranking ! A great performance for those boats, with less sail area, less powerful and less fast than prototypes… They both have a big advance on the pack lead by Thibault Reinhart (Les blouses roses-Colas), Antoine Debled (ADD Modules), Thomas Bonnier (Architecture élémentaire) and the Spanish Gerard Marin (Escar l’escala-CN Llanca). At the end of the fleet, Pierre Brasseur (Peintures Ripolin) and Marie Christine de Brugière (Lady Jim) are 400 NM behind and are off La Coruna… Back to the future What is going to happen this week-end ? The Azores high pressure is developing towards France and is calming, which means that the wind is decreasing as the fleet is getting close to the Archipelago. The Easterly breeze should not be more than some fifteen knots on the racing area on Saturday afternoon, and turn some1à knots South-easterly on Sunday morning. Thus, they will have to manage very well the jibe : not too soon in order to avoid the high pressure, not too late so that they do not go to South. Because, to reach the Faial island, they will have to chose : passing through Sao Miguel and Terceira and arrive to Horta by the South, rounding the Pico volcano, or aiming at Graciosa to guard against the Sao Jorge wall and head straight to the finishing line. If the breeze really turns Southerly, the first solution seems the best as long as they stay further than 10 NM of the huge Pico cone. If the wind remains Easterly, the second option seems to be more logical to get benefit from the accelerator effect of this maze of high islands ((Faïal 1043 m ; Pico 2351 m ; Sao Jorge 1053 m). The arrival for the first ones is always expected to be on Monday in the middle of the day. DBo. & AM.  samedi 5 août 2006 Téléchargement :  Avis de course  Inscriptions  Obligations et engagements Brèves : Record à battre L'avis de course est disponible Premières inscriptions Vidéos : Clip vidéo Remise des prix 28 août aux Sables Arrivée de Véronique Loisel aux Sables Arrivée de Pascal Chombart de Lauwe Embarquez ... :  Vous souhaitez embarquer sur un bateau accompagnateur... RSS feeds Réalisation : Adonnante.com | Design : fabienne.est.une.indienne | Hébergement : BleuRoy.com