© Photo : Yvan Zedda \ n.c. Bis repetita non placent The second leg of the race really looks like the first one ! Even if the rhythm is slower than two weeks ago, the chaotic sea has, and still shake a lot the Minis on this Thursday afternoon. In the first places, we can see the skippers who have tacked soon to get out the Azorean islands with Xavier Haize for the prototypes and Thomas Bonnier for the production boats as leaders. Upwind ! Still upwind…. This new Mini event is definitively nothing but rest and this second leg, which consists in the way back from Horta (Azores) to Les Sables d’Olonne take an air of the first one. In the Biscay Bay, a low pressure had caught the Minis till Spain. This time, a low is following them in their South and they edge the Azorean High, which lead to unstable Northerly to North Easterly winds with a very broken sea. Indeed, after the start of Wednesday at 1.40 pm UTC in a 20 knots North Easterly breeze, the Minis had to go North to get out of the Archipelago, ward from Sao Jorge before they find back the big Ocean. Choppy sea, tide currents, gusts, sudden change of wind (strength and direction) : the end of the day and the whole night must have been very tiring to try to escape as fast as possible from these volcanoes. Skippers had to take their first tactical option as soon as the sun rise on Wednesday when they had to chose between either to tack soon in order to pass through the islands of Sao Jorge and Graciosa, or to keep on North. Among the supporters of this second option, skippers have considered differently the way to face this high edge, some of them have tacked in the middle of the night, others in the middle of the day! As a result, the fleet is completely spread (50 miles in latitude) on this Thursday afternoon and those who have tacked soon are leading the fleet… But the wind is very fluctuating : change of direction of more than 20°, the breeze is hardly eight knots with some gusts under the clouds, the sky is overcast, and most of all the sea is very choppy, the skippers then have to steer a lot, to permanently adapt and to find the best angle in order to avoid to stop after each wave… Two different option joining Indeed, among the prototypes, the “Southerns” (Hardy, Joschke, Salabert, Laureyssens, Haize, Koch, Sineau) who passed through the islands before the night when tacking between Sao Jorge et Graciosa, are now trying to go North East in order to pass in front of those who had chosen to tack later (Vidal, Mihelin, Hajnsek, Brennan, Kaczorowski). But those who have waited even more before tacking, have not taken any benefit from this option : Cusin, Vadeleau, Bonvin, Bloom, are not in a very good position, very North ! It is the same for the production boats : the “Southerns” (Bonnier, Reinhart, Barnaud, Castelnérac) are leading the fleet but they also try to move in front of the boats who are norther (Lobato, Marsset, Vidal…) when those who have chosen the extreme north way (Quélen, Bouw, Riou…) are already more than 25 miles behind them, let’s not talk about those who went even norther than the extreme North (Marin, Hupin, Girolet, Zurrer) who have already conceded more than fifty miles ! After just one day of race, it hurts… Regarding the two skippers who had come back in Horta on Wednesday night, they could fix their boat and leave again the Azorean Harbour this Thursday at 11.00 am UTC : Hugo Ramon could changed his broken forestay fittings and Pierre Brasseur could fix his automatic pilot’s short circuit. The wind that the Azores high pressure, which will be on the Archipelago within next hours generates should turn Northerly, twelve knots on Friday and the high pressure should then stop the late fleet. There is no time to lose, or they will miss the boat to Spain. Anyway, the progressive arrival of the High pressure edge from the Azores to Vendée will slow all of them at one moment. Right now, solo sailors are hardly doing six knots in a variable wind (strength and direction) and a chaotic sea. Everything to turn the stomachs and wear out the bodies. Skippers will have to be very concentrated and we can bet that those who will steer all night long, checking the breeze’s changes thanks to the observation of the sky and the barometer, will break away…. DBo. & AM.  vendredi 18 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