Anything but smooth sailing

After passing through the Santo Stefano Scoring Gate yesterday morning, The Ocean Race Europe teams pushed south at a high pace. They are now facing very unstable conditions and numerous storms, demanding huge amounts of effort on board.

While Team Holcim-PRB (5th) has dropped back from the leaders significantly, only about ten miles separate the leading quartet, with Team Malizia holding a slight edge as of Wednesday morning.

The sailors had almost forgotten that the Mediterranean could also show this face—unpredictable and punishing. After 48 hours of light winds followed by a long, fast run towards Sardinia, the teams have once again been confronted with the instability that so often defines the Mediterranean Sea.

Corentin Horeau (Paprec Arkéa) described it as “a strange day” when recalling Monday’s events: “We had quite a few thunderstorms, the wind suddenly jumped from 20 to 40 knots, we had some wipeouts, it was shifting right then left… ”

Holcim-PRB dropped from the leading group

It took all their focus as storm cells seemed to chase the leaders through the evening and into the night. In such conditions, “it’s hard to keep the boat moving properly,” admitted Corentin. Yet that’s exactly what all the crews set about doing, and their progress shows they certainly don’t lack the motivation or skill to make the most of the challenging weather patterns.

Yesterday, everyone passed through the Santo Stefano Scoring Gate after a dynamic duel between Paprec Arkéa and Allagrande Mapei Racing, who were separated by less than a minute at the crossing. They then pushed further south, passing the Balearic Islands.

“It’s really very unpredictable at the moment," noted Amélie Grassi (Biotherm). "In the end, we’ve done quite a lot of downwind sailing in the breeze and had a lot of wind, up to 35 knots. We would have liked to win the scoring gate, but this one was offshore, several days after the start, and it was crossed downwind in strong wind. That wasn’t necessarily our strong point, and we quickly realised it wasn’t easy to be in front there..."

The gaps then widened: while Team Amaala (7th) and Canada Ocean Racing – Be Water Positive (6th) fell significantly behind, Holcim-PRB (5th) also failed to stay with the four leaders. By this morning, skipper Rosalin Kuiper and her team were 140 miles back.

Two options, then a regrouping at the front

Within the leading pack, two distinct strategies emerged by late afternoon. On one side, Paprec Arkéa and Allagrande Mapei Racing, setting the pace, chose to continue pushing south.

On the other, their pursuers Team Malizia and Biotherm opted for a more easterly route. “We simply tried a more southerly line in the hope of finding a bit more wind,” explained Corentin Horeau. In any case, all were averaging over 20 knots through the evening. Some shore teams even reported particularly brutal conditions on board.

During the night, the top four regrouped south of Sardinia, with a slight advantage to the Team Malizia–Biotherm pairing and by 0700 this morning, it was Boris Herrmann’s boat that had taken the lead in the rankings.

But the gaps are tiny: the top four are within ten miles of each other and the battle remains intense, showing no sign of slowing down in the coming hours.

"Right now, we’re approaching Ustica downwind," Grassi sad. "It feels like there will be a wind transition; the weather files are starting to line up a bit more with what we’re experiencing. What’s next? Hard to say! Normally, we should stay downwind and reach Sicily in the afternoon. But we’re not sure if we’ll have enough pressure or not.”

“We’ll keep having storms and a very uncertain situation at least until tonight, maybe even Thursday morning,” warned Corentin Horeau. On board, the watchword is clear: hold on and keep pushing as hard as possible.