The scenario that emerged yesterday continued into the night. With a little more wind than the leaders, Boris Herrmann was able to catch up and was now only 50 nautical miles behind front-runner Yannick Bestaven and "Maître Coq IV".
In the early morning, however, the race to catch up was over for the time being. The boats at the head got a little more wind, one or two knots more than Herrmann, and increased the distance again with a similar difference in boat speed. At 5:00 a.m. UTC, Herrmann was around 64 nautical miles behind Bestaven.
But these distances mean nothing. An easterly wind with ten to 13 knots and a holey playing field is waiting ahead. Herrmann could play that into the cards. He has the most suitable boat for these conditions on paper.
Charlie Dalin ("Apivia", 2nd place) and Thomas Ruyant ("LinkedOut", 4th place) both cannot use their port foil after breaking, but this bow is used for sailing. The boats of Yannick Bestaven and Louis Burton ("Bureau Vallée 2", 3rd place) are equipped with second-generation foils, which are significantly smaller than those on Herrmann's "Seaexplorer". Damien Seguin ("Groupe Apicil", 5th place) has no foils at all.
Thomas Ruyant sees himself in a slightly worse starting position: "There is nothing that can compensate for the loss of a foil," he said. "I'm going to have to keep adjusting the pace, finding a slightly different way of doing things. But that won't make up for the difference when a boat comes on its foil."
Still, he predicts excitement until the finish line: "It's funny to see all these boats sticking together after two months of racing. It's unbelievable, crazy. It's going to be a breathtaking race until the end, a lot of things will happen, we will all arrive the same day."
