After 15 hours of regatta, at one in the morning the fleet turned to starboard tack pointing to Cabo Villano, from which they are at 3:00 p.m. today, Wednesday, June 8, 2022, 95 miles away, although the goal is to cross the parallel of Cape Finisterre 115 miles away; geographical point that will mark the beginning of the descent along the Galician and Portuguese coasts to Figueira da Foz.
The first part of the stage was mainly a speed test upwind, with no big differences between the boats, with all the favorites present at the front this Wednesday morning, from «Smurfit Kappa – Kingspan» to «Skipper Macif» (Erwan Le Draoulec/Loïs Berrehar), “Amarris-Primeo Energie” (Achille Nebout/Pierre Quiroga), “Quéguiner-La Vie en Rose” (Elodie Bonafous/Alexis Loison), “Mutuelle Bleue” (Corentin Horeau/Julien Villion) or the two «Région Bretagne CMB Performance» (Tom Laperche/Morgan Lagravière) and «Espoir» (Gaston Morvan/Benjamin Schwartz).
The strategic situation will get complicated throughout the day as they approach the Spanish coast with a high pressure ridge that will settle in the area and that they will have to overcome as best as possible, before taking on a northerly flow that is reinforced south of Cape Finisterre, synonymous with a final fast downwind leg to Figueira da Foz, the end of this Regatta 1 Pays de Saint-Gilles Tourisme.
“There is a large low in northern Europe that is crushing the Azores high, creating a ridge of high pressures (extension of this high) that is right in the path of the competitors. there will be a sharp slowdown in the next few hours”, explains Guillaume Rottée, director of the Sardinha Cup. “The objective for them is to cross the high pressure ridge as quickly as possible; in this game, the position to the east of Pierre Grenié and Valentin Dantec (Prisme Océan) seems unfavourable, as a high pressure ridge can be crossed more quickly. perpendicularly, from north to south, than transversally, from east to west, so there are many possibilities, given the forecast conditions, that the first to leave will be the first to arrive in Figueira da Foz. In fact, the Portuguese trade winds seem to be present under the high pressure ridge, with a 25 knot flow from the north promising a nice and fast descent under spinnaker along the coast, for an expected arrival on Friday afternoon” .
At 3:00 p.m. this Wednesday, “Amarris – Primeo Energie” leads the fleet, followed by the “Smurfit Kappa – Kingspan” just 260 meters away. Third is «Skipper Macif» at 1.23 miles, fourth «Quéguiner-La Vie en Rose» at 1.73 miles, fifth «Mutuelle Bleue» at 1.97 miles, sixth Devenir at 2.20 miles, seventh Ageas – Team Baie de Saint-Brieuc at 2.38 miles and eighth «Région Bretagne CMB Performance» at 2.85 miles.
One of the favourites, Tom Laperche/Morgan Lagravière’s «Région Bretagne CMB Performance» has fallen to twelfth position, 4.23 miles behind the leader. One might think that Morgan Lagravière, winner of the previous edition, has lost the lead, but when the difference between the leader and “ADEPS – FFYB”, in 20th place, is 6.95 miles, everything is very relative. in a fleet of one-designs such as the Figaro 3. Lagravière will not take long to launch the attack that will return him to the top positions, the changes in the weather forecast will be essential to see a dance of positions before beginning the descent aft towards the line of arrival in Figueira da Foz, 277 miles from its current position.
