On the starting line, located at the end of the breakwater in the port of La Coruña, conditions were favorable with 10 to 11 knots of wind. "We're lucky to be sailing under a beautiful sun," said Yann Chateau from race control. "The atmosphere was relaxed on the docks, and many recreational sailors came out to watch to witness this new start."
There are 37 pairs at the starting line: the three non-starters are Innovad.group – XLG (Jérôme Delire and Caroline Dieu), RDT Logistic – Forvis Mazars (Renaud and Gilles Courbon) and Ocean Connect - The Sea Cleaners (Jean Baptiste Ternon and Gaëtan Thomas). They have until Tuesday at 1 p.m. to start this second stage.
Now on their way to Fort-de-France the racers will have to reach the Azores and leave the archipelago to starboard before heading towards Martinique. The race promises to be particularly interesting, especially since there could be two distinct routes, one to the north, the other to the south. "The northern routes are still winning," assures Yann Chateau from Race Control, "but if we slightly adjust the polar diagrams to account for the sea state on the direct route, the southern route becomes the winner. In short, it looks very open!" Note that the first Class40s are expected around Friday, November 14th in Fort-de-France. Victory in the TRANSAT CAFÉ L’OR Le Havre Normandie in this class will be decided by the aggregate time of the two legs (Le Havre – La Coruña, La Coruña – Fort-de-France).
Source : TRANSAT CAFÉ L'OR Le Havre-Normandie
