The second edition of the Défi Atlantique, the return race for the Class 40s in the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe, will start tomorrow at 5pm French time (11am local time). 13 yachts, manned by crews of two, three or four sailors, are waiting in the Pointe-à-Pitre dock, ready to go. 2,300 miles of the North Atlantic separate them from the finish of the first leg, Horta in the Azores archipelago, from where they will set off again on 17 April to reach La Rochelle, some 1,300 miles later. The winner will be determined by the cumulative time over the two legs. A West to East crossing that few sailors, including the most seasoned, are familiar with. All of them are looking forward to facing very varied conditions, which should, at one point or another of the course, allow each of them to do well, between reaching in the trade winds, the western edge of the Azores high, and the strong westerly winds expected far to the north to propel them towards the Portuguese archipelago. A race full of contrasts is in store, with a particularly uncertain outcome.
A start with a coastal course to make the most of the richness of the islands of Guadeloupe!
Denis Hugues and his race management team will be offering the 13 crews a course as close as possible to the enchanting shores of Guadeloupe from tomorrow, Saturday. A first course mark, after crossing the starting line anchored off Le Gosier, will be left to port off Grande-Pointe, some 17 nautical miles later under Basse-Terre. The competitors will then head for Marie-Galante for a final mark to be rounded before the big crossing to the Azores.
In search of the lows.
A classic route for returning cruisers to old Europe, the course to the Azores involves following a North - North East course from the start in Guadeloupe. During the first few days, the trade winds will still be brisk, 20 knots, before rapidly easing off as the degrees of North latitude become more and more pronounced, and a ridge of high pressure towards Florida will slow down the first competitors. Episodes of light airs, to be negotiated upwind, will be managed, moments of great tension on board the boats in search of the lows coming from the North American coast. The westerly winds will herald the start of a more muscular navigation, and will favour the first boats to benefit from them, on potentially heavy seas, to the point of inciting the Race Direction, assisted by the meteorologist Christian Dumard, to include in the race instructions a waypoint at 39° North latitude not to be crossed. The numerous lows that are stirring up the North Atlantic at the end of the winter are creating strong swells that everyone wants to avoid. The competitors will then have to dive due East towards the Azores and make do with the wind angle of the moment. The latest routings envisage an arrival in Horta in about ten days time.
Source / GPO
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