The Route du Rhum entered its fourth day on Wednesday with no new incidents reported after several unsettled days marked by mechanical problems and retirements. The fleet of 115 boats started from Saint-Malo on Sunday. The latest reported incident was the capsize of Matthieu Perraut’s Elvest in the Ocean Fifty class.
In the Ultim class, Tom Laperche of SVR Lazartigue remained in front, but his advantage had fallen to around 20 miles after exceeding 70 miles the previous day. Armel Le Cléac’h of Banque Populaire XI and Thomas Coville were close behind, with Coville 18 miles back and taking a direct-route option. Le Cléac’h was not showing on the race tracker Wednesday morning, though no reason was confirmed. Defending champion Charles Caudrelier had retired on Tuesday evening and was heading home.
Corentin Horeau of MACSF had built a commanding lead in the Imoca class after crossing a transition zone north of the Azores before the wind shifted. He was more than 170 miles ahead of Germany’s Boris Herrmann and American-Italian sailor Francesca Clapcich. Horeau said he had initially doubted he would get through the zone, but found enough wind to regain speed.
Élodie Bonafous, fifth in the Imoca standings, said her boat had been delayed in the same area and acknowledged that catching Horeau would be difficult, though she said the race was still long.
Sources: Le Figaro.