Sprinting south in the North Atlantic

(January 11, 2024; Day 5) – Following the start on January 7 In Brest, France, the six ULTIM Class multihulls in the ARKEA ULTIM CHALLENGE-Brest are quickly descending the North Atlantic in their non-stop solo race around the world. Tom Laperche (SVR Lazartigue) and Charles Caudrelier (Maxi Edmond de Rothschild) have continued to pace each other, less than seven miles apart, racing at average speeds in excess of 30 knots as they pass some 500 miles to the west of the Cape Verde islands.

After emerging from a stormy front last night which saw windspeeds reach more than 40kts, the four leading ULTIMs are racing in pairs – Laperche and Caudrelier now about 35 miles ahead of Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire XI) and Thomas Coville (Sodebo Ultim 3). This chasing duo have made up nearly 20 miles over the course of the day.

The routing experts are anticipating the leaders crossing the Equator on Saturday during the second half of the night, so around six and a half days after starting. On his 2017 record breaking circumnavigation Francois Gabart’s passage time to the Equator was 5d 20h 45m, the fastest solo time remains Thomas Coville’s 5d 17h 11m and the best ever is is that of Spindrift 2 at 4d 20h 07m

Details: https://arkeaultimchallengebrest.com/en

The Ultim Class trimarans have a maximum length of 32 meters and a maximum width of 23 meters.

The solo speed record around the world was set in 2017 by François Gabart (FRA) on the 30m Macif trimaran in a time of 42d 14h 40m 15s for an average speed of 21.08 knots. This yacht has been rebranded and will be raced by Marchand.

Entrants:
• Charles Caudrelier (FRA), Maxi Edmond de Rothschild (2017 Verdier 32/23)
• Thomas Coville (FRA), Sodebo Ultim 3 (2019 VPLP/others 32/23)
• Tom Laperche (FRA), Trimaran SVR-Lazartigue (2021 VPLP 32/23)
• Armel Le Cléac’h (FRA), Maxi Banque Populaire XI (2021 VPLP 32/23)
• Anthony Marchand (FRA), Actual Ultim 3 (2015 VPLP 30/22)
• Éric Péron (FRA), Trimaran Adagio (2014 VPLP 31/21)*
* Only entrant without foiling appendages

Five rules from the Sailing Instructions:
• The start line is kept open for 168 hours and the finish line is closed after an elapsed time of 100 days after the start time, that is to say 16th April 2024.

• The skippers can communicate and exchange with their teams on shore, so they have the freedom to get weather information and be routed by their team on shore and get technical help and advice to help with technical problems.

• The solo skippers can stop but there are two distinct operations. A technical stop is unassisted and requires the sailor to drop anchor, take a mooring, or tie up alongside an anchored or moored boat with no external help. There is no time penalty for a technical stop. But for a technical stopover (escale technique) where one or more crew or technical team come on board to help, there is a mandatory 24 hours minimum. This does not apply to the start port of Brest where all means are authorized to reach or leave the port within a radius of 50 miles.

• For the first time in ocean racing, zones where there are known to be a high concentration of whales and sea mammals are determined. Establishing these zones should both protect the marine wildlife and reduce the chance of a collision. These zones are around the Azores, the Canaries, south of South Africa, the Kerguelens, and parts of the Antarctic.

• There are ice exclusion zones to protect the skippers and their boats.