Reasons to be cheerful, times three

With Caudrelier, Coville, Le Cléac’h now finished the ARKÉA ULTIM CHALLENGE-Brest in first, second and third respectively, all eyes are now on the two skippers still racing, Anthony Marchand is fourth and 301 miles behind him is Éric Péron in fifth.

And it stands to reason they are likely to experience a finish similar to one enjoyed by one of the finishers so far. There has been one finish into Brest in the early morning, that of winner Charles Caudrelier, there has been second placed Coville’s arrival in the middle of the afternoon and then Sunday during the night there was third placed Le Cléac’h. But before that magical moment there are 3,100 miles left for Anthony Marchand for Éric Péron something like 3,450 miles.

Marchand, skipper of Actual Ultim 3 has three good reasons to smile today. He passed the equator, in the dead of night (at 3:44 a.m. UTC) and so is back in the North Atlantic after 56 days race. On this Monday, March 4, ‘Antho’ is also celebrating his 39th birthday. And thirdly he is into decent breeze. But he has had to work hard recently “We’ve been doing so many maneuvers for a week. I’m feeling tired, I haven’t slept much for the week,” he explained yesterday. “But I’ve fought hard to limit the damage, Eric could have come back a little more on me, but it’s OK.”

Guillaume Evrard from the race direction confirms: “He has finally emerged from the light winds of the doldrums. ‘Antho’ is currently in a North-Easterly wind of 10 to 15 knots. Now he will take three and a half days sailing upwind, to reach the south of the Azores high pressure.”

Péron stuck in the doldrums

Éric Péron immortalized a sunrise on video yesterday morning. “We are getting there slowly. We are feeling good, we’re finally getting some wind, it’s about time! I take what I’ve got.”

“For him it’s a little more difficult because the doldrums are very South, very West and very difficult,” explains Evrard. “He must use the squalls and the clouds.”

According to the race direction, Eric should pick up speed late Wednesday and cross the Equator Wednesday night.

Follow the race tracking on www.arkeaultimchallengebrest.com/en

by Andi Robertson