Artemis Leaders Reach Ice Gate

LoÏck Peyron’s Gitana 80 has been steadily chewing into race leader PRB‘s margin, halving a 24-mile lead in the past twelve hours in lighter wind. The weekend’s 36-hour blackout saw previous race leader Sébastien Josse aboard BT squirt ahead into a dominant position, then have to retire with a damaged mainsail track and batten cars. That followed last week’s retirement of previous leader Michel Desjoyeaux’s Foncia, which hit an unidentified object, mashing the starboard daggerboard and possibly damaging its casing. Now the lead pack is down to Vincent Riou’s PRB, Gitana 80, Armel le Cleach’s Brit Air and Yann Elies’ Generali. This pack is very close to passing the Ice Gate set by race organizers to minimize the boats’ exposure to an unusually heavy concentration of ice southeast of Newfoundland. In an abnormal year weather-wise, temperatures around the gate are no different. "It’s warm, it will be the warmest ice gate I’ve ever seen," Peyron said.

In the Class 40s, leader Giovanni Soldini continues to put on a clinic. Assiduously defending the rhumbline from the start, Soldini continues to lead, having sailed far less distance than the bulk of the fleet, some of which is as far as 150 miles south of the shortest route to the ice gate ahead. Strategically and tactically, Soldini seems to be sailing with the same set of principles he employed to great effect in winning November’s doublehanded Transat Jacques Vabre — he’s sailing the shortest possible distance while consolidating on the boats behind at every good opportunity. Stay abreast of all the latest updaets at www.theartemistransat.com.