Race leader Charles Caudrelier on the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, has elected to take shelter in the Azores, thereby making a technical stopover.
“We are expecting 40 knots of winds, gusts of more than 50 knots, seas of 8 to 9 meters,” explains Benjamin Shwartz, one of the routers at the Gitana team.
He adds: “We waited and hoped for improvements but that’s not happened. There is no question of taking the slightest risk.”
Caudrelier and the team had considered waiting offshore but the maritime traffic in the area as well as the expected weather, and in particular the heavy seas in the possible waiting zone ended up putting him off that idea
The option chosen is to take shelter in the Azores, in the lee of the island of Faial in Horta.
Their intention is to stay outside the marina, in a small channel between two islands.
Members of the team have joined Caudrelier for the technical stopover, which must last a minimum of 24 hours as stipulated in the notice of race.
The race management started the “24-hour stopover time” at 05:04hrs UTC Wednesday. His team can bring him fresh food and can fix a few little things.
Until now Caudrelier had been the only sailor on the ARKÉA ULTIM CHALLENGE-Brest not to have stopped since the start.
