Weather forecasts that weren’t really accurate
That’s exactly what happened. Leading from the very first night of the race, Sam Goodchild came to a sudden halt in the calm conditions on Monday. From that point on, as well as benefiting from more favourable conditions to catch up, Ambrogio had an advantage: “He can see Sam’s track and knows where he has come to a standstill, which allows him to try to position himself either above or below him to benefit from a little more wind,” the race organisers point out. As the pursuer, Ambrogio therefore has an extra piece of information compared to his current rival.
However, nothing has been decided yet. This is also due to the difficulty of accurately forecasting the current weather conditions. “The weather models, which had been accurate throughout the race, were not reliable today, which made it much more difficult for the skippers to make headway.” In fact, no one really had any reliable information on the direction and strength of the wind, either on land – which explains the difficulty in establishing precise ETAs – or at sea.
Violette Dorange: the incredible comeback
This means skippers must remain doubly focused to sense the slightest shift in the wind that might help their boat make further headway. But whilst the leading duo are stuck in a rut, one boat is making rapid progress: Violette Dorange’s Initiatives-Cœur. Positioned further north than Ambrogio and Sam, she is enjoying far better conditions. In the early evening, she was in fact making headway at 16 knots – more than double the speed of her rivals (around 6 knots)!
Although there were only 7 miles between his boat and Initiatives-Cœur, Ambrogio Beccaria preferred to stay alongside Sam. “By going after Violette, he could have lost everything. However, he was determined to keep the mark on MACIF Santé Prévoyance,” explained the race organisers. The Italian was then positioned above Sam and therefore closer to the direct route, giving him a further advantage.
They gave it their all right to the very end!
Especially as Violette, after her incredible comeback, also ended up being severely slowed down by the lull around 10 pm. An hour later, it was Ambrogio’s turn to pick up speed. Finally, the Italian managed to pick up speed again. Between 11 pm and midnight, Allagrande Mapei was making progress at an average of 15 knots, compared with Sam’s average of 9 knots. “It was this burst of speed that allowed him to widen the gap.”
Nevertheless, neither of them let up the pressure. Both skippers tried everything: they even passed through the Rochebonne shoal, a shallow bank situated 100 km off the coast of Les Sables d’Olonne. With the swell, the shallow waters (at times just 3 metres deep) and the presence of fishing boats, it took a great deal of vigilance, composure and confidence to avoid making any mistakes. “It shows they gave it their all, that they were really in the race right to the end.”
In this head-to-head battle, Sam Goodchild put in a creditable performance. Ultimately, it was his position at the front of the race that forced him to contend with these weather conditions and the way the race unfolded. Nevertheless, the Franco-British sailor never let up.
“The key thing when you’re stranded at sea is to make choices and stand by them, and that’s even more true in a solo race,” the race organisers point out. Sam stuck to this right to the end, crossing the finish line just 1 hour and 15 minutes behind the overall winner. Violette Dorange, for her part, finished the race 1 hour and 1 minute later. After more than 8 days of racing, a round trip to the Arctic Circle and over 3,200 miles covered, there was therefore a gap of just 2 hours and 16 minutes between the top three. Mind-boggling!
