He considers that the race really has run to expectations, “ You know, the boats with the most experience and best boats in upwind conditions have well. You know, the Verdier hull shape (MACIF Santé Prévoyance and Association Petits Princes – Quéguiner), upwind it's got a significant edge on the others, especially on the Koch designs. That is about the foil and the hull layout, it’s like we saw in the Vendée with Charlie versus Yoann, and on the Ocean Race last year. It's just a more powerful hull section, the Verdier has a flatter run aft and a bit more beam in the back and the foils are more powerful and set up for upwind sailing. So it has not really been a lot of surprises. Sam obviously is the most experienced of all the sailors out there. It has been exactly as you'd expect. Elodie's been going well. You know, she's obviously got the same hull shape as Sam and a different set of foils. So we expect her not be as quick on paper and equally a bit less experienced than Sam, obviously. But she's held herself well. Elodie has got the V1 foils and the V2 foils are what Sam's got. Elodie She's where you'd expect her to be. I kind of feel like everyone's in the place you'd expect them to be. Sam has been solid. He's just sailing the boat. Sam has made sensible decisions. I think he's obviously confident and knows the boat pretty well.
He highlights, “Violette and Frankie have been sailing well. Violette's obviously got a bit more single-handed experience than Frankie has. Frankie's got a bit more IMOCA 60 experience than Violette. I expect Violette to be a little bit better than Frankie on the whole. But I think they're all sailing really well. You know, I'm pretty impressed with all three women. I think they're in a good place and had a good battle in the first 1000 Miles race It looks like they've been having a good battle here and no one's made any big mistakes. So there's a bit of boat speed and set-up differences I think. They've got some work to do and they're learning a lot. But none of them have found themselves in a situation that's been a real mess up. They've all been sailing pretty solidly and learning their boats, which is what you'd expect. And big picture it is no mean task sailing up to the Arctic Circle and back. So I think they obviously take the seriousness of the course in to consideration in their decisions and how hard they've pushed the boats. For them, they've got to finish and qualify and have the boats in one piece that they can compete in the Route du Rhum.”
