ECHOES OF THE DAY : FIRST 24 HOURS ON GLOBE40

The 9 Class40 teams competing in the prologue of the GLOBE40 were treated to a superb start on Thursday 4 September, which made up for the few days of waiting due to hurricanes and various storms. Marked emotion when leaving the pontoon of LORIENT LA BASE, well filled for a departure during the week, with the feeling of living a unique moment for a trip around the planet.

Then on the water awaited them 25 knots of wind under a bright sun, with a heavy sea heir to the last few days, and the further west we went, turning into a long hollow swell coming from the open sea. The start phase was cautious, with the competitors following the instructions given by the race management, the photo taken at the morning briefing on the clash at the start between two competitors at the 1st edition in 2022 in Tangier having had its effect. But the coastal course with a buoy to pass at the Pointe du Talud was quickly swallowed up at around fifteen knots before heading south-west, leaving the island of Groix and the Pen Men lighthouse to port.

In some 30,000 miles she will have to leave to starboard…

A nice surprise was to discover Michel Desjoyaux and Alexandre Legallais who came to greet the start of GLOBE40 in their new Class40 n°210 40 AGITÉ. Coming from a double winner of the Vendee Globe, the salvation was appreciated at its true value.

Now heading directly towards Cape Finisterre, the Class40s saw the wind weaken in the evening and during the night at around ten knots or less. The first groups were formed, with CREDIT MUTUEL and BELGIUM OCEAN RACING – CURIUM taking turns sharing the lead of the race; already looking for the podium the young Germans of NEXT GENERATION BOATING AROUND THE WORLD and the female crew of ENGIE DESSINE MOI LA HIGH TECH completed the plateau of the scows a few miles away. On the point side, the 5 competitors were also a few miles apart: FREE DOM met his best rival in the CIC NORMANDY CHANNEL RACE in the person of JANGADA RACING, followed shortly by BARCO BRAZIL, WILSON AROUND THE WORLD and WHISKEY JACK also throwing the first foil touches.

After a period of calm at the end of the night and in the morning, the wind returned from the east to propel the Class40s again at around ten knots towards the north-western tip of Spain.

Or according to the weather forecast, a new front awaits them tomorrow with winds of 30/35 knots, but the skippers are only expected to endure these new difficult conditions for a few hours.

The wind then shifted to the north-west and allowed them to start a fairly fast downwind descent of the Spanish and Portuguese coasts. A total of 200 miles will have already been covered in 24 hours despite light winds for half of the period. The estimated time of arrival of the first in Cadiz (the famous ETA – Estimated Time Arrival … a word that will often be pronounced in the coming months on the GLOBE40… ) still in the evening on Monday, September 8th. 

 It should also be noted that the virtual GLOBE40 on the famous game VIRTUAL REGATTA also started the prologue at the same time with more than 10,000 players already registered.