The leader of the Ultim Challenge Charles Caudrelier returned to the North Atlantic on Friday after 40 days of racing around the world alone, while his first pursuer Armel Le Cléac’h stopped off in Brazil due to further damage .
The skipper of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, the only competitor not to have made a stopover, crossed the equator in the morning and was now heading towards Brest, where he was expected around February 24.
“This is the ideal scenario, I return to the North Atlantic with a huge lead over my pursuers who have technical problems for some,” said Caudrelier, 49, in a video sent from his sailboat.
Behind him, “the jackal” Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire), in 2nd position in the ranking, stopped in Rio after a collision with a log, severely damaging a rudder.
“I was sailing along Argentina, downwind, in consistently fast conditions. I had just come out of a very busy 24 hours with depression (…) It was a real blow to the head,” said Le Cléac’h.
The skipper began to assess the damage more precisely on Friday, putting his race “on hold”. “Together, we will get active (…) and study all the options available to us,” he said. Sailor Thomas Coville (Sodebo) was some 600 miles (1,100 km) from 2nd place on Friday, after finding some wind.
Ranking Friday at 5:00 p.m. Paris (GMT 1):
1. Maxi Edmond de Rothschild (Charles Caudrelier) 3,163 nautical miles from the finish
2. Maxi Banque Populaire XI (Armel Le Cléac’h) 1,627 miles from the first
3. Sodebo Ultim 3 (Thomas Coville) at 2,253 miles
4. Actual Ultim 3 (Anthony Marchand) at 5,793 miles
5. Adagio (Eric Péron) at 6,523 miles
Abandon: SVR-Lazartigue (Tom Laperche)