Approaching the Doldrums

The sustained trade winds, which have been propelling them along at high speed over the past 36 hours are running out of puff the further South they get. As a result, Giancarlo Pedote and Anthony Marchand are beginning to slow up the pace this morning and they’re now preparing to tackle one of the major obstacles of this Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre: the famous Doldrums. The leaders of the IMOCA fleet made their entrance yesterday evening and it’s plain to see that they’ve been making laboured progress since that time, plagued by the lack of wind and the squalls synonymous with this inter-tropical convergence zone. As one might expect, this zone has already begun to set the fleet at loggerheads and even shake up the hierarchy. Indeed, the duo of Jérémie Beyou – Christopher Pratt, who boasted a lead of 80 miles upon entering the zone, has handed pole position to the duo of Charlie Dalin – Yann Eliès, positioned slightly further over to the East. Proof then that this stagnant zone may really stir things up and fire up the match once more. The pair on Prysmian Group, currently lying in 16^thposition, are all too aware of this and are very much hoping to carve out the best possible path once they’re inside. They appear to be opting for an intermediate course in relation to their closest rivals, who are attacking to the West and to the East. “It’s a zone where you have to be able to remain unfazed” commented Beyou this morning. Giancarlo and Anthony will certainly try to remember that, though it’s likely that their nerves will be on edge over the next 24 hours.