This Wednesday, Race Management reported that it is repositioning the Gallimard mark, the southern waypoint in the Vendée – Arctique – Les Sables d’Olonne.

The Gallimard mark has therefore been repositioned at 46°20N – 015°W, very slightly below the latitude of Les Sables d’Olonne and some 400 miles off the Atlantic coast. By relocating this waypoint, Race Management is effectively enabling the last boats in the fleet to avoid becoming ensnared in an extensive high pressure zone settling over the Azores, where it was initially positioned.

The total theoretical course for the Vendée – Arctique – Les Sables d’Olonne is therefore being shortened from 3,566 nautical miles to 2,807 miles, for approximately the same overall duration.

Jacques Caraës, Race Director of the Vendée – Arctique – Les Sables d’Olonne:“By repositioning the Gallimard mark, Race Management and the weather cell are simply trying to refine the ETAs (estimated time of arrival). A high pressure system is settling in over the Azores, which the back runners might well have become ensnared in if the initial positioning had been retained. Positioning the mark at 46°20N – 015°W enables us to pretty much stick to the initial format of around 12 days. It is likely there will be a bunching up of the fleet with around thirty hours separating the first and last boats. The skippers in the Class IMOCA have really had their work cut out in the first part of the race. When you sail a course from north to south, you know that you’re going to pass through various weather systems rather than accompanying them: low pressure systems, ridges of high pressure, sustained or light winds, all of which enable you to play around with strategies and work on points of sail. This is evidenced by the fact that the IMOCAs with classic (straight) daggerboards are still in the match and it’s very difficult to predict who will make the podium!”