Tacks, Traffic, and Tired Eyes: The Final Push to Portsmouth

The fleet hit its latest turning point — a high-pressure ridge that split fortunes wide open. The forecast said slowdowns were coming, but the leaders somehow slipped through with more breeze than expected. “We enjoyed dream conditions right after the ridge,” said Biotherm’s Paul Meilhat, still holding the top spot. Yoann Richomme on Paprec Arkéa, chasing hard in second, was equally relieved to have crossed it “faster than expected.”

For those further back, it was a different story. Will Harris on Team Malizia watched a 2.5-mile gap balloon to 10. “We felt stuck — it was frustrating,” he admitted. At the tail, Alan Roura’s Team Amaala crawled along at 3 knots, the front-runners slipping away. “We’re fighting the current with just 4-5 knots of wind ahead. It’s tough,” said Roura, “but we’re not giving up.”

The final stretch now funnels the fleet into the English Channel, with the coast on one side and exclusion zones on the other. By Dover, the squeeze is down to five miles, then just 3.3 miles at its tightest. Normally that would be tight enough — but with a forecast south-westerly, the one wind direction they didn’t want, there’ll be no easy layline. Crews will “ping-pong” from side to side, tacking again and again just to inch forward.

“We won’t have more than half an hour without a manoeuvre until the end,” warned Meilhat. That means hundreds of kilos of kit shifting from side to side, over and over, in the dark. Sleep? Stolen in five-minute bursts — if they’re lucky.

“Tonight into the morning, it’s going to be carnage,” added Biotherm’s Jack Bouttell. “Light wind, constant manoeuvres, and near Dover, a wall of shipping traffic — ferries, cargo, everything moving fast. You’ve got to watch every second.”

At midday UTC, Biotherm led Paprec Arkéa by 18 miles, with Malizia another 14 back. Be Water Positive trailed by 70, and Team Amaala by 96. If Biotherm can hold pace through the night, they could be slipping into Portsmouth in the early hours — though race rules may stretch the course to allow a daylight finish.

And in the background, the two teams sidelined by the Kiel collision — Team Holcim PRB and Allagrande MAPEI Racing — are locked in mutual protests, set for hearing in Cartagena after Leg 2. For now, both remain in the shed, patching hulls and masts, and quietly plotting their comebacks.