Cape Verde – November 19
As soon as headed out from Mindelo (a great moment of emotion, the transatlantic is now beginning...), the racing starts again - we study the water. We look for transits and establish a countdown for the line. The start is planned with the monohulls and the wind is light. In our sights, the NEEL 47 Bigbird seems to be hesitant. Well focused, we decide to start under gennaker.
Off to a good start: Piment Rouge takes the lead! On our starboard side and under yellow Parasailor, the inevitable Bigbird who we’ll have to beat by a good day. Ahead of us, apart from the dolphins, nothing but beautiful adventure awaits! Faced with this immense challenge, we launch big maneuvers in the galley with a new take on salad, sailing under asymmetrical spinnaker on port tack...
 |
 |
November 20
24 hours into the race. The conditions on this new leg are totally different. After a tight start, we broke away with 4 other boats. Monohulls Flow and Arya have dived south. We’ve started a more moderate descent and Bigbird is sailing dead downwind with her Parasailor. At the same longitudes, we are currently second in terms of distance to go (in a straight line). On that basis, we have just passed the 2,000 miles remaining mark. And we’re in 5,000 meters of water!
November 21
Early morning gybe: heading west! There’s a big bird to catch! After a night where Bigbird has managed to reduce the gap while we were looking for wind farther the south, we’re back at 8-10 kts and gradually gaining ground. The winches are electric, but we’re using them manually to save electricity.
In order to keep up with the ranking as much as possible, we’ve downloaded weather files until we found one that matches what we’ve got. In parallel, we made some tables using the GPS positions given every 3 hours. A graph can then show the dates, the number of miles, the wind direction, the percentages of upwind, beam and downwind sailing, the wind speed and finally the catamaran’s speed. These small calculations allowed me to really appreciate that while a degree of latitude is equal to 60 nautical miles, those of longitude vary according to the latitude.
November 22
72 Hours in. We live to the rhythm of the watches, sunrise/sunset/moon and meals, but also by the rhythm of weather information, position reports and their analysis.
Currently second behind the NEEL 47, it seems that we are going faster. However, we’re switching tack while she is still going straight ahead. When we are on course, we’re gaining on her nicely. Then she leaves us behind when we are on the wrong tack. The weather forecast could be more favorable to us. We’ll keep watching it…
 |
 |
November 23
We pass the 35th meridian. This means changing the clocks, and in order not to disturb the watch-keeping system (especially at night), the change is made at 1pm.
After having Bigbird within 4 miles of us last night, our change of tack let her slip away. However, our overall momentum is bringing us closer to her. According to current estimates, we should pass her definitively within 2-4 days. From then on, our main competitors will be Flow and Arya, both monohulls.
November 24
Perfect watches in T-shirt - Star gazing: The Southern Cross and Big Dipper with Orion appearing to blend into the celestial landscape. 8 knots average speed in 15 knots of wind. It is time to go to bed after this dream day, especially since tonight, it was the Captain’s mahi-mahi tataki!
 |
 |
November 25
144 Hours into the race, and we are currently in 4th place. A group of 3 boats to the north are in the lead (Bigbird, Hibernian and Helios). Flow and Arya, the Class 40s from the Transat Jacques Vabre, and us, are to the south. The weather forecasts are giving very different conditions depending on the sector. We still hope to cross the finish line in the lead or at least with the monohulls to the south. The speed record to beat - in surfing mode of course - of 24.4 knots is still far from being achieved: since the start of this leg, our top speed has been 15.2 knots.
November 26
168 Hours in. We’re in second again. We are placed where we want to be. The forecasts are very favorable for us compared to the leader. The risk is that once we are ahead, our pursuers will be thinking the same thing as us... Let’s go for a final sprint of more than five days!
November 27
192 Hours in. During these last 24 hours, we’ve enjoyed the best conditions since the start of this leg: we have finally caught up with Bigbird. The average of the different points puts us at the same distance from the finish. To the south, we have widened the gap with Flow; aware of Piment Rouge’s superior speed in our conditions (wind at 155/160°), her crew has changed course to the north to probably try something else. Arya, on the other hand, is maintaining her course. It’s great to race with them - the final sprint continues!
November 28
We’re able to produce fresh water and electricity on board. However, this requires the engines to be run out of gear. The freewheeling propellers slow our catamaran down. Having decided to go for the overall ranking as far as possible, we decided to make only 50 gallons of water, which should allow us to last until the finish. Let’s go for seawater showers. Be careful! Getting a bucket of water at 10 knots is not that easy...
November 29
240 Hours into the race. We are officially ranked first in the daily list. We continue to outrun our competitors at an average rate of one nautical mile every hour. It’s up to us to keep up the momentum! A squall catches up with us in the middle of the night (downwind, the clouds come from behind). The squall, first detected visually, is confirmed by the radar - the precipitation is clearly visible on the screen. The spinnaker is lowered. The wind (maximum 25/30 knots) and the rain are finally only moderately strong. False alarm, the wind doesn’t rise further. We hoist the spinnaker back up and let the squall pass us, enjoying the wind (the warm rain, not so much). Later, as the squalls pass, we sail dead downwind, gooosewinging with the genoa, and then we try, without any convincing result, the big heavy symmetrical spinnaker.
November 30
264 Hours in. Still in first! Nevertheless, Bigbird is gaining more than we imagined, taking advantage of the squalls too. Cut to the quick, we watch for the gusts so we can bear away at the last moment (or not bear away) and we’re steering by hand to get maximum surf (for those who know how). Peaks above 20 knots and averages around 10!
We’re not letting go!
The squalls present the opportunity of being able to do some laundry, since we’re able to catch some fresh water. The difficult part is drying it…
 |
 |
Grenada - December 1
At 11:10 pm and 23 seconds, Piment Rouge was the first across the finish line in Grenada after 302 hours and 39 minutes of sailing, having covered 2,509 nautical miles on this second leg over a course with a theoretical distance of 2,280 miles. A nice run to the south and then more on the wind for the final 5-day sprint allowed us to catch up and overhaul Bigbird. Now, we’re just waiting for the engine hours declarations to come in, before finding out the rankings for this leg and then the overall results...
 |
 |
Grenada - December 9
It’s the prize-giving ceremony in Grenada! In the end, our handicap penalized us heavily, and we ended up 4th out of 22 multihull competitors on corrected time - behind the indestructible NEEL 47, of course, but also behind the Lagoon 42 Tortuga and the Lagoon 380 S2 Scat Cat. But we were first across the line, ahead of the whole fleet!
