According to the latest estimates (ETA), the tandem aboard the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild should cross the line as the winner of the Ultimes at Fort-de-France on Tuesday (midday local time, end of the day Paris time) .

"There is not a lot of air, 5-6 knots, it does not really correspond to the (weather) files and it has been going on for a long time ... You have to be patient, there is not much we can do ", underlined Franck Cammas.

"We've been really looking forward to arriving for a few days now. We would like to go faster, and enjoy the Martinican atmosphere," continued the skipper of the 32-meter long flying maxi-trimaran.

Cammas and Caudrelier saw their 200 nautical mile (approximately 370 km) lead melt in the space of twelve hours over their direct pursuers, Armel Le Cléach 'and Kevin Escoffier (Maxi Banque Populaire XI).

French skippers Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier aboard their boat Ultim Edmond de Rothschild, during the ferry to the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre, October 27, 2021 Sebastien SALOM-GOMIS AFP / Archives

And they should also be preceded in the bay of Fort-de-France by three multihulls of the Ocean Fifty class (15 m), the boats of this category having a course a third shorter than the Ultimes.

Four winners

The latest ETAs give the leader of this fleet, Sébastien Rogues and Matthieu Souben (Primonial), on the line overnight from Monday to Tuesday, followed by two other Ocean Fifty, or three boats of this class within a five-hour window.

Starting November 7 from Le Havre, the biannual race will therefore know its outcome after two weeks of crossing the Atlantic.

And there will not be one, but four winners, i.e. one per class of boat: the Ultimes (32 m) and the Ocean Fifty (15 m) for multihulls, and the Imoca (Vendée Globe boats, 18 m) and Class 40 (12 m) for monohulls.

The race management has set up three routes to take depending on the category of the sailboat to offer a relatively grouped finish.

The Ultimes (5 boats competing) have 7,500 nautical miles (13,890 km) to cover, 5,800 nm (10,741 km) for the Imoca (22 boats), ditto for the Ocean Fifty (7 boats), and 4,600 nm (8,519 km) for Class 40 (45 boats).

In the Ultimes, victory seems almost acquired for the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, a giant launched in July 2017 and which is now quite reliable.

Something to appease the actors of this elitist fleet, which is making a comeback on a great classic after the heavy damage suffered during the Route du Rhum in 2018.

Suspense for the Vendée Globe boats

The Transat Jacques Vabre is also a first for two of these flying maxi-trimarans: the Maxi Banque Populaire XI and the boat of François Gabart and Tom Laperche (SVR Lazartigue).

As for the Vendée Globe boats, the Imoca, the suspense is in order.

On Monday, Thomas Rettant and Morgan Lagravière (LinkedOut) were still in command with Charlie Dalin and Paul Meilhat (Apivia) in ambush.

Just like Jérémie Beyou and Christopher Pratt (Charal).

The podium will be played a priori on Thursday.

Finally, in Class 40, the first monohull should not arrive before Tuesday, November 30 in Martinique, which is hosting the Transat Jacques Vabre for the first time.

The festivities could be disrupted by the call for a general strike launched from Monday on the island.

On Monday, some 3,000 protesters marched through the city without incident.

Some have taken the race village.

The fleet of 79 boats had few setbacks as the sea was rather mild.

No 4-meter hollows that could have seriously damaged the boats.

Sunday evening, there were still only four withdrawals (2 Imoca and 2 class 40).

© 2021 AFP