Privileged moment live from the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere northeast of the Brazilian archipelago of Fernando de Noronha. In full vacation with the mainland, Thomas Rettant and Morgan Lagravière, leaders of the Jacques Vabre in the Imoca category on LinkedOut, discover at the same time as us the score of Friday noon. "We're the fastest again," smiles the Northerner, not unhappy to take a few miles back from Apivia, which has its little reputation in the industry: "It's a boat that goes really very fast so it's nice to be there. even faster. We just had our best run in an hour. "
For the first time or almost, in a race a little slower than the forecasts before Transat had led to expect, the official website indicated a little over 25 knots on the clock, which is enough to explain the violent shocks and the noise at on board during our phone call on the high seas. The price to pay to keep the lead of the race: Thursday evening, the first two pursuers of the Rouillard-Lagravière tandem had returned to about fifteen miles from the blue boat, forcing its two sailors to engage in a fierce struggle to keep this asset both so fragile and precious that is the leadership of a rather peculiar war of nerves.
" Nothing is left to chance "
Nothing to do with last year's Vendée Globe.
“There is no accordion effect or it stops at the front and it comes back from behind.
There, the gaps are very tight in the lead from the start, ”analyzes Thomas Rettant.
However, there is no question of sacrificing sleep on the altar of speed, especially when the presence on board of an additional man offers the comfort of a few extra hours of sleep compared to solo sailing.
“Nothing is left to chance, even if it takes a bit of success.
We have prepared the boat, we have prepared ourselves, we manage our sleeping times, we take turns.
Even in the most tense moments like these last hours, we try to get a minimum of sleep.
»Who gets the prize for the biggest sleeper?
"You have to ask Morgan," laughs Rouillard.
Frankly it's tight, it doesn't play out much.
"
Crossing the equator and offering to Neptune
It is still necessary to succeed in sleeping in these areas of the globe where the sweltering heat is rife.
In the doldrums and the equator that the front of the fleet has just passed, we are a priori less raclette than rum, as the two men demonstrated when crossing the imaginary line by paying 'an offering to Neptune, before indulging in a sip or two.
There is something to celebrate.
The doldrums, this area "very feared because the weather is very unpredictable and the weather reports less reliable", says Thomas Rettant, is finally behind LinkedOut.
Even going north towards Martinique after having bypassed Fernando de Noronha, this intertropical convergence zone should no longer bother the duo by the end of the race.
From there to saying that the final straight line will be quieter, there is a step that we will not take: let's not forget that four madmen are whipping, just behind.
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