Nov. 4 – On the fifth day since the start of the second leg of the Mini Transat (the toughest one, from Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands, to Pointe-à-Pitre, in Guadeloupe, for a total of about 2,770 miles as the crow flies), the bulk of the fleet, between Proto and Serie, is off the Cape Verde Archipelago, in the middle of the Atlantic. Some retreat, by virtue of 25/30 knots with two-meter high waves in the early days. The dilemma, for everyone, is that there is more wind to the south: better to stretch out and go for it or go straight west?
ZAMBELLI FOURTH, WITHIN A WHISKER OF FIRST
The good news comes to us from the Proto category, where our own Michele Zambelli, aboard Illumia, sails in fourth position. He was also third, but the positions up there can change at any moment. He is currently separated from the leader, Frédéric Denis on Nautipark, by only 29 miles. The second and third are there within a mile. The Romagna this morning was sailing at nearly 12 knots with a heading for 268°. With the withdrawal of the winner of the first leg, Davy Beaudart, the man from Flexirub, the boat with the round bow, the games were reopened. As Michele had already announced, before the departure, the most logical choice was to “jump” toward the African coast and go down as far as possible to catch those stable and unaffected winds of the North Atlantic depression that has so made the Transat Jacques Vabre guys suffer. Alberto Bona on Onlinesim.it, on the other hand, is further back in 11th position, 120 miles behind, but he is moving up the ladder.
AMONG THE SERIES THE BEST IS FORNARO
Among the Series, again led by Ian Lipinski on Entreprise(s) Innovante(s), winner of the first fraction, the Italians are a little behind: Andrea Fornaro on Sideral is in 16th position, Roland Ventura on Fondation Planiol is at step 21, and Federico Cuciuc on Zero & T is in 31st place.
