A fast-paced course, with six waypoints (course markers) to round on a 455-mile route : “A bit W-shaped, it's even a bit tricky,” said race director Yann Eliès this morning.

The outline

“We've got great conditions forecast for the start: around fifteen knots from the north-west. Fine weather, fine seas, even if there's a risk of showers. The fleet will be setting off with the wind on the beam between the Pointe du Talud and the Pointe de Pen Men in Groix. Once they have rounded the island of Groix to port, they will continue on a long downwind leg in a strengthening northerly wind as far as the mouth of the Gironde, to round the first Gautier Sergent waypoint off Royan, probably by nightfall on Thursday evening.

After that, the IMOCA boats will continue on a short beam wind tack, which will keep the fleet apart and ensure that the boats don't pass each other between the descent and the ascent, which will then begin upwind towards Yeu Island. The frontrunners are expected there in the middle of the night on Friday, before setting off again a little offshore towards Penmarc'h, before a short downwind leg and a return to port on Saturday morning for the frontrunners.”

Constraints

“We had to deal with quite a few constraints, and it wasn't easy to design this customized course, which takes into account the timing of the arrivals, the need to avoid an area of high concentration of marine mammals on the continental shelf, and the need to stay in the eastern part of the Bay of Biscay, since we have high pressure and a windless zone that tends to approach the French coast. If we want to stay in a nice band of wind, where the boats can sail at decent speeds, we have to keep the fleet in this coastal zone in the eastern Bay of Biscay”.