In the second leg of the Round Europe race, the monohulls have found it tough going up the coastline of Portugal, with the two leading boats suffering damage in mid-race. On board Yves Parlier’s Aquitaine Innovations, young Briton Ellen MacArthur had to spend one and a half hours at the top of the mast working on repairs. Fortunately, this did not set them back too much.

Aquitaine Innovations has been taking an offshore route, tacking upwind furiously in big seas to gain on Catherine Chabaud, whose boat, Whirlpool, has kept close to the Iberian coast.

Yves Parlier comments from his chart table: “We have tacked six times in the last four hours. My crew are on constant standby and there is much work to do in these manoeuvres to avoid the drop in wind ahead – the race is not over yet!”

The gap between the two rivals has narrowed to seven miles, with everything to play for over the next 24 hours before the finish in Lorient. Variable weather is forecast, as these two boats fight it out tooth and nail for overall victory in the Round Europe Race.

MULTIHULLS

Lalou Roucayrol and his crew aboard Banque Populaire took line honours in Lorient at 1113 on Thursday 1 July. It had taken the crew 3 days 23hr 3min 8sec to complete the course at an average speed of 11.87 knots. Their surprise decision to stay way offshore off Portugal paid off, thanks to the skill of ex-Whitbread/Commodore Explorer crewman Jacques Vincent

. Loick Peyron and Fujicolour came in 17hr 40min 9 sec behind in 2nd place for this leg, taking 1st overall in the multihull class for the fourth time in this event.

Alain Gautier’s Broceliande was a mere 6min 39sec behind Fujicolour after four days of racing at an average speed of ten knots.

Results:

Multihulls – Leg 2:

1. Banque Populaire (Lalou Roucayrol)

2. Fujicolour (Loick Peyron)

3. Broceliande (Alain Gautier)

Overall Winner: Fujicolour (Loick Peyron)