Arkéa Ultim Challenge: the fleet slows down, concerns around Armel Le Cléac'h

The six sailors of the Arkéa Ultim Challenge spent their fifth night at sea. After battling in a depression with winds blowing at 50 knots and a very rough Atlantic Ocean with waves of more than four meters, the small fleet found calmer sailing conditions on the gentle trade wind route.

The pace has certainly slowed down but the leading duo remains the same with Maxi Edmond de Rothschild in the hands of Charles Caudrelier having a very short lead over SVR Lazartigue of Tom Laperche at only 4.5 miles at the 11:00 clock. The two men follow each other's tracks and travel at a speed between 15 and 18 knots at the latitude of Cape Verde. Just enough to make their sea giant fly.

Also read: Arkéa Ultim Challenge: start, route, competitors and reward, what you need to know about the event race

The front pair took flight from the pursuers. Armel Le Cléac'h is 158 miles behind the leader. But above all we noticed that Banque Populaire had reduced its speed very early Friday morning. This fell to just five knots while Thomas Coville, in the wake, was making 25 knots. The braking didn't last but he asks questions. Did the Jackal have a problem on his maxi-trimaran? Did he have to carry out checks after detecting an anomaly before restarting the machine, reassured? Mystery. “We have not received a call from the Banque Populaire team for the moment regarding this situation,” race director Guillaume Rottee simply commented this Friday morning at 7 a.m. The team of recent winner of the Transat Jacques Vabre confirmed this slowdown without saying more.

Fleet rankings Friday at 11:00 a.m.: 1. Maxi Edmond de Rothschild (Charles Caudrelier) 22,135 nautical miles from the finish2. SVR-Lazartigue (Tom Laperche) at 4.5 miles3. Maxi Banque Populaire XI (Armel Le Cléac'h) at 158.3 miles4. Sodebo Ultim 3 (Thomas Coville) at 161.5 miles5. Actual Ultim 3 (Anthony Marchand) at 242.7 miles 6. Adagio (Éric Péron) at 437.9 miles