Global Sailing Highlights World on Water Mar 08.24 Vendee Globe, 44 Cup, 470, 18 Footers, ARKEA 2/3

Ahead of the Vendée Globe start in November, is the New York Vondée to LaesSables 'Olonne qualifying race, which sets sail on May 29th. This race is the last meeting for the skippers before the Vendée Globe. The 3,100 mile, (5,741 kilometer) course, takes the sailors on a single-handed transatlantic qualifying race from New York's Manhattan.

This is your weekly global sailing highlights show, the World on Water, for March 8, 2024.

Thomas Coville, the French solo skipper of Sodebo Ultim 3, crossed the line off Brest, to finish the ARKÉA ULTIM CHALLENGE-Brest last Thursday afternoon, to take second place.
At 55 years of age, the sailor most widely known as ‘the recordman’, completed the ninth round the world passage of his career, in an elapsed time of 53 days, 1 hour, 12 minutes, 40 seconds.

The Canary Islands are renowned for their breezy northeasterly trade wind conditions, and today Lanzarote fully delivered this, with 20-25 knot winds, and occasional gusts of 30. In this wind, plus the lumpy sea state, playing it safe, and carrying out well executed manoeuvres, was order of the day for the nine teams. After 3 races, it was Team Nika First, Team Ceeref second, and Peninsula Racing third.

Two race wins for Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort, have moved the Germans into second place, and just four points off the Japanese leaders, after a breezier day, at the 470 World Championship, in Mallorca.

For some time, the Lanzarote forecast for day two of the 44Cup Calero Marinas, showed conditions exceeding the RC44 class’ theoretical upper wind limit of 25 knots. Anticipating this, PRO Maria Torrijo, brought the start time forward to 9 30. As the race got underway, the wind off Puerto Calero, was already into the high teens, with the odd gust into the early 20s. Daniel Calero’s newbies on Calero Sailing Team, won the pin from Chris Bake’s, Team Aqua, while Vladimir Prosikhin’s, Team Nika, started well at the weather end of the line. After 6 races having been run, the top 3 boats have not changed.

Armel Le Cleach, winner of the 2016-17 Vendée Globe, maintained his record of finishing on the podium on all three of his solo round the world races so far, when he crossed the finish line to complete the ARKÉA ULTIM CHALLENGE-Brest, solo, multihull, race round the world race, at 20 31 31 hours last Sunday evening, to take third place sailing the Ultim, Banque Populaire XI.
Le Cleach's elapsed time for the course is, 56 days, 8hours, 1 minute, 31 seconds. He finished 5 days, 12 hours, 53 minuts, 49 seconds after winner Charles Caudrelier.

Catch up on all the action from day 3 of the 44 Cup Calero Marinas, that delivered another day of prolonged gusts of +26 knots, and lulls as little as 15. The breeze, passing over Lanzarote’s mountainous barren landscape, created huge turbulence, churning up an short, sharp chop, to challenge the nine teams.

The outcome of the Winnings ,24 JJ Giltinan Championship, is still wide open between the three leading teams, with just three more races to be sailed, as the 27-boat fleet focuses on winning the coveted JJ Giltinan, World 18 footer trophy, currently being contested on Sydney Harbour.
With six races of the nine-race regatta now completed, each team’s worst race result to date is excluded from the net score and reflects a truer position as the event moves closer to completion next Sunday.