One more great sailing day for the penultimate leg of 2017 Martinique Cata Raid, connecting Sainte Anne to Vauclin, where tonic wind conditions do permit Team Boulogne to seriously deepen the gap with other competitors.
The fleet started from Sainte-Anne for a 20 Nautical Mile ride towards Vauclin, first sailing ranked towards the offset mark, then being full speed on the reach to get off the bay, and entering serious matters: Atlantic Ocean, who kept its promises, under 15 knots wind and 2 meter swell.
Emmanuel and Jean Boulogne took the lead of a group of six boats, who remained ahead the rest of the fleet up to the end of the race, local teams Poix and Giacometti using their perfect knowledge of the sailing area to exploit wind pressure as close as possible to the coast, being then rewarded by positions 4 and 5 on the finishing line.
English pair Sunnucks-White got line honours just ahead team Boulogne, who remain leaders on provisional ranking, increasing their advance on Dutreux-Cocaud by 4 min. and 31 sec.
Emmanuel and Jean Boulogne comment :
« We were rather easy today, as wheather conditions were close to perfect for our boat. We quickly took the lead, and then we just had to control the fleet up to the end of the leg. We did exploited the day to test various configurations on the boat. We did not get any GPS on board, making things somehow things complicated. Actually, we had too much chat on board, and we missed a mark. So we had to go back, leaving then the victory. But our goal today was to widen the gap with our main pursuer and, from that perspective, we are satisfied. From now on, our strategy will be : no big risk, no break, and stay focused to keep minimum distance with our opponents. »