The French team headed by Franck Cammas finally found breeze in the hours of darkness and have leapfrogged into first place according to the last position report at 0400 UTC, when they had a seven nautical mile lead over second placed Team Telefónica.
PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG lie three nautical miles behind the Spanish team, and CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand in fourth a further 20 nautical miles astern.
With the French crew now benefitting from their bold split from the fleet, the mood on Groupama 4 is understandably upbeat.
“The atmosphere on board is following a parallel curve to the strength of the wind” said media crew member Yann Riou in a report from the boat this morning. “Everyone on board has been 100 per cent behind the decision to go south and we are all working hard to make it pay.”
