The skipper of the Psaros 33 Eole 7 crossed the Vieux-Rhône mark in the lead at 5:03 p.m., after 7 hours and 33 minutes of racing. He is ahead of Pro Yachting Nivose, Carpediem Cube, MSC, and Katana, while the rest of the fleet—which is extremely tightly bunched—is engaged in a particularly intense battle despite the light winds.
After a very slow start, the southwest wind gradually picked up, reaching 15 knots in the early afternoon with sustained gusts that gave some competitors a hard time.
In the lead since leaving Petit-Lac, Alexander de Weck and his Luthi 1090 Katana led the race all afternoon, before hitting a lull off the coast of Le Bouveret and being caught by their closest competitors.
In the end, it was the Psaros 33 Eole 7 that crossed the Vieux-Rhône marker in the lead at 5:03 p.m., after 7 hours and 33 minutes of racing. It finished ahead of Pro Yachting Nivose, Carpediem Cube, and MSC, all of which made a strong comeback in the final kilometers. Katana finally crossed the mark four minutes later, in fifth place. One thing is certain: the return to Geneva promises to be long and complicated.
The rest of the fleet is closing in at a slow pace, but the competition is extremely intense within this tightly bunched fleet.
Among the sailboats best positioned in their respective classes during the first half of the race is Alain Stettler’s Melges 34 db, which is sailing in the leading pack alongside significantly faster boats. Also at the forefront are Thomas Birrer’s Esse 850 “Nessie” and Stéphane Wohnlich’s LW750 “Lou Régalou,” both of which have delivered remarkable performances. Not to mention *Body & Soul*, skippered by Jacques Emery, *Perchette*, and *50èmes Hurlants*, all perfectly positioned in the leading group.
In the Surprises category, where a fierce battle is underway, Isidore Stitelmann, the recent winner of the Mini Globe Race around-the-world race, is in the lead ahead of Gilles Lacour, Daniel Bouwmeester, and Marius Lanz.
Tonight, thermal breezes are expected to gradually pick up, allowing the competitors to continue on their way toward Geneva. The winner is not expected to arrive until the middle of the night.