The Défi Azimut kicked off yesterday with its most spectacular side: the speed Runs in the Courreaux de Groix. A short exercise, far removed from ocean racing, but an interesting one for Ambrogio Beccaria and Allagrande Mapei — the first direct comparison with the other IMOCAs since the installation of the new V3 foils.
©Jean-Marie Liot
With the wind building progressively through the session, Ambrogio was able to push the boat with his crew and compare speed and behaviour against his rivals, finishing fifth in a leaderboard where the gaps were extremely tight.
"It was a stunning day. The wind built little by little and it was wonderful to discover the boat with crew on board, with other people giving you input and feedback on how they feel it. For me it was very important, especially because we had the other boats right next to us and could directly compare. In these conditions the boat seems really super."
©Manon Le Guen
A test that's hard to compare to what Allagrande Mapei will find in the ocean: almost flat water, sheltered by the island of Groix, a race course that felt more like a circuit than an open sea.
"Some of the boats are impressive in these conditions. But it was almost a bit like a video game: no waves, we were sheltered by the island, and we were sailing with crew, which we never normally do. So it's somewhat particular conditions. But it was stunning — we did flights of nearly a minute without ever touching the water."
©Manon Le Guen
©Jean-Marie Liot
Today the picture changes entirely. At 15:30, Ambrogio leaves Lorient for the 48H Azimut, the heart of the event: over 500 miles in the Atlantic, solo, with only reporter Lorenzo Sironi on board. A short race by IMOCA standards, and all the more intense for it: little time to find a rhythm, few chances to recover from a mistake.
The first hours could already be decisive.
"We're leaving with a west-south-westerly ahead of a front. At the start it'll basically be a race to see who can stay in front of the front the longest."
Weather routing — 48H Azimut
The fleet will head down to the first waypoint in around fifteen knots on a fast point of sail — somewhere between beam reach and broad reach — trying to stay far enough ahead to avoid being caught too early by the deteriorating system.
"You have to push like crazy at the start to stay ahead of the front. The first one to get caught will end up running downwind in a zone with less wind and some tricky clouds."
After the southern waypoint the picture changes: the passage of the front brings north-westerly wind, set to back towards the west, and a long starboard tack begins — a very wide upwind — to head back north. The route takes the IMOCAs towards the edge of a high pressure system, into its weakest part, tracing what Ambrogio describes as a "gull-wing route" before tacking and pointing north again. From the final waypoint there's then a long downwind run back to Lorient. A geometry that, on paper at least, could reward whoever manages to take control of the race early on.
"It looks like a race where being upfront will be very important, especially at the start. If you can go fast straight away you can build a big lead. At the beginning of the upwind the fleet might bunch up a bit, but then it's back to whoever's in front, because the further north you are, the more wind you find."
The result could be a 48 hours where gaps open and close as successive weather systems move through. And the final stretch is far from guaranteed either.
"We might arrive with very little wind near the finish, and the cards could get reshuffled again. But that's in three days, so we'll see."
For Ambrogio, this will above all be the first real solo test of Allagrande Mapei's new setup. After the near-perfect flights of yesterday's Runs, from this afternoon the new configuration will have to prove what it can do in its natural environment: the ocean.
Lamberto Cesari
Follow the race
Live tracker →Live — 48H Azimut start · today at 15:30
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