Maxi trimaran Banque Populaire VII, Armel le Cleac'h passes the Canary Islands and is ahead of reference time for the Discovery Route

From the following press release (in French) on the Banque Populaire sailing website:

http://www.voile.banquepopulaire.fr/Armel-Le-Cleac-h/Armel-Le-Cleac-h-prend-le-large-9893.html#suite

and the rough bing translate below:

After now more than a day and a half of navigation, Armel Le Cléac ' h, aboard the Maxi Solo Bank Populaire VII, file at high speed in the direction of the Bahamas. Last night was not any rest for the skipper of the Bank of the sail but it has very well negotiated the first delicate passage, the Canary Islands. At 9 h 30 clock, it has more than 87.9 mile lead over the reference time set by Francis Joyon in February 2013 on the Route de la Découverte, crossed the Atlantic between Cádiz and the island of San El Salvador.

It is never easy to go in the middle of the Canary Islands, the wind is often very irregular and very present maritime traffic. But at the moment everything is smoothly as explains Ronan Lucas, Director of the Team Banque Populaire who joined Armel by phone this morning: «» Armel is shaped and the boat also! We knew that this passage in the Canary Islands would be one of the most delicate moments of the course and we were not wrong. The wind was very irregular, Armel met with winds gusting up to 40 knots and had to maneuver a good part of the night. He took a second reef in the mainsail for more cautiously. He crossed Gran Canaria starboard * around 4:30 in the morning and then it gybed towards San El Salvador. Now it is left for a long starboard tack tack several days but we are really relieved that within 24 hours when it will be definitely out of this delicate area. It should still extend his lead in the coming hours if everything goes well. »