Starting gun fired and Skippers have finaly some peace and time to enjoy themselves. Usually "pontoon frenzy" doesn't suit the profile of the mini sailor to much (with some noted exceptions) and leaving all the buzz behind is usually welcome relief.
So what can we say. The suggested favourites are doing well, although coditions allow minimal tactical choices. In this coditions good sails, boat and skippers ability to make her go fast are decisive. Rankings look more or less as expected, only proto that stands out is poor performance of Lucas Montagne on very fast Finot design.
Only two selection points I can see at the moment are the Finnistere with it's acceleration zone and the approach to the finish where the center of the high kills the wind and can reshuffle the cards. We can expect accordion effect with top runners extending their lead after Finnistere and then followers catching up again close to the finsh.
The difference between top protos and top serie is as expected (serie are about 8% slower) but the bulk of the proto fleet might again be challenged by their much heavier low tech brothers when they reach stronger conditions.