For the French sailors in this race it is very special to return to their homeland, especially to La Rochelle with the medieval port and castle. The old port of La Rochelle, the heart of the city, beats to the rhythm of the tides. Close by, the morning market is about to bristle with pyramids of pink prawns, still alive, of fish with clear eyes and bright red gills, proof of their freshness, of boxes of mussels still shining from the water of the mussel beds and of the thousands of hampers of oysters which will be off to grace the party on the tables of Paris.

La Rochelle is ranked the number two French fishing port for fresh fish. It is one of France‚s first yachting ports, and this is where the largest national concentration of companies linked to water sports can be found. Everything here speaks of the sea, which is friendlier than in Brittany, where it often wears the dark colours of tragedy, and less cultural than the Mediterranean, where everything came from the sea. Here, the sea is a partner with whom to live, eat, create, export, travel, entertain.

La Rochelle is a remarkable city that will be 1000 years old in 2023, where the sea enables contacts, travels, departures and reunions. For many years a key city during the Reformation, La Rochelle has kept a tradition of being welcoming, open minded, and fostering a spirit of enterprise.

This town on the west coast of France is a fascinating mixture of the old and the new. Fishing and shipbuilding play a large part in the local culture. The Old Port is a popular tourist location, with its many street cafés and restaurants.

France and La Rochelle have a long history in round the world racing. Eric Tabarly, the French godfather of ocean racing set out in the first race in 1973/74 to conquer the world‚s oceans with a revolutionary design, sporting a Uranium keel. Three weeks out on leg one, it was not the keel that shattered the dreams, but the main mast that broke. Even though the French participation was strong, it took until the fourth race in 1985/86 that a French yacht brought home victory - Lionel Pean on Esprit d‚Equipe took the overall price.

The last French yacht to participate in the race was again Eric Tabarly in the 93/94 race aboard La Poste. Four years later France lost the nation’s sailing hero when he went over board from his beloved yacht Pen Duick I in the Irish Sea.

Today Sidney Gavignet wrote from ASSA ABLOY, currently in second position : "Back to France, my country,..., that’s cool ! We are about 10 French guys in the race including shore teams, I am happy to be one of them representing "our sailing" into this very Anglo-Saxon oriented race. We need more Anglo-Saxon coming sailing in France bringing different ways of doing it."

But La Rochelle‚s fame also grips the imagination of sailors from the other side of the world. Anthony ’Nocka’ Nossiter from djuice already wrote some days ago : "I hear La Rochelle has famous oysters ? I expect an oyster to be my first feed once we hit shore. It will be tough trying to compete to the Australian Sydney rock oyster, proven by oyster specialists to be the most potent of all oyster aphrodisiacs ? Perhaps a little vino [wine] too."

Lets share Sidney Gavignet‚s wish for the next two weeks : "I wish this stopover will be the best one."

On the racecourse all the boats are homing in for La Rochelle, with Amer Sports One setting the pace with that bit of extra boat speed in critical situations, which has given Grant Dalton some good results on previous legs. Will he be able to catch Tyco on these last miles towards the finish line ?

Gurra Krantz’s SEB to the south is gaining on djuice only and they are watching the fleet anxiously. They have to sail the closest wind angle towards La Rochelle, but as Gurra mentioned in an email : "No guts, no glory they say, but not this time."

ASSA ABLOY holds the four-mile lead over Tyco, a cushion they are eager to protect. To ASSA ABLOY it will be even more important that Tyco stays in front of News Corp and Amer Sports One as those two boats are the main rivals for podium places in the Volvo Ocean Race.