Saturday review
Less than 9 miles separates the top three Vendée Globe competitors after 20 days of racing, while fourth-placed Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) is only 20 miles adrift of the leading trio as the fleet heads south and west into the roaring 40s.
In the early hours of this morning the lead pack shuffled places. Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance), leader for the last 3,000 miles, is now second, just two miles behind Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA). Meanwhile Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil) holds third place, only seven miles behind Dalin.
“It wasn't planned for me to take the lead again,” says Richomme. “I don't really know what happened. The wind must have been a bit twisted. I played my trajectory – there's nothing strategic about it, I'm just following my route and it put me in the lead. We had quite a bit of wind last night. We did a big sprint… super fast, with peaks of over 30 knots, which isn’t necessarily a thrill here.” He was one of a number of competitors throughout the fleet having to keep close track of nearby boats to avoid risk of collision. “I found myself side by side with Seb Simon who has an AIS that transmits less than a mile away. Suddenly, when I heard the alarm, I jumped out of my bunk!” Richomme adds.
Competition is equally close at the front of the non-foiling fleet of daggerboard boats and this morning Jean Le Cam (Tout commence en Finistère - Armor-lux) was able to speak with Louis Duc (Fives Group - Lantana Environnement) on short range VHF radio. Le Cam and Duc are currently among eight competitors separated by only 110 miles, though they are in very different weather, almost 2,000 miles behind the leaders.
Between the lead quartet and the first daggerboard boats, Justine Mettraux (Teamwork-Team SNEF), Clarisse Crémer (L’Occitane en Provence) and Boris Herrmann (Malizia - Sea Explorer) are less than two miles apart, but all in the influence of the St Helena high pressure system. The light winds, sunny weather and gentle sea state gave Crémer opportunity to catch up on maintenance, including repairs to the hydrogenerator and attending to chafe on running rigging.
Continued frustration
Herrmann, who was almost becalmed earlier today, shared his frustration: “Sitting inside the boat becomes difficult, looking at the screen, looking at the tracker. We made such a beautiful preparation of a new boat for four years. We could go at 20 knots... but instead here we are. It makes me a bit sad. I wish I could cry sometimes, but most of the time that emotion is positive. I'm doing what I need to do and I can change the position I am in.”
By contrast, Pip Hare (Medallia) is more upbeat today: “This is the most competitive edition of the race ever, and there are so many boats and everyone is so close in terms of their performance potential within each of the little groups. And when you make a mistake, you pay. In the last couple of months before the start I went out and found some bigger conditions to understand just a tiny bit more about the boat. We can never replicate the waves in the Southern Ocean, but I've been sailing in big breeze, so I've got a bit of a strategy in my head of how I'm going to deal with it. We'll see how that pans out in reality."
A long night
Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) is still the first second generation foiling boat by a large margin, some 250 miles behind the leaders, despite problems encountered overnight. “I’ve had a very busy 12 hours,” he says. “It started last night with the rudder kicking up - the system holding the rudder down broke. The technical team helped me fix that and we got the rudder back down, so that was good.
Then we spent the night with anywhere between 10 knots and 30 knots. So trying to pick the right sail is easier said than done. This morning we started nose diving, which is the Achilles heel in this boat. We had a massive one where everything went flying and the boat ended up on its side. I was trying to cook breakfast and hot water went flying over the boat and landed just next to me.
So I put a smaller sail up, but that took about 45 minutes instead of 15 for various little reasons. I guess I'm tired, doing silly things badly. But I'm happy to be going again with a small FRO up and we're off again.”
Challenges ahead
Looking ahead, the leading boats will face a new problem later this week - the arrival of a strong southern depression scheduled for Wednesday. “We don’t really know how to handle it,” says Richomme. “Usually, we go around this kind of system to the north to escape the worst of the sea but this time the escape route is very far away, so we might be tempted to go south. I don't think it's a huge race issue in terms of winning, but rather in terms of safety.” Either way, it’s a decision that must be made tomorrow morning.
Further back the rest of the fleet is also preparing for the strong winds of the south. "Since yesterday I have been in a zone of strong winds south of the St Helena high,” says Isabelle Joschke (MACSF). “Symbolically, that means that it is starting up again at full speed, I have left the light airs of the Atlantic to return to the Indian Ocean. I have put the boat in a configuration for the south, changed the sails, replaced important lines, stacked my sails at the back… In a few days I'll round the Cape of Good Hope and it'll be like starting a new race."
Image: Late Friday afternoon, November 29, New Zealand’s Conrad Colman who is lying 37th on the Vendée Globe contacted his team and race management to report a total blackout aboard his IMOCA MS Amlin. © Conrad Colman #VG2024