Thursday review:
While Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance), the race leader, is due to pass into the Pacific this evening or tonight, and also cross the theoretical half way point of the 23,890 nautical miles course for the Vendée Globe 10th edition, way far to his west – nearer the Kerguelen Islands – skippers in the second half of the 38 boat fleet are struggling with robust conditions generated by a tough low pressure system.
Three sailors who ventured further south – all Vendée Globe race rookies – have suffered various sail or sail related damage. Guirec Soudée (Freelance) suffered damage to his J2 in the wild conditions and is considering shelter in the Kerguelens to repair it, Antoine Cornic (HUMAN Immobilier) pulled some cars out and damaged his mast track and also needs shelter to make some kind of fix and Tanguy Le Turquais (Lazare) also has sail damage.
In contrast the line of skippers who have stayed in the north have been able to straight line more directly east led by 18th placed Isa Joschke (MACSF) with the wily old fox Jean Le Cam (Tout commence en Finistère Armor-lux) but they too are going to see big winds,
"The forecasts are quite precise in the Southern Ocean in terms of position and timing of the lows, but the winds are often underestimated in strength", highlights Basile Rochut, weather consultant for the Vendée Globe.
The group in the north have coped best, by picking the better strategy Switzerland’s Alan Roura (Hublot, 19th), Jean Le cam (Tout commence en Finistère, 20th), Italy’s Giancarlo Pedote (Prysmian 22nd), Benjamin Ferré (Monnoyeur - DUO for a JOB, 23rd), Sébastien Marsset (FOUSSIER, 25th), Violette Dorange (Devenir, 26th), Arnaud Boissière (La Mie Câline, 29th) and Éric Bellion (STAND AS ONE, 30th).
Some like it hot?
"They all anticipated the depression very well by positioning themselves well to the North, even more than Yoann Richomme and Thomas Ruyant last week," emphasizes the weather expert, “As the depression catches up with them, everyone knows that after some tough, hard times they will be able to gybe and take a fairly direct route. "It's a very good positioning," concludes the weather consultant. Among this group from the North, there is the youngest of the Vendée Globe, 23 year old Violette Dorange (Devenir, 26th). Speaking during the radio calls she explains:
"I'm right at the passage of the front, the waves are starting to form, the wind is going to strengthen... It's a bit like war! My positioning to the North is to take maximum precautions and to have an escape route. In these conditions, we have to monitor the boat constantly. The risk is to spin out as if we were skidding and that requires us to be very vigilant. It's very physical, I've had aches and pains for two weeks, on one hand it’s scary and on the other it’s exhilarating!”
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The young French star who has garnered nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram reported this morning, “The boat ended up horizontal, fortunately nothing was broken. There was a bit of water in the keel well which splashed the electrics installations. I took the time to dry everything”.
In front of her Swiss skipper Roura (Hublot, 19th) says he has been in “survival mode” in the face of this depression which “wild”. “Life on board is still as complicated, the boat is going in all directions and to get out of the cockpit, I could not go out without a mask and snorkel. It is routine for here, really!” explains Roura.
And Kiwi Conrad Colman (28th) was today grateful for a little respite, speaking to Race HQ he said this morning, "I had 48 knots in the front. I knew it was going to be very tough and that's why I tried to take a more northerly route recently. I had some small damage to sails which I will have to fix, nothing terrible, and my jockey pole is broken. As soon as there is a bit of calm I’m going to have to to it, no time like the present as it is rare to have the time to do it, it's so difficult. I'm never at 100%!"
Much further away, in the South Atlantic, it is Hungary’s Szabolcs Weöres (New Europe, 38th) who has been struggling with will light winds of just four to five knots. He had to dive under his boat yesterday to remove some fishing debris from his appendages. “It was the scariest thing I have done, I am OK going up the mast but going in the water is a different thing.”
He will soon be out of the sunshine and light winds and going from the sublime to the ridiculous, set to be dealing with a depression, a sea of 5 to 6 meters and gusts exceeding 50 knots.
Kiwi gap
At the front of the fleet it is this forecasted high pressure ridge growing and moving east which is the subject of great debates. The ‘podium’ Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance, 1st), Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil, 2nd) and Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA, 3rd) – seems set to miss it but the ridge will develop in front of Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE, 4th), and block his path as well as that of his pursuers. "We could see a big regrouping and that might widen the gaps with nearly 600 miles between the first three and the others", assures Rochut. "Everyone is sailing flat out to avoid it," confirms fourth placed Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE). "It's a chase as we too try to pull back what we can from those in front," confirms Yannick Bestaven (Maître CoQ V, 9th), one of the "chasers" who could catch up.
Bestaven winner of the last Vendée Globe reminds is it not all about racing, "I saw like a big light outside. I went outside, it was the moon, it lit up the whole ocean, the sky was clear... The spectacle that nature offers us is magnificent and out here we are the only ones who can see it."
New modification of the AEZ
The race management has decided to slightly modify the Antarctic Exclusion Zone which allows the skippers not to get too close to the icebergs. In collaboration with CLS (Collecte Localisation Satellites) which mobilizes satellites and experts to map the icebergs, the ZEA has therefore been slightly lowered to the longitude of Campbell Island, more than 1300 km south of New Zealand. "Thanks to the CLS surveys, no icebergs have been detected in the zone, which allows us to modify the AEZ,” explains Hubert Lemonnier, race director. This will help to open up the strategy for the skippers". Since the start, this is the fourth modification of the Antarctic Exclusion Zone.
Image: On board Singchain Team Haikou (Jingkun Xu) © Jingkun Xu