Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut) crossed the Equator at 1908hrs UTC so 5hrs and 49 minutes behind Alex Thomson. By comparison in 2016 five boats crossed within 5hrs and 47 minutes of Alex Thomson’s time, Banque Populaire VII, PRB, Edmond de Rothschild and SMA.
Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut) crossed the Equator at 1908hrs UTC so 5hrs and 49 minutes behind Alex Thomson. By comparison in 2016 five boats crossed within 5hrs and 47 minutes of Alex Thomson’s time, Banque Populaire VII, PRB, Edmond de Rothschild and SMA.
By crossing the line between the two hemispheres this Wednesday November 18 at 1319hrs UTC Alex Thomson was some distance from improving his own mark of 9 days 7 hours. The British skipper of HUGO BOSS took 9 days 23 hours 59 minutes to reach the equator from the start line off Les Sables d'Olonne.
Apart for Thomas Ruyant and Charlie Dalin on their 2020 generation foilers, his pursuers are now more than one hundred miles behind, and in the case of the 20th placed skipper Didac Costa more than 1,000 miles from first.
Considering he has passed through three depressions, including Theta, it may not be the fastest time to the Equator but it represents a very efficient route to the trade winds which finally kicked in at the Cape Verdes. By comparison when Thomson was going in to Theta off the Canary Islands on Day 6 of racing, in 2016 Armel Le Cléac’h was already 500 miles further down the track at the Cape Verdes.
Times to the Equator
1989: 17d 12hrs (Titouan Lamazou-Écureuil d´Aquitaine II)
1992: 17d 9hrs (Alain Gautier-Bagages Superior)
1996: 11d 08h (Christophe Auguin-Géodis)
2000 : 14d 03h 49’ (Yves Parlier-Aquitaine Innovations)
2004 : 10d 11h 28’ (Jean Le Cam-Bonduelle)
2008 : 12d 08h 58’ (Loïck Peyron-Gitana Eighty)
2012 : 10d 19h 18’ (Armel Le Cléac’h-Banque Populaire)
2016 : 9d 7h 03’ (Alex Thomson-HUGO BOSS)
2020 : 9d 23h 59’ (Alex Thomson-HUGO BOSS)
But what especially marks this passage from one hemisphere to the other, are the gaps that are growing behind. These were already significant after the passage around Theta, but at the start of the eleventh day of the race, the deltas are becoming very big.
Kevin Escoffier (PRB, 5th) Is already nearly 200 miles behind HUGO BOSS, the Italian Giancarlo Pedote (Prysmian Group, 13th) is over 400 miles behind, Stéphane le Diraison (Time for Oceans, 19th) over 700 miles from the Briton, Didac Costa (One planet-One ocean, 20th) is 1000 miles up the track at the Cape Verde Islands with Pipe Hare (Medallia), Arnaud Boissières (La Mie Câline-Artisans Artipôle) and Manuel Cousin (Groupe SÉTIN). Seven solo sailors are still off the Canaries 1,500 miles behind.
This might be “acceptable” for a marathon running race where paces relative to each other stay approximately the same, but throw big differences in weather systems into the mix now and it all becomes even more stretched.
In the next few days the weather is very favorable to the leaders and very unfavorable to the pursuers. Because Alex Thomson (HUGO BOSS) and a dozen solo who are chasing will be able to high pressure from Saint Helena quickly enough quite far enough from the Brazilian coast to reach the tropic of Capricorn, then the Roaring Forties. But then the high pressure of the southern hemisphere will disperse next week, breaking into several cells which will then make for a very complicated crossing of the South Atlantic for the pursuers!
Alex Thomson will still likely have trouble improving Armel Le Cléac'h's reference time to the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope but his lead should grow in relation to the pelotonto the point that in the south of South Africa, there should be at least five groups of two to seven skippers scattered over more than 2,000 miles, not counting the two sailors who returned to Les Sables d'Olonne: Fabrice Amedeo (Newrest -Art & Fenêtres) and Jérémie Beyou (Charal) will take many days to pick up the tail of the fleet ...
Right now Thomson will be able to accelerate in the trade winds of the southern hemisphere while his pursuers will still be entangled in a Doldrums. The Briton will inexorably escape. And all eight previous editions of the Vendée Globe all have one thing in common: the winner of the non-stop solo round the world race was always one of the first ten to cross the equator.
Photo sent from aboard the boat Prysmian Group during the Vendee Globe on November 18, 2020. (Photo by skipper Giancarlo Pedote)