Friday 27th November: Preparing for the first low in the Deep South
Charlie Dalin (Apivia) is still leading the fleet in this 9th Vendée Globe, increasing the distance with those chasing after him. He is now 300 miles ahead of Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut) and 370 miles ahead of Jean Le Cam (Yes We Cam?!). The surprise of the day is the daring gamble by Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée 2), who has chosen a very southerly route to try to quickly hit the flow of the low pressure that will propel the skippers towards the Cape of Good Hope. Sam Davies (Initiatives-C?ur) followed him in this strategy.
After a good breath of fresh air, the sailors are now getting ready to spend a month in fog, at high speed. A month which is not going to be easy for the foilers, who quickly become difficult to live with when things are moving fast. The first low is expected on 1 er december with winds forecast at over 40 knots and heavy seas.
Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) continued to reinforce his boat before entering the Southern Ocean, Isabelle Joschke (MACSF) completed repairs to the aft deck of his boat and Thomas Ruyant cut his damaged foil.
Saturday, November 28th: End of the game for The Boss
After announcing on Friday at 2300 hrs that Hugo Boss had suffered damage to his starboard rudder, Alex Thomson took the decision to abandon the Vendée Globe. Unable to make repairs, he had to end his race. He is the second skipper to retire after Nicolas Troussel. At 1?800 nautical miles from Cape Town, he is due to reach South Africa in 7 days time, at a speed of 10 knots, sailing flat to lean on his port rudder.
In the 3:00 p.m. standings, Charlie Dalin (Apivia) is still leading the way with a 296 mile lead over Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut) and 369 over Jean Le Cam (Yes We Cam?!). There are 18 boats to sail or soon to sail in the southern seas.
Sunday November 29: Already a quarter of the way through for Charlie Dalin
Jérémie Beyou (Charal) has crossed the Equator, so there are now 32 IMOCA boats (Nicolas Troussel having given up) sailing in the southern hemisphere. With the thwarted trade winds, erratic winds along the Brazilian coast and a complicated St. Helena high, it is with a significant delay on Alex Thomson's unofficial record in 2016 that Charlie Dalin - leader for the past week - is expected to round the Cape of Good Hope. As a reminder, the skipper of Hugo Boss took 17 days, 22 hours and 58 minutes. It will be around 22 days for Charlie Dalin, a slightly shorter time than Armel le Cléac'h in 2012.
Despite a slow pace, imposed by the weather conditions, the leader of this 9 e The Vendée Globe has already covered a quarter of the distance separating it from Les Sables-d'Olonne. At 3 pm, he still had 18?000 miles to go.
These first 20 days will not have spared the competitors between technical problems and scares. Between recalcitrant hooks, oil leaks from the keel actuator (Alan Roura on Saturday), heap starts (Benjamin Dutreux), delamination of the foil (to port at Thomas Ruyant's), structural repairs (Charal at the start of the race, Alex Thomson along the South American coast, Bureau Vallée a little later) and irreparable technical breakdowns (Alex Thomson's starboard rudder on Friday, condemned to abandonment), the Vendée Globe will not have spared the fleet.
Monday 30 November: Distress beacon triggered for Kevin Escoffier
Kevin Escoffier (PRB) set off his emergency beacon at 1446 while sailing in the 40th Roaring on this 22 e race day. His boat split in two, leaving Kevin Escoffier barely 4 minutes to put on his survival suit and jump into his raft. Jean Le Cam (Yes We Cam?!!) was about 2 hours from the area and was diverted by race management to rescue the sailor who was in his life raft. Although he was able to establish visual and radio contact with Kevin Escoffier in time to carry out a manoeuvre, he lost sight of him.
To reinforce the search, the race management sent three other skippers to the zone: Boris Herrmann (SeaExplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco), Yannick Bestaven (Maître-CoQ), then Sébastien Simon (ARKEA PAPREC).
Tuesday, December 1st: Kevin Escoffier is saved
After a long search, Kevin Escoffier was rescued by Jean Le Cam (Yes We Cam?!) during the night. This rescue, carried out with 30 knots of wind and gusts to 40 knots on heavy seas with 5 m waves, was not the easiest. The sailor is now safe on his competitor's boat. The race has resumed and the International Jury will meet shortly to decide on the times attributed to each of the competitors who took part in the rescue of the skipper of PRB.
Charlie Dalin located about 250 miles away had no choice but to continue on his route to avoid the complex weather zones. He thus crossed the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope at 0011 hours this Tuesday, after 22 days 9 hours 51 minutes of racing, before entering the Indian Ocean well off Cape Agulhas.
With a deficit of over 200 miles, Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut) should also enter the Indian Ocean before nightfall. He is now threatened by Louis Burton (Valley 2 Office), who has chosen a route 200 miles to the south, skimming the Antarctic Exclusion Zone (AEZ).
The course also continues for the rest of the fleet, as there are now 9 skippers sailing neck and neck, with only 100 miles separating them. Sébastien Simon, Boris Herrmann, Jean Le Cam, Yannick Bestaven, Damien Seguin and Benjamin Dutreux are rather between 40° South and 41° 30 South, while Giancarlo Pedote, Sam Davies and Isabelle Joschke are sailing around 43° South. Whilst they shouldn't be impacted by the return of high pressure under the African continent from Thursday evening, it's not the same for Romain Attanasio (Pure - Best Western) and Clarisse Crémer (Banque Populaire X), who could see Stéphane Le Diraison and Alan Roura back in their rear seats?
Both e and 3 e the pelotons, pushed by a new austral depression - are led by Armel Tripon (L'Occitane en Provence) and Arnaud Boissières (La Mie Câline - Artisans Artipôle), the others in the N'ly tradewinds with Clément Giraud (Compagnie du lit - Jiliti) and Alexia Barrier (TSE-4myPlanet) as openers... Meanwhile, Japanese sailor Kojiro Shiraishi (DMG MORI Global One) has already overtaken two solo sailors and Jérémie Beyou (Charal) is coming back to the tail of the fleet.
Wednesday, December 2: Collision with UFO for Sébastien Simon
The first 15 boats in the fleet are now sailing downwind around the Cape of Good Hope. They are juggling between surfing and managing the southern lows, with one gybe after another. After Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut), another foiler fell victim to a UFO. This is Sébastien Simon (Arka-Paprec) whose starboard foil suffered a shock when he was in the 4 e position. He now has to put the race in brackets, knowing that repairs will be tedious, as the foil shaft is also damaged.
The strategy chosen by Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée 2) paid off even if he had to endure some gruelling hours (35/40 knots of wind, 6 m waves). He now occupies the 2 e place in the ranking. The conditions are milder for Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut), 3 e of the ranking.
Thursday 3rd December: Buffet stop for two skippers
After Sébastien Simon, Samantha Davies (Initiaves-Coeur) was also the victim of a violent buffet stop at nightfall on Wednesday, resulting in keel damage. Both are helpless and in a waiting situation off the Cape of Good Hope. For all of them, after 25 days of racing, the daily routine is difficult. This is the case for Jérémie Beyou (Charal), who is progressing slowly in the squalls and light winds.
In the lead, 15 boats are surfing in the deep south on this route which will take them to the Kerguelen Islands. Between Charlie Dalin, who is starting his 10 e day in the race and the 15 e Clarisse Crémer, there are 1?000 miles. Everyone hopes to enjoy these strong but favourable winds for as long as possible, while preserving their boat.
The 2 e half of the fleet - from Stéphane Le Diraison to Pip Hare - has to round the St. Helena High, which is spreading out across the width of the mid-South Atlantic into the Indian Ocean, and in length well below 45° South. Be careful not to get stuck to the south by the Antarctic Exclusion Zone (AEZ), especially for those who have not managed to catch the first train of lows.
Kevin Escoffier could be recovered by the Nivôse - a French Navy frigate responsible, among other things, for monitoring fisheries in the Indian Ocean. The race directors are in contact with Jean Le Cam to study the possibility of a meeting point around 6th December in the north-east of the Crozet Islands.
