Friday, December 11: Amédéo's abandonment, slowdown for Dalin
This 33rd day of racing will be marked by the retirement of Fabrice Amédéo. Deprived of his two onboard computers, the skipper of Newrest - Art & Fenêtres has taken the decision to abandon his round the world race. At the head of the fleet, Charlie Dalin (Apivia) is still leading the way, but is under attack from his rivals. For the past 48 hours, the yellow boat has slowed down considerably, leaving Thomas Ruyant 99 miles from his transom, and Yannick Bestaven only 120 miles away. Behind them, Benjamin Dutreux, Jean Le Cam, Louis Burton, Damien Seguin and Boris Herrmann are fighting a fierce battle.
Further back, at the back of the pack, Alexia Barrier, Miranda Merron and Kojiro Shiraishi have just rounded the Cape of Good Hope, 10 days behind the frontrunners. Next up will be Clément Giraud.
Finally, good news for Jérémie Beyou who is no longer the last of the race. 24 days after his new start, he has just overtaken the Finn Ari Huusela.
Saturday 12 December: A new trio at the head of the fleet
Since the passage of the Cape of Good Hope by Ari Huusela, the 27 IMOCA boats still racing are now all sailing in the Indian Ocean, spread over 3?700 miles. Charlie Dalin is stuck in a zone of light winds, going from a lead of 285 miles 3 days ago to just 80 miles. The top 11 are held in 500 miles, from Dalin to Sorel, and a Dantesque duel is taking place between two boats with straight daggerboards, Apicil, 4 e and Yes We Cam, 5 e ...the men sailing so close together, they're exchanging over VHF.
Romain Attanasio (who tore his big gennaker this morning) and Clarisse Crémer are still sailing together. This is not the case for Armel Tripon and Alan Roura, respectively to the north of the Kerguelens and to the north of the Crozet archipelago, who are away from everyone, trying to catch up with the leading pack, leaving 12 boats behind them.
Last night Jérémie Beyou and Sébastien Destremau met up close, exchanging a few words.
Sunday 13 December: Passage of Cape Leeuwin
Speed is not the order of the day in this first part of the 2020 Vendée Globe. Thus, Charlie Dalin doubled the longitude of Cape Leeuwin after 34 days and 20 hours, the same time as Alex Thomson in 2012, then 3rd in the race... 3 h 20 later, it was the turn of Yannick Bestaven and 9 minutes later of Thomas Ruyant. Thanks to a small depression at the head of the fleet, the trio were able to escape, widening the gap with their pursuers.
With milder conditions, some skippers are taking advantage of this to repair their boats. This is the case for Romain Attanasio, Boris Herrmann, Damien Seguin and Arnaud Boissières. The long surfers are slow to arrive, and all of them have to deal with brutal changes in wind direction and strength.
Jéremie Beyou has gained one more place and is catching up with the group of 4 boats led by the Japanese Kojiro Shiraishi, 21st at 3?500 miles from the frontrunners.
Monday 14 December: It's back at the head of the fleet
Make way for the Howling Fifties for our trio at tête?! The three sailors dived south to take advantage of the stronger air. Carried by a NW'ly low pressure flow, they should widen the gap even further. These conditions will also be more favourable for Thomas Ruyant, who will once again be able to sail on his valid foil, in winds of 22 to 24 knots and waves of around 3.30 m. The trio will have to ricochet against the EEZ to make the most of this moderate low.
Three hundred miles behind, Damien Seguin, Jean Le Cal and Benjamin Dutreux - who are sailing on straight daggerboards - are likely to be slowed down in their progress. A zone of high pressure is hindering their course.
In the top ten for the past 48 hours, Isabelle Joschke crossed the longitude of Cape Leeuwin this Monday at 12:09 pm, 23:49 hours behind Charlie Dalin. Giancarlo Pedote should also pass the second cape during the day.
Maxime Sorel reported strong tears on two of his headsails, the J3 and the J2. After several repairs and mast climbs, the tired skipper is waiting for the recommendations of his shore team, without losing too much ground. At the end of the day, Charlie Dalin announced that his port foil system was damaged.
Tuesday 15th December: Thomas Ruyant takes back the helm of the fleet
Charlie Dalin has put his course in brackets, letting his boat drift gently to repair his port foil. He resumed his course at around 1300 hours, 121.9 miles behind Thomas Ruyant, who is now back in command of the fleet. He was able to make up his 60 mile deficit and resist the attacks of Yannick Bestaven, despite his stubborn port foil. The man in the red boat is now just 9.1 miles behind the leader. The three men are still following a southerly course, before gybing and changing tack to choose an easterly trajectory that will take them towards Tasmania and New Zealand.
The group of hunters is sailing closer than ever, so Bureau Vallée 2, Groupe Apicil, SeaExplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco have for several hours, shared images of this grouping. At 426 miles from the head of the race, the 4th Jean Le Cam is 0.9 miles ahead of Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée 2), 1.2 miles ahead of Boris Herrmann (SeaExplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco), 1.9 miles ahead of Benjamin Dutreux (OMIA - Water Family) and 3.2 miles ahead of Damien Seguin (Groupe APICIL), 8e?!
Clarisse Crémer (Banque Populaire X) and Romain Attanasio (Pure - Best Western) are getting closer to Cape Leeuwin, which they could cross tomorrow in 12 e and 13th position.
Wednesday 16 December: Yannick Bestaven, new leader
On the morning of this 39th day of racing, Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq) took the lead in the Vendée Globe. He is the 9th leader since the start of the race on 8th November. Tomorrow, he is due to cross the longitude of Tasmania and enter the Pacific.
On 16th December, the jury also announced the compensation times awarded to the four skippers who had gone out of their way to assist Kevin Escoffier on 30th November. Yannick Bestaven got 10:15 am, Boris Herrmann 6 am and Jean Le Cam 4:15 pm. Sébastien Simon, who had also been diverted, unfortunately had to give up. These times will be deducted from their race time once the finish line is crossed.
Behind the two leaders, 25 other boats are still making progress in the Indian Ocean. Charlie Dalin resumed his race 24 hours ago after his repairs and is 149.2 miles behind in the 15h rankings.
At 459.1 miles behind Yannick Bestaven, Jean Le Cam has gained a little margin on the group he is sailing with. They are all sailing further north than the leading trio, hampered in their descent towards the ZEA by a beautiful high pressure.
Further afield finally, the group made up of Alan Roura (La Fabrique), 15th, and Arnaud Boissières (La Mie Câline - Artisans Artipôle), Stéphane Le Diraison (Time for Oceans), Manu Cousin (Groupe Sétin), Pip Hare (Medallia) and Didac Costa (One Ocean One Planet) are sailing along a line between the Mascarene high to the North and the low which will deepen this Thursday in the South.
Thursday 17 December: Entering the South Pacific
Last night at 1:30 a.m., Yannick Bestaven entered the waters of the South Pacific. In the lead since the previous morning, he has gained a further lead as Thomas Ruyant was stopped dead in his tracks at around 2200 hours last night. His boat was full of water in the forward hold. The skipper of LinkedOut immediately activated two water pumps in order to find the cause of the problem: the two rags in the forward hatch had opened under the effect of the waves, while the boat was moving forward at over 25 knots. It was able to resume its course 125 miles behind Yannick Bestaven.
This misadventure enabled Charlie Dalin to make up 20 miles on the leading duo, only 125 miles behind. The trio continues to go fast, on flat seas with an almost compulsory E'ly trajectory and without any major obstacles.
Behind them, the chasing pack formed by Jean le Cam (4th), Boris Herrmann (5th), Damien Seguin (6th), Benjamin Dutreux (7th) and Louis Burton (8th), located further south, should soon be experiencing pockets of soft anticyclonic winds. Clarisse Crémer (12th) and Romain Attanasion (13th) could come back on Maxime Sorel, 11th, around 320 miles ahead, and Giancarlo Pedote and Isabelle Joschke, 10th and 9th.
This Thursday, Louis Burton announced a pit stop on the east coast of the Australian island of Macquarie to repair several problems: broken mainsail track at the top of the mast, non-operational hooks, unusable J2, generated by an autopilot problem, which caused an untimely gybe. Behind, Sébastien Destremau lost the use of his helm, but eventually found a solution by reconnecting his two rudders to the steering system.
