A distance record for Lunven and a double record for Holcim PRB
Although he had chosen a more westerly option, passing outside the DST at Cape Finisterre, Nicolas Lunven has just set a new record for the greatest distance covered solo in 24 hours. He covered 546.60 miles in one day, beating Thomas Ruyant's previous record of 540 miles set on Retour à la Base. The IMOCA yacht already holds the 24h team record, covering 640 miles on leg 5 of The Ocean Race in 2023, at an average speed of 26.68 knots.
A daring but effective weather option
The start of the Vendée Globe got off to a very light start, bogging down the fleet for the first few hours of the race. On the evening of November 12, the frontrunners arrived at Cape Finisterre with two choices: to pass inside or outside the DST (traffic separation scheme). While the leader at the time, Charlie Dalin, chose the first option, which was also chosen by the likes of Ruyant, Richomme, Dubreuil, Goodchild and Beyou, the sensible Lunven took option two, followed by Switzerland's Justine Mettraux.
"I wanted to keep things simple. I wasn't very comfortable with the idea of passing inside the DST at Cape Finisterre with the coastal traffic, the fishermen, slaloming between the cargo ships before and after the DST, with undoubtedly quite a bit of wind and sea, all the while gybing. So I opted for a simpler route, even if it meant losing a bit of time, to better exploit the boat's potential. Unfortunately, I had a small rudder problem just as I rounded Cape Finisterre last night: the rudder bar ripped off and we had to stop the boat to tinker a bit. I lost some time, but it happens explained the skipper.
Nicolas Lunven then switched to turbo mode to catch up with the leading group. After a long reaching leg, Nicolas gybed and headed southwest, 140 miles east of his rivals. The sailor is now in 5th position in the rankings, making him the fastest single-handed monohull sailor to date.
