Advantage Dalin, frustration in the fleet, Le Cam's seventh Horn

On this speed stage most observers expect Dalin’s Verdier designed boat to be slightly quicker and for the moment he should continue to gain. Richomme’s needs to hang in and keep pushing and hope there might be a chance to recover miles at the doldrums which do not look very active at the moment. 
From race direction Fabien Delahaye observes "They are on the verge of take-off, Charlie must be able to fly and Yoann cannot quite yet, which explains the speed difference at the moment."

Circle closed

Both might take some passing satisfaction in now having crossed their outbound wake which they traced nearly six weeks ago when they were heading southeast towards the Cape of Good Hope, heads filled with hopes and expectations for the Big South.

And while the top duo are pointing directly ‘back to the barn’ neither are these easy times for Seb Simon (Groupe Dubreuil) who has to continue eastwards in third place, he continues on his favoured starboard gybe on his intact foil but he will increasingly be coming to terms that the top two are gone and his deficit to them will continue to open. 

It is much more frustrating for Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) who, in fourth, is seeing his hard earned lead eroded, gnawed away by Paul Meilhat (Biotherm) who is quicker and is now less than 70 miles behind the skipper from Dunkirk. 

Lost wind unit 

Frustration at this stage too for Nico Lunven (HOLCIM PRB). In the infernal slamming upwind in super unstable conditions Lunven yesterday lost his masthead unit which comprised all his antennas: VHF, Oscar and his wind speed and indicator. 

Just a few miles apart Boris Herrmann (Malizia - Seaexplorer, 9th) and Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE, 8th) are slowed in the centre of the depression making less than six knots and so losing miles to their rivals.

Le Cam at the Horn 
 

1,300 miles further south, Jean Le Cam (Tout commence en Finistère - Armor-lux, 16th) has just rounded Cape Horn. On his fifth Vendée Globe this will be a big release for the veteran racer whose seventh rounding of the Horn it is. He first went round on the Whitbread Race in 1982 with Eric Tabarly on Euromarche and he went round double handed with Bernard Stamm on the 2014-15 Barcelona World Race.

"He is ahead of a depression and is benefiting from light wind conditions," explains Delahaye from race direction.

The depression in question is going to strengthen, which will complicate the passage of the next three – Switzerland’s Alan Roura (Hublot, 17th), Isabelle Joschke (MACSF, 18th) and Italy’s Giancarlo Pedote (Prysmian, 19th) - who should round the legendary cape this evening or early tonight.

Pedote in fact is having to deal with rudder problems:

Violette Dorange (Devenir, 25th) continues to savour her race. She is delighted to be sailing in a group of nine skippers led by Tanguy Le Turquais (Lazare, 21st) who crossed paths with Louis Duc (Fives Group - Lantana Environnement, 28th) for the fifth time during the night. Dorange had snow falling yesterday and can't believe it:

"I felt an explosion of joy, I was so happy! It's the best day I've experienced in the Pacific. It's crazy and exceptional to experience that on the other side of the globe. These last few days, the sailing  has been very difficult between the unstable winds, the threat of icebergs and then these squalls that jump more than 10 knots, the unstable wind, the cross seas… Yesterday, I made a lot of broaches it was really hard. It's great to be side by side with other skippers, I'm happy to round Cape Horn with people around me!"

Fabrice Amedeo (Nexans-Wewise, 34th), is nearly 7,000 miles behind the leader. However, the sailor seems to have found a form of fulfilment. Racing close to Manu Cousin (Coup de Pouce, 33rd) is "reassuring with a traveling companion" but "makes it difficult to sleep because we want to avoid collisions", says Fabrice. But he loved the like the aurora australis that he immortalized two days ago:

"I have a good frame of mind, I have settled into the long view. It's nice to sail in easier conditions even if I'm a little cold. The aurora australis? I first saw a luminous arc above the sky. And when I came back, I saw them everywhere, it was incredible. I went to Iceland hoping to see it but didn’t so this was a real privilege. For that alone, it was worth living all the unpleasant moments that I endured."