Always on

Our Vendée Globe racers continue to make progress in areas that are among the most hostile on the planet. The race is fundamentally about dealing with the physical and mental challenges alone. From Hungarian Szabolcs Weöres (New Europe) who, nearly 2000 miles behind 37th placed Fabrice Amedeo (Nexans-Wewise) must feel the magnetic draw of Cape Town where he has family and friends, to leader Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) who is now facing up to the fact he will almost certainly have another battle for supremacy with his long time rival Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA) in coming days, it is about doing it alone.  

Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKEA) is closing the gap with the leader Charle Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance). Having been through the wars Damien Seguin (Groupe APICIL, 17th) is finally making progress in slightly less strong winds while Guirec Soudée (Freelance.com, 30th) is preparing to face a new front during the day after making repairs near the Kerguelens. 

LIVING IT ALONE

The intensity of the challenge is above and beyond everything. Tanguy Le Turquais (Lazare, 22nd) remains among the most eloquent and enthusiastic. For him, too, these last few days have seen sail damage, more than 40 knots of average wind and seven meter swells have brought him into a new dimension. "I'm getting closer to Australia and it's crazy to think that I got here only thanks to my boat. But I didn't expect the Indian Ocean to be so tough. In the bunk, I'm surfing. When I cook, the food jumps everywhere. The boat accelerates, crashes, makes noises, cracks, sails flap, broaches, nosedives. Honestly, it's unbearable!” 

Swiss skipper Alan Roura (Hublot, 20th) has already finished two Vendée Globes. He is amidst the group of five that is making direct, straight line progress after having managed the passage of the depression well. Roura concurs with the Lazare skipper’s description of this merciless Indian Ocean: "When I was asked to describe this race in one word, I said it is the devil. And that stuck with me. Now, I have a boat in good condition, I have everything I need, but the sea is so rough that I can't get through. The sea is crossed, the waves are seven meters, the wind suddenly goes from 25 to 40 knots. Pleasure? Pleasure? I don’t remember pleasure for two or three days. There is no respite and it is very thankless. The Indian is very hard on us, we can’t wait to get out of here!”

EL DORADO.....

By comparison the Pacific looks like El Dorado. There are five skippers already into the biggest ocean, Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE, 4th) and Jérémie Beyou (Charal, 5th) crossed the longitude of Tasmania on Saturday. They are already slowed down by the ridge (the windless zone) which blocks their way. Sailing further north, they are already being caught by Nicolas Lunven (Holcim-PRB, 6th) who is sailing further south. But the compression is happening from behind as expected. While Ruyant and Beyou are making progress at less than 15 knots, behind them the posse is charging: Boris Hermmann (Malizia – Seaexplorer, 10th, 22 knots), Justine Mettraux (TeamWork-Team Snef, 11th, 22.3 knots), Samantha Davies (Initiatives Cœur, 12th, 21 knots) and Clarisse Crémer (L’Occitane en Provence, 13th, 22 knots).

Ahead, the leading trio are lengthening their stride in the Pacific. Overtaken by Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKEA, 2nd) yesterday, Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil, 3rd) has dived to the South and now has more than 100 miles lateral separation to his rival. Richomme is now less than 100 miles behind Dalin.  

Dalin says this morning, "Yoann and Sébastien hit the front before me, I had to do a big zig-zag in the South before repositioning myself and getting the North-West wind that I currently have". He knows that these two rivals "will continue to get closer" but that doesn't seem to upset his serenity. Asked about his No. 1 position that he has held since December 2, Dalin answers straight away: 

"I hope it lasts! I owe my lead to my management of the depression in the Indian Ocean that got me in front and allowed me to have a bit of a lead. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to escape definitively compared to the rest of the group but that's how it is.” “Currently I am waiting for the front to overtake me and that will allow me to gybe SE towards the ice gate again. We will be bumping into this trough, a no wind area, north of the low pressure area and then we will get a bit of wind once the high pressure starts to get closer to us. But at least now we have a 1000 nautical miles run in 25kts on starboard that should start today. And then after that it is pretty unclear. Nonetheless the routings seem to be relatively fast to Cape Horn hopefully not far after Christmas.” “It looks like we might see some compression, ever though it is not perfect science, let’s see. Like I said I am going to keep pushing forwards. “

“Yoann has overtaken Seb and he has already taken advantage of the compressing weather in the last few days, they caught the front before me and because I had to do a SE NW course they gained quite a lot and looking at the situation it should carry on a bit like this right now as we have a bit more left in his wind so he should be able to do a lower course, a lower angle. We will probably meet again at some point. I was expecting a round the world fight with him and so that is what we are going to start again!”

He smiles, “It is a pleasure to be here south of New Zealand. It was a simple pleasure this morning to have this filet mignon piece of meat in my daily bag of food, it was a nice pleasure to get some slices for breakfast this morning and every once in a while when I stick my head outside to check things and see an albatross it is so impressive to see their flight, they reach an aerodynamical perfection, their flight seems so smooth and effortless and efficient in gliding, they look incredible. It is incredible to see them fly around like that.”