Easy, fast miles for the leaders. Life in the posse of banditos.

At Cape Horn Swiss skipper Alan Roura (Hublot) is on his way to becoming the 17th skipper of this Vendée Globe to round. Further back a group of nine sailors, from Tanguy Le Turquais (Lazare, 21st) to Arnaud Boissières (La Mie Câline, 29th) are enjoying a spirited, competitive race within the race.  They should reach Cape Horn in the middle of next week. And this morning three of them give us an insight into life inside their race. 

The trade winds are good for the leaders. After so many days off the Brazilian coast, struggling in light, unpredictable breezes, Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance, 1st) and Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA, 2nd) are being rewarded with relatively easy miles north. 

 “Their wind angle is opening up for them as they go up,” explains Fabien Delahaye one of the assistant directors. “The trade wind conditions are stable at around fifteen knots of wind, a light sea, what we might call summer conditions… Everything is good for going fast! Charlie should reach the equator in the middle of the afternoon this Sunday.”

meeting up and a triple Cape Horner

Further back in the 35 boat fleet there are several reunions and catch ups going on. Sam Davies (Initiatives Cœur, 13th) is catching up with Benjamin Dutreux (Guyot Environnement – ​​Water Family, 11th) and Clarisse Cremer (L’Occitane en Provence, 12th). "Sam managed to slip past the ridge of the high pressure system," says Delahaye. 

Similarly, Jean Le Cam (Tout Commence en Finistère – Armor Lux, 16th) on his latest generation daggerboard boat should be able to catch up with Romain Attanasio (Fortinet – Best Western, 14th) and Damien Seguin (Groupe Apicil, 15th) who are blocked by light winds of the high pressure system north west of the Falklands in the lee of the Andes.

On his third Vendée Globe, Alan Roura (Hublot, 17th) is currently rounding Cape Horn in really tough conditions, the weather modelling showing 30-35 knots of wind, 4 to 5 metres of sea. The Swiss skpper is making slow progress to look after his boat as much as possible. But final deliverance from the Big South is near: "As soon as he rounds Cape Horn, the wind suddenly drops, the sea calms down like a deliverance," reassures Delahaye. Isabelle Joschke (MACSF, 18th) and Giancarlo Pedote (Prysmian, 19th) have preferred to slow down to let the really big winds pass. They could round Cape Horn in the evening.

“I’m with the band.”

Some 4,500 miles from the head of the fleet, in the heart of the Pacific Ocean, other sailors are making their own story. These ocean adventurers, many – but not all – first timers - are not afraid of solitude. But they are stimulated and enjoy finding themselves progressing as a group. While Benjamin Ferré (Monnoyeur - Duo for a Job, 20th) has built himself a 200-mile lead, there are nine of them within a radius of 180 miles. In fact, of the nine, six are rookies, one of the most experienced skippers (Arnaud Boissières, La Mie Câline), the youngest (Violette Dorange, Devenir, 26th), a second time returnee (Éric Bellion, STAND AS ONE – Altavia, 24th). Overall they very much reflect the diversity and appeal of the solo non stop race around the world, the real authentic spirit of adventure. Currently, Tanguy Le Turquais (Lazare, 21st) has taken the lead of the group with a 70-mile margin, Arnaud Boissières (La Mie Câline, 29th) is bringing up the rear but nothing is set in stone. As the senior member of the posse Boissières, ‘Cali’ who is competing in the Vendée Globe for the 5th time and “talks a lot with Éric Bellion”, is in charge of the introductions:

On his third round the world but his first solo, Sébastien Marsset (FOUSSIER, 23rd) is one of the “banditos”. He says his morale is up and down – “it comes and goes depending on the ability to have time to rest and eat well”. He is delighted to be in with this group that is sailing together in the heart of the Pacific: 

Louis Duc (Fives Group - Lantana Environnement, 27th) is also in the game. "I set the angle so that it works," he jokes while talking about his trajectory. Duc talks about this group and the pleasure that comes from being in the band:

"At the beginning, they were all behind me. But the weather made them come back from behind. At the beginning, it was a little frustrating. But then a regatta mode started up again, which is not unpleasant. We find everyone on the VHF: yesterday it was Conrad, Kojiro a little before... It's nice to see that we are all racking our brains to make our machines move forward. We alternate between difficult moments and times when the sky clears up quite a bit. I spend a lot of time outside and that allows me to enjoy magnificent colors, super nice surfs.”

And so the tribe of banditos are all progressing in the heart of the Pacific and "the further north we go, the more we come out of a strong wind system", says Sébastien Marsset. They are expected at Cape Horn in the middle of next week. "This is what we have been waiting for a while,” says Louis Duc. This will be the end of this great stage of the Southern Seas!" Arnaud Boissières concludes: "I am a little hallucinating about where we are, it is magical. The birds must think we are crazy!"