Finding Nemo

Behind the top trio, each is pursuing their own personal agenda. The second group led by Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) in fourth gybes to head due east, Clarisse Crémer (L’Occitane en Provence) and Samantha Davies (Initiatives Cœur) are actually being punished by the weather gods for unspecified, unknown misdemeanours by having to still sail upwind. And way behind them the group led by Isabelle Joschke (MACSF, 17th) are fast reaching while Antoine Cornic (Human Immobilier, 32nd) and China’s Jingkun Xu (Singchain Team Haikou, 33rd) are still dealing with strong winds.

Dalin does Dalin

He did warn his rivals yesterday: “MACIF Santé Prévoyance is back at 100%” And after that reminder  Dalin has proven he is back at maximum capacity. The sailor who grew up in Le Havre and went to university in Southampton took back control of the race yesterday afternoon, and since then he has continued to be just a little bit faster than his rivals. At 1400hrs UTC Dalin’s margin was 47.2 miles ahead of Richomme and now 73.7 miles ahead of Simon. Tomorrow, the trio should gybe back on to port tack which is less favourable to Simion who is missing his starboard foil.

The leaders should pass Point Nemo this Friday morning. It is the most remote point on the planet the furthest from any land. The nearest island is more than 2,600 km away and the closest humans are said to be the astronauts of the International Space Station, 400 km above the ocean! Fears of any kind of serious damage here or hereabouts is the biggest fear for any skipper as it would take about fifteen days for help to get to a sailor in distress, though of course on this race there is a certain safety in numbers unlike no other Vendée Globe. Indeed it would be true to say Point Nemo will never have seen such a procession of IMOCAs over the next three weeks! 

The pursuers are on fire

Behind, 600 miles away, the pursuers are flying. Thomas Ruyant's group (VULNERABLE, 4th) is slanting north. Everyone is charging to time the perform the classic gull wing (take advantage of the  wind’s rotation to change gybe), to gybe and head east. 

"They will be able to accelerate from tonight, with more than 20 knots of wind and a flat seas," confirms Basile Rochut, weather consultant.” They will be in a southwesterly flow, which will be conducive to high speed. At the back of this group now is Justine Mettraux (TeamWork-Team Snef, 11th). The Swiss skipper has worked hard to wring the most from her favourable timing at the leading edge of the front which has seen her fastest. But on board, she has suffered:

Justine's ability to stay ahead of the front nevertheless allowed her to widen the gap with her two pursuers. Her former ‘running mates’ Clarisse Crémer (L'Occitane en Provence, 12th) and Sam Davies (Initiatives Cœur, 13th) are more than 800 miles behind ‘Ju ju’ who is becoming increasingly renowned for her tough, consistent attack. 

Currently the Crémer Davies duo is making progress upwind, stuck between a ridge of high pressure and a low pressure system. This large windless zone will soon catch Damien Seguin (Groupe APICIL, 16th) and already occupies Romain Attanasio (Fortinet-BestWestern, 15th). "I was stopped all night," admits Attanasio. 

A little further, the group led by Isabelle Joschke (MACSF, 17th), Alan Roura (Hublot, 18th), Giancarlo Pedote (Prysmian, 19th) and Jean Le Cam (Tout commence en Finistère - Armor-lux, 20th) is progressing on a reaching angle that should carry them to New Zealand. They could cross the latitude of Tasmania this Friday, which will herald their arrival in the Indian Ocean. The conditions are still very lively for Antoine Cornic (Human Immobilier, 32nd) ahead of a front and especially for Jingkun Xu (Singchain Team Haikou, 33rd) who continues to show uncompromising bravery, sailing further south. Conditions will get more intense for the Chinese skipper with a front expected to pass through on Saturday and gusts of up to 60 knots forecast.

Struggles and silver linings 

Visibly from front of the flee to the back, no one is ever safe from technical problems. After 39 days at sea, a guest on Vendée Live, rookie Violette Dorange (Devenir, 25th) admitted to being "on edge" after having passed through a 50-knot squall. "My runner broke, I really thought I was going to dismast. It was very hard mentally," admitted the youngest skipper in the race.

But the news sent by the sailors in the last few hours is more reassuring. Tanguy Le Turquais (Lazare, 22nd) was thus able to resume his race after some composite repair to his hull. Louis Duc (Fives Group-Lantana Environnement, 24th) has had to repair a break in rudder connecting bar. "I transformed my cockpit into a boat yard! It took me time, energy, I'm pretty burned out... But I'm happy that the boat is back on track and that it's 100%!"

For Denis Van Weynbergh (D'Ieteren Group, 36th), his weather vane worries already seem to be a thing of the past. He is now making progress in the Indian Ocean on a very northerly route, not far from Manuel Cousin (Coup de Pouce, 34th) and Fabrice Amedeo (Nexans - Wewise, 35th). Above all, the 57 year old Belgian is savouring his adventure: