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Last tack in the Southern Hemisphere for the leader?

After Cape Horn the South Atlantic should feel like the ‘home’ ocean, the progressive return home. After the constant stress of the Big South it should, by all accounts, feel a little more straightforward. 

RACE, JANUARY 02, 2025 : Photo sent from the boat MACIF Santé Prévoyance during the Vendee Globe sailing race on January 02, 2025. (Photo by skipper Charlie Dalin) Up the mast
COURSE, 02 JANVIER 2025 : Photo envoyée depuis le bateau MACIF Santé Prévoyance lors de la course à la voile du Vendée Globe le 02 janvier 2025. (Photo du skipper Charlie Dalin) En haut du mât

But that is not the case on this 10th Vendée Globe, neither for the the two leaders – Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) and Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA) – nor for the chasing pack, from fourth placed Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) to 11th positioned Justine Mettraux (TeamWork- Team Snef.
If Dalin and Richomme are still mired in an extended zone of high pressure whilst the second group are being forced to fight for every mile, upwind for days in an increasingly unsettled wind and big, slamming seas. And now they are facing a stormy low with winds to 40kts which is potentially damaging, considering the boats are weary. 
Ruyant was already caught out yesterday by a squall of 50 knots plus which knocked his VULNERABLE flat and shredded his J2, his essential workhorse headsail. And he is now only 120 miles clear of Meilhat in fifth and will certainly be compromised by the loss of his J2 between now and the finish. 

If the two leaders have any solace it is that they are both still together. Dalin has crept away to be about 40 miles ahead of Richomme who seems to have had a very light, wobbly period. The numbers make painful reading. Over 24 hours Richomme has only made 109 nautical miles and Dalin 149 miles, but they are expecting to accelerate now the breeze has settled more in direction. But yesterday was challenging in the extreme in a very unsettled breeze, says the race leader this morning,  

 

 

Life is good at the moment, it is nice living on board, it is warm – not too warm – 33 degrees and down to 27 at night – so it easy to sleep, the sea is very flat and so it is easy living to move, to eat to sleep. Yes it has been slow but really a enjoyable few days. I am not complaining and we should accelerate today, we should start to see a bit more wind. The trades winds should strengthen through the day sailing north towards the equator. Normally I should have made my last tack but you never know. You never know. Yesterday was pretty incredible regarding wind direction. Huge shifts. A big header, the headsail would luff and by the time I got in the cockpit I’d be back in a big lift and it was like this all day. It was pretty crazy. I have never sailed in such a big, rapid variation in wind.”

Charlie Dalin
MACIF Santé Prévoyance

upwind, upwind, upwind

Back in the chasing peloton Boris Herrmann is trying to stay objective in ninth place,

“ We have had upwind conditions since the Falklands and it's not very pleasant, especially now with the sea building, it's slamming hard, sometimes we're a bit scared for the boat! We're all looking forward to it being over because it feels very much eternal, what's also really a bit annoying is that the weather models change a lot from one session to the next, so we don't really know what to think! What's good is that we're a bit grouped together. Paul (Meilhat) dropped us, he did a great job, he followed the routing a bit more, and we were all, well me anyway, skeptical about the routing, that's why I didn't do this route! But it was a mistake when you think about it! The night when we were next to the Falklands I was  in front of him, so there he has a built big advantage.”

Herrmann adds, 
“

The next 12 hours, we are going to have a kind of storm, we are in a depression expecting up to 40 knots, probably reaching, so it is not always easy to manage, but it will make a bit of reaching, and I hope to get out of it without having to put up the storm jib! After that we should pass the centre of the dep, even if it is not very clear on which route, and then we work towards the North, but it is not easy... There is the semi-permanent front, I think we still have a good week ahead of us with a lot of questions, transitions and lack of clarity! Morale is good, a little tired, I have to go to bed. Physically hard to do the tacks, because the port foil is difficult to lower, so I am working like crazy to lower it, it takes me a while. And we have done I don't know, 12-15 tacks? I'm a bit tired, fed up, that's enough! That's enough, we'd like to sail normally, right now we're like upwind, upwind, but hey I'm not going to complain, right now I'm going to the bunk, I hope I'm not going to get thrown off. Earlier we did a jump that really hurt my back, that really hit really hard, I hope we don't have many more like that!

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In brief

ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) for the first skippers between January 14 and 15

À bord de Biotherm (Paul Meilhat).

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

Race leader Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance, 1st) should cross the equator back into the ‘home’ hemisphere in about ten hours, his advantage over Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA, 2nd) now having stabilsied at about 120 miles, both benefiting from the SE’ly trade winds.
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