Sam Goodchild steals lead off Portugal

The British skipper, who is racing his first Vendée Globe, has benefited so far by taking a course slightly closer to the coast than Dalin and those chasing him, he has been dicing with possible calmer patches, but sailing fewer miles and making slightly fewer manoeuvres than his rivals. This afternoon he was repositioning himself to try close the separation from the French skipper who is widely tipped as the pre-race favourite. 

Finisterre is done 

The 40 boat fleet have now largely passed the strong winds and big seas off Cape Finisterre, the gnarly NW corner of Spain, and are heading south today the temperatures are rising and the wind conditions becoming easier meaning rest will be possible. 

For the moment it seems like Goodchild might have outsmarted the wily Dalin, one of the master meteo strategists in this fleet. The Brit has gone well in both light and strong conditions which have marked the first two days of the race which started on Sunday out of Les Sables d’Olonne. 

But ahead the breezes are set to be lighter as they gybe down a narrow corridor of pressure and it seems there might be the chance for the boats behind to bring down the wind from behind. Nonetheless it is an important morale boost for the 35-year-old Goodchild who attended his first Vendée Globe as an 18-year-old nipper working with British skipper Mike Golding. 

In the leading wake of Thomson?

The challenge facing him to hold the lead is a big one, the conditions contrasting sharply with the last edition which Brit Alex Thomson also led after battling through Tropical Storm Theta to cross the Equator with the race lead after 9 days 23 hours. Thomson also led the 2018 race and set the existing record to the Equator at 9 days and 7 hours. 

Conditions through the second night at sea were tough, winds to 40kts and crossed, confused seas which meant another night with very little sleep. 

Speaking on the Vendée Globe LIVE show in French this morning second placed Dalin said: “There was quite a bit of wind and maneuvers. Fortunately it's not like this every day on the Vendée Globe, I would not like live too many days like the last two. There was quite a bit of wind, very unpleasant and very short sea, but now it's starting to get better, it's warming up, I have 18C in the cockpit. And since the Bay of Biscay I have a good speed. It's quite nice to gain speed after a rather slow start. It has been quite hard work doing this short gybes downwind because you barely have time to recover and then it is time to go again.”

Germany’s Boris Herrmann (Malizia Seaexplorer) has continued to climb through the fleet, he has had stronger breeze letting his powerful boat start to do its thing and this afternoon was in ninth place, the fastest of the Top 10. 

Outside or inside? 

The choice of going outside the Traffic Separation Scheme, to the west at Finisterre , was a prudent one made by several skippers, notably Switzerland’s Justine Mettraux (TeamWork-Team Snef) and Nico Lunven (HOLCIM PRB). 

Lunven is now furthest to the west, more than 180 miles behind the leader, and reported, “I wanted to do something simple, I wasn't very comfortable with the idea of passing inside the DST of Cape Finisterre with the coastal traffic, quite a lot of wind and seas, gybing. I preferred to take a simple route, even if it meant losing a little. Unfortunately I had a little problem with my rudder last night, the rudder bar ripped off, so I had to do a bit of fixing and I lost a bit of time.”

That said current routings predict enough of a gain offshore that they may catch right back up with the leading peloton. 

Hare a bit frazzled

 Britain’s Pip Hare (Medallia) admitted on Vendée LIVE that she, as have almost others, struggled to rest and is now low on energy after this punishing calm then windy opening phase.

From 24th position today Hare commented, “It has been pretty relentless to be honest, having drifted across the line we have then had 48 hours of really intense sailing, lots of manoeuvres lots of gybes, plenty of sail changes, sneaking through between the TSS and Finisterre the sea state became quite big this morning, but it feels like I have only been napping for 20 minutes and then having to get up and do something I have burned a lot of energy for sure.  To be honest I am not thinking too much about my position in the fleet too much. I did not get away as well as I would have hoped and it is really easy to dwell on that and get dragged down. I just really struggle at the start of races, I struggle to find my pace, and we have the whole world to go.” 

Sam Davies (Initiatives Coeur) is also working up the fleet in 17th, “I think I had something round my keel and then I just went the wrong way but I think there will be some compression ahead.” 

Making her debut on the French LIVE was the 23-year-old sensation of the race so far, the youngest ever skipper Violette Dorange (Devenir) who is sailing the boat which her mentor Jean Le Cam raced to fourth on the last race, best known as Hubert, “I took off my spinnaker a bit early, I lost a bit, I wanted to be very safe, but I'm regaining distance, I'm really concentrating on my race. There was a lot of crossing in the fleet. Passing to the west of the TSS seemed easier, so it really didn't make any difference to the routing.  Hubert is a great boat, she's my little home, I feel good aboard, I know her well! I was a bit apprehensive before the start, when the wind picked up, but now I'm starting to get into the rhythm. It's great training to find your bearings in the wind before the south.”