Sébastien Josse : We've seen numbers of over 28 knots on average, quite crazy speeds

he fleet has clearly divided into three groups. Those we expected, the usual suspects, are at the front with one surprise nonetheless: Sébastien Simon. Even though he has a great track record he has still sailed less than the others and his team is a little less structured than some. We hadn't seen him much in the qualifying events, in the pre-season. He had a pretty incredible descent of the South Atlantic and it's good to see him where he is! What is also remarkable is that there was no damage south of South Africa, as happens quite often. The Cape of Good Hope is generally a bit of an acid test at the start of the Forties. This time, it went really well except for Louis Burton. That bodes well for the future. Then there is of course this masterstroke pulled off by Charlie Dalin. We can see that he is confident that he knows his boat by heart, that he is quite daring. His strategic choice in recent days was committed. He managed to stay ahead of this very big storm. The same goes for Sébastien Simon. The risk was in being too slow or to have damage and to be caught up by the bad weather. In the end, everything went well. The new boats allow this kind of thing because they sail at an average speed of 23 knots. They are therefore able to stay with a weather phenomenon and therefore sail a bit like the multihulls.

Well, Charlie is half or even a system ahead of the others. He will slip under the anticyclone. Everyone will find themselves under the influence of a closed zone of high pressure. So they will certainly catch up with each other behind him but he has a 500-mile lead over Yoann Richomme, which is not nothing. In any case it allows him to see what is coming. That being said, the Vendée Globe is long. They are only under Australia and a lot of things can still happen. In the meantime, he is making an impression by proving that he is there, something he did little of in his first Vendée Globe. He is taking risks. He sets the pace when necessary. He has the self assurance and confidence of a leader, it’s nice to see.

During the descent of the Atlantic, given the weather, the speeds were not exceptional but the intensity on board the boats was incredible. The manoeuvres, the adjustments… they were at 100% knowing that there would then be a benefit to being in front. We see today that those who managed to escape under Saint Helena are those who raced well on the descent of the Atlantic. The latter was, admittedly, slow but exciting!

The foils were up to a level in the last edition in terms of performance, but they were a little fragile on the systems. Here, I have the impression that they didn't slam as much and that's good but it's certain that there has been a step forward. Sébastien Simon's average speeds on the South Atlantic have been quite phenomenal. We've seen numbers of over 28 knots on average over four hours, which represents quite crazy speeds, it's faster than an Ocean Fifty! The foils, themastery of the systems, the skippers' mastery of their boats, the stability. All of that has progressed enormously. We can see it in these average speeds.

In the end, there will be a bit of wear and tear on the men and the boats. When you look very closely at the tracks on the tracker we see that some people fix stuff from time to time. We never know what will happen next, but for now Charlie Dalin is smiling. We can see that he is well, that he is enjoying himself, even though it must be super hard.