But up against the mastery of the winner of this tenth edition of the non-stop solo round the world race, his long term friend and rival Charlie Dalin, Richomme lacked for little, other than some of Dalin’s real confidence in himself and his boat. Having finished second on the 2020-21 race Dalin’s experience allowed him to back himself in his big choices, such as outrunning a big low pressure system in the Southern Ocean.
As he has done since their days in the Figaro class Richomme consistently proved Dalin’s toughest most unrelenting rival right until the final days of the race.
Even though he had only really been in the IMOCA class for two years before the Vendée Globe started, he was marked out alongside Dalin as a favourite to win due to his winning successes, his incredible drive, his technical skills and being armed with a slightly more radical new, ultra fast IMOCA design from the partnership of Koch-Finot Conq all backed by the resources of twin partners recycling giants Paprec and bank Arkéa.
And while he seemed to take all the preparations in his stride, driving the evolution and fine tuning of his boat, he was still hugely taken by the emotion and enormous send off on start day. "When you see the public all along the channel, you realise the exceptional nature of what we are setting out to achieve.” He very quickly volunteered.
The record and the discovery of the South Seas
He was quick to get into full race mode and remove weed from his keel which gave him a fright after the start. Richomme was nonetheless into the top ten on the second night and then took control of the race on 13 November for a day, at the latitude of Morocco.
And as the leading group hooked into a fantastic weather system for speed, the leaders played top trumps with the 24 hour solo speed record, and on November 20, he broke the 24-hour speed record (551.84 miles) in a race and solo, beating the one set by Nicolas Lunven (Holcim-PRB) a few days before and he held it for a for a week (before Sébastien Simon took it).
Throughout the descent of the Atlantic, Richomme stayed in contact with the favorites, never far from Charlie Dalin. He was one of the first to benefit from an amazing depression that propelled the entire head of the fleet from the Brazilian coast to the Cape of Good Hope and beyond.
At the beginning of December a major depression formed on the way to the Kerguelen Islands. 60 knots of wind and 8-meter waves were expected. Dalin carried on heading East, choosing to be safe he moves to the North-East. "This allows me to have an escape route in case of a problem, without being stuck by the ZEA", he confides then. But Dalin and Simon get away on the low and build a lead of over 400 miles.
The bounceback and the duel
But here Richomme shows his real mettle, he picks a moment and presses hard on the accelerator. It is a remarkable sequence as he, and only he, achieves an incredible comeback of more 500 miles in a handful of days. After passing Tasmania, Richomme overtook Simon (December 14) then Dalin (December 17) who at that point had been first for 15 days.
What followed was a high-flying battle, a fierce fight between the finest sailors where the weather files were dissected and the settings refined with the utmost precision.
Sébastien Simon, who had lost his starboard foil was compromised and helplessly let Yoann and Charlie escape at the end of the Pacific. At Cape Horn it was the first timer, Richomme who led by 9 minutes and 30 seconds and taking the record between Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn (13 days, 9 hours and 13 minutes). For another seven days climbing the South Atlantic Richomme remained in the lead. On December 31 as the duo struggled to break out of the cold front at Cabo Frio, off Rio Dalin trusted his instincts and wriggled out of the light winds zone, a move that really proved the winning one.
He half-admitted this last Tuesday: "I have the impression that Charlie will be a little stronger, I'm mainly trying to keep up the pace". On Friday, things got a little more complicated. He saw his J0, one of his headsails, fall into the water. He tried to get it back on board, managed to do so but recovered a torn and totally unusable sail.
In Charlie's footsteps
But in victory Dalin was generous in his praise and admiration for Richomme and his race "It's thanks to Yoann that I was able to sail around the world in such a short time. It forced me to send back sail, to be on the settings, to give everything... With Yoann, it was an incredible match. In the Big South he sailed like his was in his garden".
Richomme on PAPREC ARKÉA finishes second in his first Vendée Globe. It is a first step that may yet prove significant. Four years ago a ‘rookie’ like him finished 2nd. But that rookie came back again four years later. His name is Charlie Dalin. Here’s hoping for a replay of the battle of the giants in 2028!
