Richomme rockets to new 24 hour distance record
One week on exactly since Nico Lunven (HOLCIM-PRB) set a new solo 24 hours monohull distance record, Paprec Arkéa solo skipper Yoann Richomme dramatically bettered that mark this morning on the Vendée Globe, before running out of track and hitting the buffers as he and the other leaders of the solo…
It was pretty unexpected because the run in between the ridge and the ITCZ has been quite short and so I was not even looking at beating because I thought it would be less than 500 miles but apparently it was enough and it is my main pleasure to beat Nico Lunven in life (jokes). It is good, I really pushed hard, I wanted to catch the guys in front because I am really afraid of a breakaway near Brazil and so I thought I could cover some miles on that day and it worked out. It is not paying off too much right now as I am stuck in a light spot and have been here for three hours doing three or four knots. And so the thing is maybe if there was a hundred or so miles of breeze it could have been a good number of miles more.
If we do get into a warm front in front of a cold front on a flat sea I think the crewed record is doable because I don’t think it matters too much if you are solo or crewed for a few miles it does, we can get a lot closer to the crewed record. But you have to have the right conditions so let us see if that happens. I feel most of these boats have these kind of speeds now.
New 24-hour solo monohull record for Yoann Richomme!
Keel problem for Fabrice Amedeo on Nexans - Wewise.
Wednesday's menu: Doldrums
Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) has seen his lead shrink slightly overnight in particular to Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) and Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa) but he still has a useful 38 miles buffer on Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil).
A birthday bonus for Goodchild but second Doldrums beckon
Having battled for the best part of three days to the escape Doldrum like conditions which have prevailed in place of the trade winds that would normally have been accelerating the Vendée Globe fleet south at speed, now it is time for the real thing.
Discover the official water bottle
Patience mode continues
Patience is a virtue which is being tested for the skippers of the Vendée Globe fleet as they continue to try and escape from a wide band of light and variable winds at the latitude of the Cape Verde islands.
Not out of the woods yet.
Vendée Globe leader Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) has seen his lead shrink progressively as the skippers chasing behind him and to his west have held on to wind for slightly longer than he has, the British skipper descending south into light, light airs again.
