Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) took over the lead of the Vendée Globe solo race round the world very early this morning benefiting from his position to the west of his rivals which include his teammate British sailor Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) who holds second place. Ruyant was first to emerge from the Doldrums and after a spell at more than double the speed of his British counterpart is about 6.5 miles ahead this afternoon.
The other skipper to have made a notable gain is Pip Hare (Medallia) who has profited from her position to the west also and over recent days has worked her way up to 13th, reducing her deficit of 250 nautical miles yesterday morning to be about 80 miles behind the leading duo this afternoon.
Crucially for the British skipper her gains might now possibly give her a chance of hooking into the first low pressure in the South Atlantic along with the main peloton but the actual time window to catch this system are not very clear.
It is now the first time that Ruyant has led this, his third Vendée Globe. Four years ago he chased British skipper Alex Thomson across the Equator about 80 miles behind. Both gained an immediate jump on the fleet in the South Atlantic when they caught a low pressure in a scenario which very much mirrors this year’s, and indeed 2016-17 when Thomson and Armel Le Cléac'h escaped the pack.
Although he blitzed a new 24 hour solo monohull distance record yesterday morning Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA) has not been able to wriggle out of the Doldrums as efficiently as the likes of Switzerland’s Justine Mettraux (TeamWork-Team Snef) who is up in fifth now less than 40 miles behind Ruyant.
"It seems that we are now out of the Doldrums. It looks like it because everything is stabilizing!", Richomme said this morning, “We were in there for 24 hours. For 12 to 15 hours, we were in a bit of a tough spot. We were really stuck but we have already all seen much worse scenarios than this one!”
He added, “I had 12-15 hours in the hard stuff yesterday afternoon. It was really slow. We didn't make much progress but last night it was good. It was quite a nice Doldrums in the end. There was just a big squall that came through yesterday afternoon. By tomorrow morning, we will have crossed the equator: it will be my first solo. Apparently that's quite something! I've crossed it three times racing. It will be almost a formality. My team must have provided me with a small bottle of champagne. I have to see what day they had planned it for me because I haven't eaten much since the beginning and I'm on day 5’s food bag. I'm 4-5 days behind. In the South Atlantic, it could be very fast, without being very violent. The situation allows us to cut across the South Atlantic fairly quickly. We could pass the Cape of Good Hope, which would put us back in slightly better timings compared to the reference times, which wouldn't be bad. It's a good prospect. It will work for a lot of people. We will break with the group behind of course but the whole group in front risks leaving with it.”
Ruyant’s gain may stabilise as Goodchild should initially have a faster angle to the wind and the sailor from the North of France is converging back east to his team-mate who sails his previous, older generation boat on which he finished sixth on the last Vendée Globe.
Hare brained, thinking fast!
But the biggest gain has been to Hare, who enthused this morning, “I had quite a good night which I was kind of not expecting so much, I can’t touch the others on speed at reaching angles, I just can’t stay with any boats 2020 and newer I just can’t touch them in a straight line. So I need to take the opportunities to ‘think’ my way up the ranks, and I think last night was pretty good for me. Being in the west is the better option and yesterday all day I was really, really vigilant with clouds. I had a satellite image up all the time. It is incredible how accurate it is on my computer screen and then it would pop up on the radar and then I could skirt my way around things. And so I think that really helped me. I am feeling pretty good and am about to have a cup of tea this morning which is often short lived as all hell will likely break loose. All I need to do is keep in touch, keep in touch as long as I can and then when there is an opportunity to ‘think’ my way through things I will give it my best shot. But I am feeling pretty pleased this morning, it is good!”
Not quite the same story from the winner of the last race, La Rochelle’s Yannick Bestaven (Maître CoQ V). "The Doldrums were intense, with quite a few squalls and very unstable winds, both in strength and direction, but they were relatively short lived. What was good was that there were several of us who saw each other at the AIS, which allowed us to understand a little bit what was happening, now I almost feel like it’s a new start!”.
The equator tonight
Next up? Crossing the equator tonight. From then on it is very much a drag race down the South Atlantic in the SE’ly trade winds, all the time eyes on the prize, a depression that they could catch a little to the north of Rio de Janeiro. The low pressure would be ideal to let them put the foot down and go full throttle to the south of the African continent. If this scenario plays out it would similar to the system which propelled Alex Thomson and Armel Le Cléach’ to the Kerguelen Islands at full speed during the 2016-2017 edition. “It’s a good prospect. It will be a chance for a whole group of people but it will cause a real break with the group behind,” analyzed Richomme.
Meantime the entire fleet, with the exception of Oliver Heer (Tut Gut), Denis Van Weynbergh (D’Ieteren Group), Jingkun Xu (Singchain Team Haikou) and Szabolcs Weöres (New Europe) who also burned his hand yesterday while heating water, will only be out of the Doldrums in in about 36 hours.