The four leading IMOCAs, now with Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA) in first place, are now in the Indian Ocean after crossing Cape Agulhas last the night. Richomme is only about 20 miles to the south of long time leader Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) as the long time rivals start their big adventure in the south together.
Dalin, who led at the Cape of Good Hope late yesterday afternoon too just 7d 18h 39min to reach Good Hope from the equator snashing Alex Thomson’s 2016 record of 8d 15h 56min 14s by 21 hours 17 minutes. But because the North Atlantic was relatively slow, Dalin’s time for Les Sables d’Olonne to Good Hope of 19d 03h 43m still does not compare favourably to the British skipper’s 2016 record of 17d 03h 43m when he led Armel Le Cléach across both South African Capes by less than two hours.
While Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) crossed Good Hope in second yesterday evening 2hrs and 10 minutes later, by Cape Agulhas Seb Simon was second on Groupe Dubreuil passing into the Indian Ocean 24 minutes and 24 seconds after Dalin. But what is most remarkable is the race effectively restarted there as the top four all passed into the Indian Ocean within 40 minutes of each other after Dalin did.
Britain’s Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) crossed Cape of Good Hope in eighth place at 05:22hrs this morning so only 13hrs and 37minutes after Dalin.
As usual every Vendée Globe is so totally different. Never has the race seen such a closely matched leading pack of four skippers operating at the same very high level. And now there is the very real prospect of a record 39 solo racers making it to the big south.
Clarisse ready for the south
The pack behind are experiencing a slight pause in lighter winds as they fight to get south to the train of low pressures, among them Clarisse Crémer in 11th place making nine knots this morning as she contemplates the plunge into the Southern Ocean for the second time,
“I am a little tired because in this calm weather, we are working hard to make as much progress as possible and so I didn’t sleep much, especially yesterday when I had a lot of little things to do. I am a little apprehensive about getting back into the Southern Ocean, about getting hit by those first squalls of wind. When you look at the wind files and you see four meters of swell, you say to yourself “ah yes, that’s right, I had forgotten what it was like!”. How am I experiencing this transition phase? Both good and bad. It’s hard to see the pack so far in front who really had the perfect schuss to the Cape of Good Hope, and even in the Indian Ocean it seems pretty smooth for them. I have looked at the weather forecast a bit. On the other hand, these are somewhat calm days that allow you to get on and fix lots of things. I also had my share of luck in the South Atlantic passage but it's true that it's quite long. We have a feeling the Cape of Good Hope is so close it's making us wait. It's quite surprising as we wait slowly getting ready to get into this next business. I had another good night in light winds. We are really to the north of a depression. Soon I'm going to catch some wind which will allow me to go a little more towards the East. It's going to set off again downwind in wind, not too strong, normally. We mustn't be surprised because we are still in the South and the wind is starting to be denser and the sea a little more disordered (after the cape).”
She adds, “And in terms of the match with Justine and Boris I was dropped a little yesterday because I didn't have my big gennaker that I lost along Portugal. A little hard on morale. We're going to arrive in areas where the files are less accurate. It’s not like in the North Atlantic where we can trust them. It’s harder to play the finesse of the course. It’s a bit of a break again with this piece of anticyclonic pressure passing over us. It’s always a mixture of luck and calculations. It’s still galvanizing to have boats next to us. We feel like we’ve been at sea for three weeks. There are times when we’re not so flash.”