Vendée Globe: Daring Dalin extends

The threat is constant, the stress continuous, but daring Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) and second placed wingman Seb Simon (Groupe Dubreuil) are starting to really profit from their position in the lion’s den, racing in the heart of a big Indian Ocean low pressure system which is taking them at good speeds towards Cape Leeuwin where they should pass Saturday.

Conditions are tough, especially for the sailor from Les Sables d’Olonne, Simon, who is more to the north west of the eye of the storm system and likely to be having very strong winds and bigger, unruly seas. 

Dalin is opening distance on Simon. Soon it is likely to be close to 200 miles. And in turn they are both now between 300 and 400 miles ahead of Yoann Richomme (PAPREC-ARKÉA) who leads the chasing peloton. They are now 600 miles to the north of the track taken by the leading duo and as long as Simon and Dalin can get through the next 12-24 hours with their boats intact their lead should continue to grow at least until the groups converge under Western Australia. 

Up to the very north west of the low the conditions are very unsettled, messy seas and big variations in wind speed as Jéremie Beyou says in a video, “It’s been a complicated night with a short, crossed sea a very unstable wind, hard for the boat which is at ten knots at one moment and a few minutes later going at 30-35kts which is very, very frustrating.” 

We had 40 knots max ahead of the front, I think it was the right choice. I'm going to take the centre now while the northern group has had it for several hours. In any case there was no escape, we were too far south. I don't try to keep to my routings, but I want to cross this Indian Ocean without any problems so I'm being very careful, it's not the time to oress on the machine I think, I'll know how to do it at other times, I'm racing at my own pace!
SébastienSimonGroupe Dubreuil

The third group, Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE), Paul Meilhat (Biotherm) and Yannick Bestaven (Maitre Coq V) are in taking a SE’ly route to set up for the next system but have modest conditions, unlike the quartet to their west led by Justine Mettraux (TeamWork-Team Snef). Clarisse Crémer (L’Occitaine en Provence) 130 miles behind her reports this morning, 

“I’m a bit better now, I managed to sleep, I dropped in a reef, we do what we can! What do I look like? that's a very good question, I can't answer it myself. I was a bit physically done in after a night spent taking care of the foil the night before, I was burnt out, and even if I wasn't in the worst conditions in the Indian Ocean at the moment, it's never easy and I had between 25 and 30 knots and a rather short sea, nothing catastrophic but hey, I wasn't in great shape. Now I managed to sleep two big naps of an hour and a half, it feels so good, I woke up with a smile! And now I'm going to go back to a nap after taking a reef, so great. It wasn't great, but it's better!”

Explaining the damage and repair to her foil arm head, she says, “I simply wanted to adjust my foil, and I heard a loud crack, so you don't need to be an expert to understand that something is wrong! And I saw that the foil cylinder support had given way, so the foil in the front-back direction, it's not held. It's not repaired, because I can't start repairing the foil support, well maybe one day but not now, on the other hand it's blocked thanks to wooden wedges that had been provided for this purpose. It's not easy to put in place but normally everything is fine, I check from time to time that it's still there and it seems to be fine. It's just that it adds something extra so my foil is not adjusted as I would like. As I had a little too much power at one point, now I can't keep it laterally, so I have to retract it, except that here for example I would need a little more power, but to send it back you would have to bear away... In short, it's an extra hassle! It's not a disaster, but you have to monitor it so that it doesn't get any bigger, and you have to check that the shims are holding well, are we going to change the shims to adjust the foil differently? We will see what we do in the future.”

She continues, “Now it is a bit lighter before strengthening later in maybe 2-3 hours, that's why I'm a little slow, I dropped a reef but it would have to be a little under power for the J2... That's what's hard, is that one time the file says 20 knots and in fact there are 25-30, and another time it tells you 20 knots and in fact there are 18. So sometimes you need more sail area often it's lighter than forecast. But right now, the conditions are fine.” 

It's been really cold since the front passed this morning, I put on a bit of heating. I'm trying to be careful with the boat which has forced me to slow down a bit. I got eaten up a bit by the eye of the depression which blocked me for almost two hours, it was very surprising, I'd never had that experience before! The wind started to come back with the back of the depression, I'm starting to have quite strong seas, quite cross, and above all a very cold wind, very dense and very gusty. Right now I only have 24-25 knots, but sometimes it goes up to 30-31 knots without warning, the boat accelerates to 35 knots...
SébastienSimonGroupe Dubreuil

“The rest of my Indian Ocean? We're on a southern route with my small group, hoping not to have too many bad surprises. There's bound to be an unpleasant moment with a low that passes from here to when we come back up from the ice zone, but if all goes well it's not too bad a dep. Nothing to compare to what Charlie and Seb have there! If we're lucky we're not going to stop our southern route in terms of safety, even if there will be some less fun moments. For the moment it's looking pretty good in terms of the transition phases. As usual, it's not like in the books where I go straight, it's not always easy, but the really cool thing is that we pass right next to the Crozet Islands and the Kerguelen Islands, and normally tomorrow during the day, I arrive before it gets dark on the windward side of the Crozet Islands, and the Cochon Island and everything and normally I should see them so I'm really happy. There are tons of albatrosses, yesterday I had a dozen albatrosses around me, that's quite cool, I don't know if I've ever seen so many at once, they look like cartoons! They seem unreal because they're so big, it's really very strange, it's so different from the other birds and that's the nice surprise when I'm going to take a reef or something, you always have to steel yourself with courage but in general we are always rewarded by beautiful apparitions like that! But I always tend to want to slow down to watch them, which is not quite the plan!”

forgotten
“In four years I have forgotten a lot of things, the sections were very different four years ago. I found the cold again, it is 10 degrees in the boat, it is not horrible but when you try to sleep you quickly get cold, it brings back memories! You know when you have slept so much and crushed that you wake up soaked like sleeping babies you know, you are all sweaty from the heavy sleep at the beginning of the night, and you have to get out of your duvet to go and throw back a reef, it is a little unpleasant moment (laughs)! On the other hand the feeling of going to get under your duvet is so pleasant, whereas at the Equator it is so unpleasant to go and get into your bed when you are all sticky, then you are good!”

“My cursor placement in terms of competition? I think I'm pretty much in what I imagined in terms of mix between performance and safety, the breakdowns don't help too much because you become a little more careful, I would have attacked a little more in the last 24 hours if I hadn't had my breakdown, but we don't want to create even bigger problems than the ones we have! I have a little touch of annoyance because I have the impression that I could be 100 miles ahead plus between Boris and not far from Justine, but each sailor must have the impression that he could be somewhere else.” 

As usual, it's not like in the books where I go straight, it's not always easy, but the really cool thing is that we pass right next to the Crozet Islands and the Kerguelen Islands, and normally tomorrow during the day, I arrive before it gets dark on the windward side of the Crozet Islands, and the Cochon Island and everything and normally I should see them so I'm really happy. There are tons of albatrosses, yesterday I had a dozen albatrosses around me, that's quite cool, I don't know if I've ever seen so many at once, they look like cartoons!
ClarisseCrémerL'OCCITANE en Provence

Ready, willing and able for his first solo experience in the Southern Ocean is China’s JingKun Xu, who is 900 miles from the Cape of Good Hope. 

 “In the past 36 hours I passed through the low pressure system in the southern hemispher, the wind changed very fast and the sailing has become more difficult. But I knew that was just the first test before the Southern Ocean. 

I know it will be challenging but that is why we come to do the Vendée Globe and I am looking forwards to getting into the Southern Ocean as soon as possible, because that is the fast highway that will take us back to France soon. 

I have been feeling great since the start, the boat is great and so am I. We are in good condition, nothing to repair so far. Every day is different and not boring at all, I cherish every day in the race. 

I don’t count the days my plan is just to sail with a full heart making every day and every nautical mile count. I try my best to just enjoy every moment of the Vendée Globe.”