10th Vendée Globe, Pip Hare dismasted, Richomme homing in on leader

After being dismasted last night at around 2145hrs UTC some 800 miles south of Australia Pip Hare has secured Medallia and has already set a jury rig and, bitterly disappointed, is making slow but steady progress. She is uninjured but her indefatigable spirit has taken a big hit.

It is the cruellest blow for Hare who was in her element, relishing her long time tussle over 15th place with French skipper Romain Atttanasio (Fortinet Best Western) and was doing her best to chase down Benjamin Dutreux (Guyot Environnement-Water Family) in front. Typical of Pip she had just sent a cheery video the night before, “It is so beautiful here.”  she grinned beneath her trademark woolly hat. 

So far nothing has been reported as to what might have happened but we will get updates in the day. Medallia is not damaged and Pip is trying to come to terms with things.

Hare is unfortunately not the only one with difficulties. Faced with a breakage on part of his rigging, The Hungarian sailor Szabolcs Weöres (New Europe, 38th) seems to be sailing in the direction of South Africa while further away, downwind of Saint-Paul Island, Antoine Cornic (Human Immobilier, 33rd) dropped his anchor early in the morning to try to repair his mainsail traveller, despite still very rough seas. 

The leading trio are making hay whilst the conditions remain good for them. Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) has cross the famous anti-meridian in the lead today but is under increasing pressure from Yoann Richomme (PAPREC – ARKÉA). Richomme is just over 40 miles behind this morning and was still more than a knot faster than Dalin. 

Behind, those who got stuck in light winds high pressure ridge have speeded up and now have their chance to make good some of their losses over recent days. Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE, 4th) clocked at nearly 25 knots on average is leading the charge. 

In 11th  Switzerland’s Justine Mettraux (TeamWork-Team Snef) is doing her best to chase Germany’s Boris Herrmann (Malizia Seaexplorer) who is among the fastest in the fleet, also making around 25kts. 

“Life has been about reaching and reducing sail area a little, since yesterday it has been two reefs and J3, it has been like this for at least 24 hours, with smaller sails, so it has been quite straight line, it has just been about trimming. But the coming days will be challenging and not so windy so we will see how it goes. I am at 150 degrees east and so we feel the antimeridian is coming up and after that we are starting to get closer to home than we are going away. I feel like I have been doing a good job at looking after myself, I really have been eating properly since the start of the race, I have not missed a meal since the start of the race and so I am quite happy with that as you need the energy when you are cold and tired. The coming week will not be easy as we have this strong gale coming in from the north which we have to negotiate for the next two to three days, and so we need to find a good angle reaching and see how we can manage the pressure. After that a transition and some downwind to get close to Point Nemo.”

I still have quite strong winds and waves of almost 5 meters, but it is still much less complicated than 24 hours ago when the weather was really raging.

For his part, Damien Seguin (Groupe APICIL, 17th) is gradually recovering after a really tough phase of his race, he and his boat suffering, “ I still have quite strong winds and waves of almost 5 meters, but it is still much less complicated than 24 hours ago when the weather was really raging. Yesterday I rested a lot and I started the first repairs, already to make sure that the boat does not take on water anymore. I will not be able to finish them completely in the next two days, I will wait for calmer conditions to do the last stratifications, but in any case the boat is in a condition to be able to sail without too much worry. I have regular check-ups with the doctor, we are worried about knowing if the knee and my vertebrae are in a good state anyway to be able to continue the race without risking a second accident.” 

“What is important in complicated moments like this, when the boat suffers enormously, when we take a lot of shocks and a lot of stress too, is to succeed in putting things into perspective. It's easy to say like that, but you have to have confidence in your boat, confidence in what you're doing too, know how to keep your head down without risking the equipment too much. I'm not doing too badly, the boat has a few bruises, me too, but it could have been much worse if I had kept my head down. I'm still racing and that's the most important thing.”

What is important in complicated moments like this, when the boat suffers enormously, when we take a lot of shocks and a lot of stress too, is to succeed in putting things into perspective. It's easy to say like that, but you have to have confidence in your boat, confidence in what you're doing too, know how to keep your head down without risking the equipment too much