Vendée Globe Day 57, less than 3000 miles for the two leaders

Leader Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) is now well into the northern hemisphere and crossed the psychologically significant 3,000 mile mark from the finish overnight. However, he has still not been able to break away from Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA), who was only 86 miles behind at 0600UTC this morning and sailing almost five knots faster.

Meanwhile Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) climbed to fifth place overnight, having overtaken team mate Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE), who is slowed by the loss of his J2 headsail in gusts of 50-60 knots. Nevertheless, Ruyant had regained a 21 mile advantage by 0600UTC

The competition in this part of the fleet is extraordinarily close, with Ruyant leading a group of seven boats that are separated by only 150 miles in terms of distance to the finish. Nevertheless, Goodchild, who has sailed an impressively consistent race, remains the leading skipper in an older generation boat by a wide margin.

An uncomfortable route north

Romain Attanasio (Fortinet - Best Western) in 15th place reported in two days after rounding Cape Horn. He had some time to go on deck to check the boat and make small repairs, but is now facing 1,000 miles of uncomfortable upwind sailing at 25 degrees of heel.

“I’m in the Atlantic Ocean now. I'm happy to be here after such a hard Southern Ocean – it was terrible for a month and now after the crazy cape, my third cape, I'm so happy.”
 Unlike his previous two roundings, Attanasio was able to see Cape Horn this time: "It was wonderful to see the rock and just after the sea went flat and the wind decreased, so you could go outside to walk on the deck, to check the boat.

“There were two nice days after the cape, but now it's a bit harder. We are upwind for 1,000 miles and it's not really comfortable – the boat stuffs the waves every 30 seconds and we have to live with 25 degrees of heel. 
“But I'm really happy, very warm – it's really warm outside and warm onboard. Completely different to two days ago.”

A northerly wind forced the skipper of Fortinet-Best Western to tack up the south Atlantic, taking a route inside the 16 mile wide strait between Staten Island and the eastern tip of Tierra del Fuego, before sailing west of the Falklands. Frustratingly for him, it’s a passage that turned out to be easier for Damien Seguin (Groupe Apicil), who is just 14 miles ahead of Attanasio.

Both are followed by the leading daggerboard boat, Jean Le Cam (Tout Commerce en Finisterre - Armor Lux), which is only a couple of hundred miles behind and approaching “on a crazy, wide” and very fast angle.


“The bad news is just I have Jean Le Cam behind, he is coming back really fast... I can't get away. It's like that because he’s the king,” Attanasio continues. “The King John is a good man and the good man has good weather and I can't make anything with him. We are upwind, while he is reaching 200-300 miles away in the southeast. He will come back – he has a better angle for the next month and there’s nothing we can do about that.”

Pacific calms

Manuel Cousin (Coup de Pouce, 34th) is in calm weather in the middle of the Pacific ocean. Along with his neighbour Fabrice Amédéo (Nexans – Wewise, 33rd) who is only five miles away, he would like to be able to count on the return of the wind.

“Unlike the Indian Ocean, which was furious for me, the Pacific is much more peaceful. Maybe even a little too much for the last two to three days. We had some significant areas of calm, and to reach the ice exclusion zone I have to go through very calm areas. And what's more, it's close-hauled, in a rough sea. It doesn't help you move forward!

“We know that in the Southern Ocean 500 miles can be quickly made up or quickly lost. Sometimes it’s long, mentally it’s tough, I really didn’t think I’d do a Vendée Globe like this one. If I can scratch ahead I will, we all have the same state of mind, we stay positive, we do our best, we give everything we’ve got.”

Finally, there’s good news from two other competitors. Louis Burton’s boat (Bureau Vallée) is expected today at his home port of Saint Malo after a long voyage from South Africa, where Burton was forced to retire after rigging failure. Today also sees the return to sea of Yannick Bestaven (Maître CoQ V), following his retirement on December 30th. Thanks to the hard work of his technical team, the defending Vendée Globe champion will be able to resume his circumnavigation this morning. He may be out of the race, but is still in good company.