Charlie Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance), again at the head of the Vendée Globe since the day before, regained a slight lead on Thursday approaching the Nemo point over his two pursuers Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa) and Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil ). Almost halfway between New Zealand and Cape Horn, Dalin is 56 nautical miles ahead of Richomme and 79 miles ahead of Simon at 7 p.m.
“I’m in great shape, happy to have found the head of the fleet again. I had 24 hours without maneuvers and without changing sails, so it allowed me to settle down and rest a little,” appreciated the Norman navigator. After recently taking a day and a half to repair a sail, his boat regained all its capabilities, which allowed the 40-year-old skipper to cover almost 600 miles in the last 24 hours, the best performance in the fleet of 36 vessels. still in the race.
The pursuing group will be able to accelerate
Approaching Point Nemo, the most isolated place on the globe and a transit zone, damage is particularly feared by sailors because help would take around fifteen days to reach them by sea. The trio of leader has generally widened the gap of around a hundred miles on his immediate pursuers, like Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable), in fourth position, now 817 miles from Dalin. The Northerner is followed by Jérémie Beyou (Charal) and Nicolas Lunven (Holcim-PRB).
But after spending several days in a windless zone, the Ruyant group will “be able to accelerate from tonight, with more than 20 knots of wind and flat seas,” assured Basile Rochut, weather consultant. Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq V) is temporarily alone in 7th position, 1,024 miles from the leader, after almost three days of struggling to avoid being caught by a zone of strong wind, with gusts of 50 knots.
“Four years ago, I spent a lot of time stopped in Brazil. Lots and lots of things are still going to happen, nothing is prohibitive, even for those in the lead,” reminds the organization of the title holder, who, unlike his competitors, is currently sailing towards the zone Antarctic exclusion. Boris Herrmann (Malizia-Seaexplorer) took eighth place at the expense of the Englishman Sam Goodchild (Vulnerable), 9th, and Paul Meilhat (Biotherm) just behind.
Ranking for the 10th edition of the Vendée Globe Thursday at 7:00 p.m. (GMT + 1):
1. Charlie Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance) 9,066.81 nautical miles from the finish
2. Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa) 55.92 miles from the first
3. Sébastien Simon (Dubreuil Group) at 79.43
4. Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable) at 817.88
5. Jérémie Beyou (Charal) at 872.16
6. Nicolas Lunven (Holcim – PRB) at 909.86
7. Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq V) at 1,024.93
8. Boris Herrmann (Malizia – Seaexplorer) at 1,108.73
9. Sam Goodchild (Vulnerable) at 1,149.71
10. Paul Meilhat (Biotherm) at 1,154.57
…
36. Denis van Weynbergh (D’Ieteren Group) at 6,112.83 milles
