Things are going well for Alex Thomson. After his furious comeback, the British "Hugo Boss" skipper has also mastered the Kalmen Belt on the equator at lightning speed and has already reached the trade winds. At this point - and he knows this as well as his competitors - he is sailing with all the advantages on his side: "At this point, the rich are usually getting richer."
After the super moon had thrilled people all over the world, provided the most beautiful impressions and also lit up the Vendée fleet, Thomson was the fastest of the Vendée fleet, travelling at 18 knots towards the Cape of Good Hope. Second-placed Armel Le Cleas'h with his "Banque Populaire VIII" was around 62 nautical miles behind him on Wednesday morning, but had a seven nautical mile lead over Vincent Rio on "PRB". The two French Thomson rivals are also already sailing in the southern hemisphere.
As part of his overall successful start, Alex Thomson set a new best time for the passage from Les Sables D'Olonne to the equator. At 9 days, 7 hours and 2 minutes, he was around a day and 4 hours faster than Jean Le Cam twelve (!) years ago. In the south-easterly trade winds of around 15 knots, Thomson is currently able to convert speed advantages into an increase in nautical miles. Thomson is the first British skipper to lead the race in this initial phase.
Unlucky Tanguy De Lamotte had to tack after breaking his masthead and is heading for the starting harbour. He will not be able to complete his second Vendée Globe round. The Frenchman has assessed the risk of sailing in the Southern Ocean with a broken rig as too high. He has left his repair harbour in Mindelo again and is sailing back towards France at just under seven knots.
Seventh-placed "Maitre CoQ" skipper Jérémie Beyou, who is fighting to catch up with the leaders around 150 nautical miles behind Thomsen, has reported problems with his autopilot. He reported shortly after dawn on Wednesday: "We are sailing towards Brazil. There is a front that will carry us for quite a while. (...) The race towards Recife is on. Since we sailed into the Doldrums, I've had big problems with the autopilot. I already had problems with the first two on the way to the Doldrums. So I had to sail through the Doldrums without the autopilot at all. I'm now using the third autopilot because the first two had electronic problems... It was a hairy affair with 25 knots of wind from behind. Luckily there was no damage. I really need to find a solution."
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
