While leader Charlie Dalin ("Macif Santé Prévoyance") gallops towards the passage of Tasmania deep in the south of Australia, his first pursuer Sébastien Simon has lost further ground. With a broken foil, the "Groupe Dubreuil" skipper is chasing the leader and is increasingly being attacked by the "Paprec Arkéa" skipper Yoann Richomme, who is coming on strong.
The two Frenchmen were less than 100 nautical miles apart in second and third place on Wednesday morning. However, Simon and Richomme were recently travelling at similar speeds of just under 20 knots at around 44 degrees south latitude, while Charlie Dalin had already travelled much further south, down to 48 degrees latitude.
Vendée Globe dominator Dalin reports
The Dominator gave an insight into his life on board on Wednesday: "We've had a really bad swell for a while now. I'm also eating up some of the waves caused by the storm in front of me. That's not exactly pleasant. But the conditions are actually pretty good, the wind is neither too weak nor too strong. It's more the swell that is hindering progress. I have between 20 and 25 knots of wind and there are little sunny moments. When the sky clears, it's 15 degrees in the boat."
Dalin explained that he had found his "travelling speed", even if the last few days, the last few weeks, had been "pretty exhausting" and he saw "no real opportunities for recovery" on the horizon. Dalin's interim conclusion: "Everything is fine, in great shape." The Indian Ocean "really went by extremely quickly". The 40-year-old had rewarded himself with a new record (9 days, 22 hours, 27 minutes) from the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Leeuwin.
"Vulnerable" skipper Thomas Ruyant - who was travelling in a "pack" with Richomme just a few days ago - is now around 200 nautical miles behind Richomme in fourth place. They are followed by the duo of Jérémie Beyou ("Charal") and Nico Lunven ("Holcim-PRB"). Beyou's "Black Beauty" has recently been able to build up a small cushion of 40 nautical miles. These two are also heading straight south after their expensive northern loop, sailing between the 43rd (Beyou) and 42nd parallel (Lunven) on the morning of 11 December.
The Vendée Globe battle in the top ten
Only 30 nautical miles behind Nico Lunven, the second "Vulnerable" skipper Sam Goodchild attacked. With a gap of 835 nautical miles to the very front, the Brit was preparing to move up the rankings again. At the same time, the "Biotherm" skipper Paul Meilhat, who had moved up, did not let up. In eighth place, the Frenchman has now reduced his deficit to Goodchild to just over 30 nautical miles.
Defending champion and "Maître Coq V" skipper Yannick Bestaven defended his ninth place on Wednesday morning with a comfortable lead over Boris Herrmann. The "Malizia - Seaexplorer" and its quartet of chasing boats dropped back a little overnight in line with the weaker winds. He had predicted this "concertina game" himself at a press conference the day before.
Boris Herrmann was separated from Yannick Bestaven by a good 250 nautical miles after day one of the second month of racing. However, Boris Herrmann was able to slightly extend the lead of his chasing group by 14 nautical miles over Justine Mettraux in eleventh place. Somewhat behind Herrmann is "L'Occitane en Provence" skipper Clarisse Crémer, who sailed more than 100 nautical miles behind "Malizia - Seaexplorer". And Sam Davies. The "Initiatives - Cœur" skipper has since explained what has put her so out of step that she has now fallen 156 nautical miles behind Boris Herrmann.
Blackout with Sam Davies
A blackout on board her boat was to blame. She described the initial situation as follows: "I had an 'interesting' night. I charged my batteries with the generator (alternator) last night. I'm in a challenging situation where I no longer have a hydrogenerator because its bracket has broken off. I have to rely on generator charging and solar panels at the moment. The boat was two-thirds charged."
Then there was a total breakdown, as Sam Davies explains: "The boat was travelling fast through the rough seas. Suddenly everything went down - no more information, no more autopilot, no more computer - complete blackout! The boat hit a wave crest super fast and I was thrown out of my seat in the cockpit - I didn't even have time to reach for the rudder!" It ended with a crash tack and backed sails. The boat was tilted on its side at an angle of almost 90 degrees."
Sam Davies initially calmed herself down in this situation, telling herself: "Don't panic." Her thoughts in the chaos: "I no longer had an autopilot, no electronics, I couldn't even tilt the keel to right the boat. But in the end, it was better to keep the boat in this position and go below deck to try and get the power back."
Boris Herrmann makes himself happy
Their boat played along well, as Sam Davies reported: "It's a bit impressive, but the sails standing back kept the boat stable without needing the autopilot. So I climbed into the boat along the walls instead of the floor to get to the switches and try to get the boat going again. You have to be patient. Eventually I got myself back up and calmly righted the boat. And it started again!"
What remains is a degree of uncertainty, as Sam Davies admitted: "The only problem is that I don't know exactly where the fault came from - so I had to do several tests to understand it. That meant several blackouts in a row and my corresponding reactions, with the boat lying on its side each time. That's neither very reassuring nor very fast."
Probably my best MacGyver so far." Boris Herrmann
Boris Herrmann, on the other hand, brought himself a little joy. Team Malizia's recently very bearded skipper sent a happy, smiling portrait photo with his razor from the sea and wrote: "Shaving has become a project here. The razor failed. So I cut it open and connected it directly to the on-board power supply. That worked! I'm very proud!"
Vendée Globe record not out of reach
Another look at the existing Vendée Globe record, which Armel Le Cléac'h set in the penultimate edition in 2016/2017 with 74 days, 3 hours and 35 minutes. Charlie Dalin gives everything at the front to get close to the record. At the end of the 31st day of the race, Dalin "only" had 240 nautical miles to make up for on Le Cléac'h on the comparable day. This left him with a remaining distance of a good 12,600 nautical miles on 11 December. In around 700 nautical miles, the half-time bell will strike for the frontman after 11,228 nautical miles completed so far.
