Vendée Globe: Despite a broken wing - Seb Simon's Christmas present off Cape Horn

This Christmas Day at the 10th Vendée Globe is all about Sébastien Simon. The solo sailor from Les Sables-d'Olonne passed Cape Horn in third place in the fleet. In a grey wash, "Groupe Dubreuil" whizzed past the Cape at a speed of 17 or 18 knots just under 30 nautical miles to the south. Third place at this point was earned with furious determination and a lot of fighting spirit.

A winning boat carries Seb Simon at the Vendée Globe

At the Vendée Globe, Seb Simon sails the winning boat from the last Ocean Race. Charlie Enright's US team 11th Hour Racing sailed to victory in the most important team race around the world with "Mālama". Now Seb Simon is fighting for a podium place at the Vendée Globe on Guillaume Verdier's 2021 design. His boat is now called "Groupe Dubreuil". After many setbacks, Seb Simon completed his first Cape Horn passage with her on 25 December.

Click here for the live tracker and the interim results.

It took Seb Simon 44 days, 21 hours, 19 minutes and 38 seconds to sail from the starting harbour of Les Sables-D'Olonne to the most important milestone of the solo race around the world. He reached the third and most important cape of his solo race around the world at 10.21 a.m. German time on Christmas Day.

Long live the Atlantic!" Sébastien Simon

Simon was delighted with his best Christmas present, saying: "We passed Cape Horn with the Imoca 'Groupe Dubreuil'. Merci Pacific, ciao south. It's straight on to Les Sables-d'Olonne. That's incredible! It's brilliant! Thanks to everyone. Thanks to Groupe Dubreuil. Thanks to the Dubreuil family for making it possible to experience this moment. The last cape! That's a lovely Christmas present. That's cool!"

Cape Horn third after 50-knot storm

On the way to "Bronze" at Cape Horn, Seb Simon has already had to master several storms. In the past few days, he has had to deal with winds of over 50 knots at times! The conditions off Cape Horn were also more than lively. Now Seb Simon can turn left into the Atlantic and start the final spurt into his home harbour. The man from Les Sables-d'Olonne has been the surprise of the Vendée Globe so far. He was not on the list of favourites before the start of the race. Now everyone has him on their radar.

This is a balm on the wounds, especially for Seb Simon himself after many setbacks in recent years. He had to abandon his participation in the last Vendée Globe near Cape Town. During the Retour à La Base a year ago, he lost his mast just a few miles before the finish after suffering a broken bone in his back.

The Ocean Race with Team Guyot alongside co-skippers Benjamin Dutreux and Robert Stanjek had also been anything but smooth sailing. After several serious technical low blows and a repeated resurrection, there was a shock collision in The Hague with the same 11th Hour Racing boat that Simon now sails as "Groupe Dubreuil". On 15 June 2023, the "Guyot" crew had overlooked the boat flying the US flag. At the time, "Guyot's" bowsprit had drilled into the stern of "Mālama", which was still able to win the Ocean Race after an enormous feat of strength.

Richomme wants to know

The boat that is now carrying Seb Simon solo around the world already has a very eventful history behind it. Now it will be crucial to see how Simon gets up the Atlantic without his broken starboard foil. The challenge remains great.

Meanwhile, the two leaders Yoann Richomme ("Paprec Arkéa") and Charlie Dalin ("Macif Santé Prévoyance") are already scraping along the ice edge in the Alantic, which has been drawn up to the 44th parallel south in places. Yoann Richomme comes so close that you almost have to worry that he will cross the line. The current leader obviously wants to know. The extreme course emphasises his determination to win the duel with Charlie Dalin.

After the "Paprec Arkéa" skipper had passed Cape Horn on Christmas Eve with a lead of just nine minutes and 30 seconds over Charlie Dalin, he now led the Vendée Globe fleet by an impressive 116 nautical miles ahead of Dalin on the morning of 25 December.

Vendée Globe: What's left for the chasers?

However, the conditions are not easy for the two frontmen north-east of the Falkland Islands, which they have already passed at high speed. They have to avoid an area of high pressure and have to see how they can manoeuvre their way up the Atlantic.

Meanwhile, their pursuers in fourth to eleventh place, from "Vulnerable" skipper Thomas Ruyant to Boris Herrmann in seventh place and Switzerland's Justine Mettraux ("TeamWork - Team Snef", 11th), are preoccupied with the question of how they can reduce their deficit of around three fastnet races and more during the Cape Horn approach. Boris Herrmann announced at midday on 25 December: "Joyeux Noël, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas to all. I am thinking of you. The boat and I are in great shape. Santa Claus is sending us good winds at the moment."

Thomas Ruyant, who himself lost a foil in the last Vendée Globe edition, pushed the accelerator pedal to the metal on his "Vulnerable" at almost 100 per cent power. He said: "The winds are no longer quite so unstable. I've had a few squalls, but they're rare. I've mainly got a wind that's slowly establishing itself, I'm a bit ahead of this wind band that's moving with me and I'll have a west-north-westerly wind until Cape Horn, which will strengthen as I pass the Cape."

How severe will Simon's foil fracture be?

Ruyant expects the winds to "perhaps increase to 35 to 40 knots". However, these are unlikely to be associated with too rough a sea, according to Ruyant. He expects around three to four metres of swell for his Cape Horn passage and said: "These are not too bad conditions for passing the Cape during the 27th, I think!" His view of the three leading boats far ahead of him was realistic.

Thomas Ruyant said: "Seb Simon is very far away, he is 1000 miles ahead. I know that I broke my port wing four years ago. And that was not the right side! It's certain that Seb will be much better with his port wing. He will be in the south-east trade winds to reach the equator, I don't think the Doldrums will be so penalised! Maybe in a few tacks in the South Atlantic, but the first three still had pretty incredible conditions in the second part of the Pacific. We're still tacking in winds that aren't very stable."

Ruyant continued: "It's a tough race and I will try to keep my place in front of this group, that's the idea and all I want to do in the next few weeks! If an opportunity presents itself, of course I'll take it, but I'm not the one making the weather forecasts. A comeback would only be possible with a weather-related stop (for the front runners, editor's note), but that still seems complicated to me. We will try to do well!"

Third off Cape Horn! The Christmas video by "Groupe Dubreuil" skipper Seb Simon: