Jean-Pierre Dick is not giving up. The French solo sailor - who has been in a state of emergency for a week and over 2,000 nautical miles after losing his keel bomb south of the Azores - is waiting for better weather in the bay of San Ciprian on the northern Spanish coast. It is not until the weekend that Dick will venture into the Bay of Biscay, which had already put Alex Thomson's final sprint to the test with gale-force winds of up to 50 knots before the Briton secured third place on the podium.
For Dick, it's no longer about a top-three result - his biggest challenge is to finish the race at all. The 47-year-old, who they call the "gentleman sailor" in France, said: "I want to finish this race and be able to look back on an adventure. I wanted to wear the yellow jersey, but I got the one with the points for the best climber. I wanted to enjoy the surfs and instead I have to do this stressful high-wire act. My goal is to finish the Vendée Globe. What a joy it will be to cross that line!"
Jean-Pierre Dick has to tame his 18.28 metre long and 5.70 wide "Virbac Paprec 3" like a dinghy with the remaining steel keel fin, but without the lost keel bomb weighing several tonnes. The risk of capsizing for the keelless vessel is high. As very stormy winds are forecast for the Bay of Biscay today and again on Friday before the wind and waves are expected to subside a little on 2 February, Dick does not want to face the challenges in the notorious Atlantic Gulf between Galicia and Brittany until the weekend.
Once the decision to continue his journey has been made, he has to hurry, because the next storm is already lurking. The man from Larmor-Plage in Brittany, who is very popular and humorous in the single-handed scene, still has around 290 nautical miles to go. They will be long and anxious miles.
It remains to be seen whether Jean-Pierre Dick can hold on to fourth place with his emergency plan or whether his closest pursuers Jean Le Cam and Mike Golding can still catch up with him. On Thursday morning, Le Cam's "SynerCiel" sailed towards the finish at just under 16 knots and Golding's "Gamesa" at 14 knots. The duo were still around 1300 nautical miles behind Jean-Pierre Dick on Thursday morning and had 1600 nautical miles to go to the finish. So it could get really exciting once again and possibly even result in an unequal three-way battle for fourth place with better chances for the chasers.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
