Just under 320 nautical miles currently separate the pursuer Alex Thomson with his "Hugo Boss" from the leader Armel Le Cléac'h. The Brit was able to make up a few miles during the night, but both boats are currently sailing northwards again at an almost identical speed of around 18 to 19 knots. The Frenchman should reach the Doldrums shortly and slow down - but the second-placed boat will face the same fate tomorrow at the latest. Worse still: the previously relatively narrow weak wind zone around the equator appears to be expanding significantly in a north-south direction directly in front of them. Banque Populaire VIII" should then pass the equator in the course of Saturday.
It is difficult to predict who will gain or lose miles on this crossing, but the cushion should actually be enough for the Frenchman to defend his lead. However, "Hugo Boss" has been sailing on port tack for a few days now and is finally able to fully utilise the advantages of his intact foil again. But the one or two knots speed advantage that the Briton often had compared to his rival ahead of him will not be enough to catch Le Cléac'h before the finish.
Once they have worked their way through it towards the end of the weekend, things will get even more complicated. A huge depression has formed between the Azores and Cape Verde, which will remain fairly stationary there for the next few days and create tricky light wind conditions on its southern side, especially when it dissipates later. The very complex weather structure could well have what it takes to create tension once again - or allow Le Cléac'h to finally get away.
In a video from on board, the Briton explained why Thomson, who had at times worked his way up to 32 nautical miles behind Le Cléac'h, fell so far behind again: the deck fitting on his forestay had snapped, forcing him to immediately drop to a downwind course in order to save his rig. Then began a battle lasting several hours against a wildly flapping forestay and sail, which damaged the boat and jeopardised the furling system as well as the skipper. In the video, he is happy that he was able to reattach the stay. "The rig could have come off and my Vendée would have been over!"
Third-placed Jérémie Beyou could be the smiling third. With a bit of luck, the large doldrums zone around the Doldrums will close shortly before his arrival. At around 700 nautical miles, he is currently too far behind Alex Thomson to fight for second place, but he could possibly reduce the gap significantly. He probably doesn't need to orientate himself towards the back - it looks like his chasing trio of Jean-Pierre Dick, Jean Le Cam and Yann Eliès will lose ground in a weak wind belt at the weekend.
Behind him, Frenchman Louis Burton, who is running an inconspicuous but extremely efficient race with his "Bureau Vallée", has now rounded Cape Horn. This is still a long way off for Nandor Fa, who is 1500 nautical miles behind him. He is making his lonely rounds through the South Pacific, after his pursuer and ex-co-skipper Conrad Coleman has lost many, many miles due to his near loss of rigging.
Although Coleman was able to reattach his forestay, he only has three cloths left for the journey back to Les Sables after losing the furled sail, which he had to cut off. Furthermore, he is not sure that his rig is still fully resilient; held up for hours only by the inner forestay, it has been thoroughly shaken in 60-knot gusts. Coleman is currently sailing towards Cape Horn at just eight knots. The pursuers, whom he had left behind for over 1000 miles at times, are now only 200 nautical miles away. Bitter for the Kiwi, who has left so many skippers behind him with a far inferior boat and successfully solved so many technical problems on board.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
