Vendée Globe: Herrmann challenged threefold - battle for position, thunderstorms and fear of heights
With new climbing equipment, good tips from his team and maximum determination, Boris Herrmann managed his announced and imminent mast repair in light winds on Monday. This was announced by his team Malizia on Tuesday night. The "Malizia - Seaexplorer" overcame his well-known fear of heights and successfully worked on the 29 metre high mast.
In the Vendée Globe solo: Herrmann repairs in the mast
The "Malizia - Seaexplorer" skipper was forced to do this during his solo because an important part of the rigging was damaged: the so-called arbalète. This is a control line which, when reefed, turns the backstay into a topmast backstay and, when tightened, pulls the backstay up to the height of the forestay on the mast and locks it in place.
I have a fear of heights." Boris Herrmann
It thus transfers the forces of the forestay to the boat via the backstay. When released, the arbalète absorbs the forces of the mast topsails like a code zero. When tightened, it then engages at the height of the forestay on the aft edge of the mast and gives tension to the forestay of the J2. Late on Monday evening, Boris Herrmann was very relieved to have sailed into the night in seventh place. "It was a safe operation that went well," he said with a beaming smile.
Early on Tuesday morning, Boris Herrmann and Vulnerable skipper Thomas Ruyant battled for sixth place in his second Vendée Globe, a position he had already conquered once overnight. In heavy thunderstorms off the Brazilian coast, the battles for position continued around 1500 nautical miles south of the equator in the group of boats in fourth to tenth place. At the 7 a.m. update of the intermediate results, Boris Herrmann was only around five nautical miles behind "Vulnerable" skipper Thomas Ruyant.
Top ten places in the Vendée Globe hotly contested
However, it remains tight from fourth-placed Jérémie Beyou ("Charal") to "Vulnerable" skipper Sam Goodchild, who has moved up to fifth place, his centre-placed and now overtaken racing team colleague Thomas Ruyant, Herrmann, Justine Mettraux ("TeamWork - Team Snef"), Paul Meilhat ("Biotherm") and Nico Lunven ("Holcim - PRB").
Less than 100 nautical miles separated the seven skippers on the morning of 7 January. The exciting question of whether Lunven and Mailhat will be able to cash in on their investments on the eastern outer flank because they are more likely to achieve more stable winds is still unanswered. Or will the west boats with Beyou, Goodchild, Herrmann and Mettraux get through better? Or will Thomas Ruyant, who is positioned between the two groups, hold a good hand in the end?
In addition, the Herrmann Group was confronted with violent thunderstorms early on Tuesday morning, which Boris Herrmann described as "frightening and fascinating at the same time". His clip - to be seen in the YACHT LIVE ticker - shows how things are going for the soloists off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. The situation at the front of the fleet is completely different. There, Charlie Dalin has been able to slightly extend his lead over Yoann Richomme.
Seb Simon crosses the equator in third place
With only around 2600 nautical miles to go to the start and finish harbour of Les Sables-d'Olonne, "Macif Santé Prévoyance" skipper Charlie Dalin created a somewhat more comfortable cushion of 126 nautical miles over his "Paprec Arkéa" rival towards the end of race day 58. Both made good progress on Tuesday morning with speeds of more than 21 knots in the trade winds between the tenth (Dalin) and seventh (Richommen) parallel north.
Third-placed Sébastien Simon maintained his position confidently: with a lead of around 1450 nautical miles over Jérémie Beyou and around 500 nautical miles behind Yoann Richomme, the "Groupe Dubreuil" skipper continued to sail a lonely but podium-worthy race with a broken foil. At 7.08 a.m. German time, the 34-year-old local hero from Les Sables-d'OLonne was the third skipper to pass the equator after 57 days, 18 hours, 6 minutes and 19 seconds, just over one and a half days after dominator Dalin.
