One week after the start of the Vendée Globe on 10 November at 13:02, "Africa King" Jean Le Cam is still in the lead on his non-foiler "Tout commence en Finistère- Armor lux". However, his lead over the main field positioned to the west of him has shrunk in line with the previous day's forecasts. While Jean Le Cam sailed much closer to the African coast on a direct course southwards, he was slowed down by the expected area of high pressure.
Goodchild in forward gear again, Herrmann stays on track
Just under 200 nautical miles west of Jean Le Cam, "Hublot" skipper Alan Roura had a good run recently. The Swiss skipper closed to within 20 nautical miles of Jean Le Cam overnight and was in second place on Sunday morning. But he also slowed down on the southern course. Meanwhile, the "Vulnerable" skipper Sam Goodchild, who was thundering away at a speed of 22 knots just 550 nautical miles west of Jean Le Cam, has strapped on his wings.
The Briton, who has led the race several times, has recently climbed up the rankings again. Positioned in the middle of the west field, he has gained a clear lead over the co-favourites Charlie Dalin ("Macif Santé Prévoyance"), Nico Lunven ("Holcim - PRB"), Jérémie Beyou ("Charal") and Yoann Richomme ("Paprec Arkéa"), who are positioned on the extreme west wing. The big four continue to calculate on the lower places 29, 32, 35 and 37 with the wind that has already become stronger for them. They were already travelling at speeds of 13 to 17 knots on Sunday morning.
Boris Herrmann also orientated himself further west in nineteenth place. He had to master a slower dry spell in the cat-and-mouse game with the clouds on Sunday night. The area of high pressure was difficult to predict and kept snapping at individual groups in the fleet. Boris Herrmann describes the challenges well in his clip from Saturday evening - see the end of this article.
Vendée Globe alarm: Burton discovers cracks in the deck
Alarming news came from "Bureau Vallée" skipper Louis Burton on Sunday night. The Frenchman had already informed his team and the race organisers on Saturday evening at around 11.00 pm that he had heard a loud "cracking" noise. During a further inspection, he discovered cracks in the deck of his boat (ed.: at the height of the gennaker boom).
The bad news: According to Burton's initial assessment, the structural integrity of the "Bureau Vallée" could be or become compromised. The skipper from Saint Malo, who finished third on the podium at the last Vendée Globe, sailed south at nine knots on Sunday morning. Louis Burton continued his examinations at the end of the first Vendée Globe week and remained in the race for the time being.
By and large, the fleet initially remained divided into three parts. While it is getting calmer in the east, the doors are opening in the west. The main challenge in these Vendée Globe days is to make progress southwards without being blocked by the doldrums. On the west wing, the co-favoured skippers are still convinced that their investment will pay off.
Thomas Ruyant looks forward to a "fun game"
"Vulnerable" skipper Thomas Ruyant was not dissatisfied with how the Atlantic light wind race has gone so far. The 43-year-old said: "Everything is going well on board. We had a great day and a great night. It's nice to have some wind again after a long lull." Commenting on Saturday's racing, Ruyant said: "The day was steady, with some wind shifts and a few gybes. It's not easy to sail in the right direction every time, it was quite exhausting."
Commenting on his long held outer westerly position, which he had corrected on Sunday morning to the extent that about half a dozen boats including Lunven, Beyou and Richomme were further west than himself, Thomas Ruyant said: "In the end it wasn't a bad thing to be in the north-north-west of the fleet. It allowed us to catch the wind a little earlier to get out of the windless zone quicker. The game goes on, it's going to be fun!"
Many of the nine skippers in the "middle group" between east-outward and west-outward have orientated their bow to the south-west. For example, Clarisse Crémer ("L'Occitane en Provence") and Giancarlo Pedote ("Prysmian"), who jibed during the night. Alan Roura ("Hublot") also belongs to this group. The Swiss skipper recently moved up to second place and has positioned himself close to the rhumb line, theoretically the most direct course.
Vendée Globe courage: Weöres climbs twice
Alan Roura said: "I had a pretty good experience in the last few hours of the race. I didn't ask myself too many questions. My fourth place this morning, top ten, that's good for morale!" That had actually turned into second place at the 7 o'clock update. Nevertheless, Roura said that not too much importance should be attached to the current jockeying for position: "The current battle, whoever wins this phase, doesn't mean too much. A lot can still happen between now and the Doldrums."
Meanwhile, Szabolcs Weöres remains in a positive mood as he makes his way south to the Canary Islands. There he plans to repair his mainsail. The Hungarian reported on Saturday evening: "I'm fine, I'm on my way to Las Palmas. The first option was Madeira, but this low pressure area has developed..." He didn't have enough protection off Madeira and preferred to sail on. "So I decided to take advantage of this nice wind to continue to the Canary Islands."
Szabi Weöres has some difficult tasks ahead of him: "As you know, I had a big knock-down. I have a big hole in the mainsail and the A7 gennaker is wrapped around the forestay. So it's big, big damage. But I hope I can repair it now. I climbed up the mast once and cut off the A7. Then I climbed up the forestay, and that was even more acrobatic. I cut out another piece of the A7 because I saw how this low was developing. I knew it was very dangerous with a flapping sail on the J2 forestay."
Sewing, gluing, hoping
Szabi Weöres continued: "I don't know how big the damage to the mainsail is. I assume it's quite big, about the size of the race sticker.... It's on the second reef, somewhere near the leech... I will need a quiet place to fix it, stitching, gluing. I think anything is possible, my morale is very good. I'm happy that I've stabilised the situation."
In the difficult situation, Szabi Weöres also took measures to protect himself: "I tried to make the best of it. Do you know that I can't see my rivals? At the moment I've switched off the position reports so I can't see where they are. I'm just trying to concentrate on myself."
Where are the clouds, how do I position myself? Boris Herrmann describes the tasks in the unstable Atlantic conditions:
A REVIEW OF THE FIRST WEEK of the 10th Vendée Globe:
