It is a memorable moment in the Vendée Globe: according to the organisers, it is the first time in the history of the race that there have been live pictures of the two leading boats so far south in the race. As luck would have it, a French television crew from the TF 1 channel was on the frigate "Nivose" near the Kerguelen Islands yesterday when the two Open 60s passed the island at over 20 knots in the grey of the Southern Ocean.
The TV crew took the opportunity to film both boats from the air and spoke briefly to the skippers on the radio. It's easy to see how hard Alex Thomson has to fight to keep up with Armel Le Cléac'h: He has more sails up than the Frenchman and, due to his broken foil, is sailing with an extremely large amount of lay to be able to keep up with the speed at all. It should therefore be extremely uncomfortable on board "Hugo Boss" at the moment. With both boats, you can also see impressively how wet the Open 60 sails.
In the video by Alex Thomson shortly afterwards, he is really looking forward to finally being able to jibe on port bow in the next few days - the side with the foil intact.
Video of the French team
Alex Thomsons reports live from on board - and why he is so looking forward to the next few days
Nothing has changed in the ranking at the moment, with Le Cléac'h leading Thomson by just seven miles. Both have now sailed into an area with less wind and are only travelling at 12 or 13 knots - a good chance for the pursuers to make up some of the ground lost in the last few days. Meanwhile, the former second-placed Sebastien Josse with "Edmond de Rothschild" is 677 nautical miles behind.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
