While the leading group continues to race towards the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope after the record-breaking 48 hours, the chasing boats are struggling to catch up in complicated conditions. As predicted, they are constantly losing miles on the leading boats. On the morning of 28 November, Boris Herrmann was almost 600 nautical miles behind the leader Charlie Dalin ("Macif Santé Prévoyance").
As the winds dropped for the chasing pack, the skippers starting with Samantha Davies in tenth place had to fight hard to minimise the inevitable losses as the 18th day of racing drew to a close. Competitors ahead of her, such as "Biotherm" skipper Paul Meilhat in ninth place and Vendée Globe title defender Yannick Bestaven ("Maître Coq V"), are hoping to hold on to the "Cape Town Express" for a while longer, but have also lost out to the record chasers in front.
Boris Herrmann faces further losses
The pacemakers continued their high speed of the last few days almost unabated during the night. The first nine boats reached average speeds of more than 22 knots. Boris Herrmann, meanwhile, has to get used to the idea of chasing the accumulating deficit for the time being.
On Wednesday evening, the 43-year-old from Hamburg described his situation in striking terms: How he was slowly "falling off the train" and "sinking off the foils" and would probably be moving forward "in strange displacement mode" for quite a while. His short-term prospects are not encouraging. The hope of making up miles in the Southern Ocean remains.
While the leading boats quickly approached the jump into the Southern Ocean on Thursday morning with ten knots more at 38° south latitude, the closest chasing quartet of Sam Davies, Boris Herrmann, Clarisse Crémer ("L'Occitane en Provence") and Justine Mettraux ("TeamWork - Team Snef") were still struggling to make progress at 32° south latitude.
Vendée Globe record in sight again
In addition to the latest 24-hour monohull solo record set by "Groupe Dubreuil" skipper Sébastien Simon (615.33 nautical miles!), the frenzied sailing of the past few days has had other effects. For example this one: After a slow start, the large gap between the fastest in the fleet and Armel Le Cléac'h's eight-year-old race record (74 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes) has melted away considerably.
On the 18th day of the race, "Macif Santé Prévoyance" skipper Charlie Dalin was only 324 nautical miles short of the record route of the 2016/2017 Vendée Globe. Armel Le Cléac'h had that ahead of the current leader at the comparable point back then. A further approach to Armel Le Cléac'h's fabulous run seems possible.
Armel Le Cléac'h achieved an average speed of 15.43 knots during his super solo around the world. At least for now, the racers at the front of the Vendée Globe fleet with their most recent 24-hour average speeds of 22.96 knots (Charlie Dalin) to 24.54 knots (Sebastien Simon) are significantly reducing the gap to Armel Le Cléac'h's record time.
The top players have to dress warmly
Boris Herrmann commented on the current situation on the evening of 27 November: "The guys will carry on with their record rides." For him, the fading winds will probably mean "a few hundred miles more" on the Vendée Globe account, in his own words. Two difficult nights and a day in the doldrums still in the northern hemisphere had left him with the initially not dramatic deficit that is now having such a drastic effect.
The fact that Boris Herrmann recently came within 25 nautical miles of "Initiatives - Cœur" skipper Sam Davies did not really console Team Malizia's founder for the fact that as the runner-up in a different weather window, in lighter and more unstable winds, he currently has no chance of participating in the record speeds. The "grey mood" in the sky the day before had also affected his mood somewhat, the five-time circumnavigator reported openly.
According to Herrmann, small "races within the race" provide a distraction from the overall sobering interim result at this point. The grey long-sleeved shirt that Boris Herrmann has now put on fits in perfectly. Because it's getting chilly at the front of the fleet. While the skippers further back are still wearing T-shirts and shorts, the leading players are gradually turning to warmer layers of clothing.
Boris Herrmann's race to catch up postponed
The first of them will soon reach the "Roaring Forties". Boris Herrmann hopes "to be able to catch up with one or two of them again when we have rough conditions in the Indian and Pacific Oceans". His conviction remains: "The race is long and you are never safe from positive surprises. I don't think it's over yet."
Boris Herrmann's honest assessment of the racing situation on the evening of 27 November. The clip was viewed more than 40,000 times on YouTube within the first twelve hours. And the trend is rising:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
