This afternoon, 29-year-old Francois Gabart took back the lead in the Vendée Globe. The leading group of five boats is currently lying off the Prince Edward Islands deep in the Indian Ocean. Despite the tight race, the gaps between the individual skippers are considerable: Armel Le Cléac'h with "Banque Populaire" in the far north, Francois Gabart (Macif) and Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec) around 130 nautical miles to the south-south-east, Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) a further 80 miles away and Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) in the far south.
A fine line
Stamm had fought his way back to third position after a breakneck chase to catch up, and is now in fourth place only slightly behind Gabart and Le Cléac'h after the lead change. Brit Alex Thomson, on the other hand, had positioned himself furthest south to escape what he said was a high-pressure area: "Last night was pretty hairy," says Thomson: "Very high waves and gusts of up to 38 knots forced me to take my foot off the gas. I'm fine, but I'm under a lot of stress. I couldn't cook or write anything," Thomson continues. Thomson sees the biggest difficulty at the moment in choosing the right sails. There is a fine line between "not pushed hard enough" and "boat broken": "Even though I love fast sailing, it's really very exhausting at the moment," says Thomson, describing his current condition. However, Thomson's position looks promising: "Hugo Boss" is currently sailing a north-easterly course and is therefore benefiting from better wind angles and higher speed.
"The noise is deafening"
The skipper of the "Banque Populaire", which is currently in second place, also describes the past 48 hours of the race as very tough: "The wind and wave conditions are very demanding. In addition, the high speeds make sailing very stressful, the noise is deafening," says Armel Le Cléac'h, and continues to be combative despite the hardships: "The battle for the lead is in full swing!"
So the Vendée is still going at high speed: after a week of high-speed sailing, the first signs of fatigue are appearing. It is not the equipment, but rather the condition of the skippers that is currently decisive for the speed sailed. It remains exciting!
