Vendée Globe: Will the preliminary decision be made now?

The two young Frenchmen battled for thousands of nautical miles with an intensity that had hardly ever been seen before in a race around the world. The lead changed dozens of times, sometimes Le Cléac'h's "Banque Populaire" was in front, sometimes Gabart's "Macif". For days, even weeks, only tenths of a knot separated them in boat speed. And now the race is entering the home straight: the route up the South Atlantic to the equator is tactically very demanding with various treacherous traps. The aim is to avoid the south-setting counter-current directly under the coast of South America and to take two areas of high pressure to the north. If you "botch" the passage between the two pressure areas here, you will lose important miles, and worse still, you could even lose the connection if you fall out of your opponent's weather system.

At the moment, it looks as if François Gabart will decide to cross the high pressure ahead of them, which is slowly moving eastwards, to the east, while Armel Le Cléac'h will opt for a westerly route and is currently travelling higher than his rival. Gabart is travelling longer to the north-east with the stronger winds of the receding low, but is accepting the risk that he will have to cover more distance and perhaps remain in the high pressure for longer. Almost 30 miles now separate the two in an east-west direction.

Le Cléac'h thus remains true to the line he has often shown in the race of favouring the direct route to the finish, even if this requires nerve-racking phases in which the boat's speed drops drastically. He proved this several times when approaching the ice gates in the Southern Ocean. In any case, a very interesting situation.

Somewhat unnoticed, the race behind the two leaders has become more exciting again. Jean-Pierre Dick, who had lost touch with the leading duo shortly before Australia due to a technical defect, is now closer again. He benefited from good winds in the last 48 hours, while the two leaders slowed down considerably. His deficit of around 1000 nautical miles at times has shrunk to 367, and it looks as if he could continue to benefit from the not-so-easy weather situation ahead of his two compatriots. His route to the north looks a little more direct at the moment, so he can probably make up further miles.

Behind him, Alex Thomson and his "Hugo Boss" continue to sail solidly in fourth place, with a gap of around 250 nautical miles, but with no real prospect of closing the gap quickly. Behind him there is a large gap until the main field, led by Jean Le Cam, follows. Meanwhile, Swiss rider Bernard Stamm ploughs through the peloton at a rapid pace, probably with a good deal of anger in his stomach after his disqualification by the race organisers for "outside assistance". He has applied for the proceedings to be reopened, and in the meantime almost all the skippers in the field have more or less clearly demanded that the jury should reverse its decision. Of course, it is hopeless for him to sail to a podium place, but the Swiss sailor would very much like to finish the race in a regular manner.