The Doldrums have been merciful, not holding up any of the leading boats significantly so far. Over the course of the night, Thomas Ruyant ("Linked Out"), Charlie Dalin ("Apivia") Jean Le Cam ("Yes we Cam") and, in fifth place, Kevin Escoffier ("PRB") also passed the equator. At nine days and 23 hours, Thomson was slower than his record from the last edition, when he crossed into the South Atlantic after just nine days and seven hours.
In the rankings, the pursuer Ruyant has now worked his way up to within 37 nautical miles of the Brit, but this is mainly due to the fact that he is sailing a much more westerly course than his pursuers. He apparently wants to squeeze past the edge of the high pressure as far as possible, going relatively close under the Brazilian coast so as not to have to go too high upwind, a course for which the semi-circular foils of "Hugo Boss" are not ideal. They were clearly designed for top performance on reach courses, running upwind is not their thing.
An advantage for the pursuers, who are sailing boats with much more moderate foil variants that are more all-rounders than Thomson's trailers. And they are pushing the pace, as the weather conditions are becoming more complicated ahead of the field. The St Helena High, which stretches in a narrow, long strip from the Cape of Good Hope almost as far as Brazil, continues to expand, and at the moment it looks as if the skippers will have to slalom their way around it between two other highs that have developed towards the Cape of Good Hope. The sooner you get through there, the better. It looks as if the situation is becoming more difficult with each passing day.
The old realisation behind this has almost always come true tactically: Whoever is the first to make it into the belt of lows, which moves westwards around the earth at around 40 degrees south, gains plenty of miles on the pursuers. This is because a stable, clear wind suddenly arrives, which often provides six, eight or even more knots of speed than the pursuers. The five-hour lead that Thomson had at the equator may then quickly be worth 40 or 50 miles. This can be the decisive advantage to achieve the ultimate tactical goal for this part of the race: If the leader manages to catch a low that the chasers miss, his lead quickly grows to 100, 200 miles. Accordingly, the skippers are under pressure. Perhaps one of the reasons why Alex Thomson did not report from the boat yesterday. The boat and skipper need to recharge their batteries and everything on board needs to be ready for this phase of the race.
Alex Thomson summarises his race to the equator
Further back, the field has already fanned out. While the majority of the chasing pack is sailing in the trade winds, there are always smaller groups spread out from the equator to the Canary Islands that are already almost 1500 miles behind. The early storm front in the first week and the complicated passage of the ex-vortex storm "Theta" have left their mark.
Japanese sailor Kojiro Shiraishi ("DMG Mori Global One") is still fighting for his dream of the Vendée. He has been repairing his torn mainsail for days now, the sailmakers from North have sent him a repair proposal in collaboration with his team, which he is now implementing. Yesterday he sawed carbon fibre patches on the foresail and attached improvised battens with screws in the sail. He said, "It will be a tremendous achievement if I could finish the race with these sails." After bobbing in the doldrums off the Canary Islands for a long time for the work, he has now set a headsail and is at least sailing in the right direction at a speed of eleven knots.
Fabrice Amedeo ("Newrest"), who returned to Les Sables after suffering damage and is now only 130 miles behind Clement Giraud, who is sailing ahead of him, has almost rejoined the field. Jérémie Beyou has now left the Bay of Biscay with his "Charal" in last place and can now sail towards the Canaries with ideal and strong winds. He is 1500 nautical miles behind the next participant. It will be interesting to see how many competitors he can overtake.
Boris Herrmann should pass the equator in the course of the morning, probably in seventh place. He should be fully satisfied with this and is very close to his dream goal - a place in the top five. Kevin Escoffier's "PRB", which is sailing there, is just 50 nautical miles ahead of him. The gap between him and Thomson has dropped to 225 miles, down from almost 300. Yesterday he deployed the research buoy he had on board, which is intended to provide important data for further research into climate change.
Boris Herrmann deploys the research buoy he had on board
The Frenchman Louis Burton also put in an enormously strong race with his "Bureau Vallée 2". He sailed the old "Banque Populaire" by Armel Le Cléac'h solidly and surprisingly fast, which did not get any new foils, but was optimised in details. Among other things, the foils are now adjustable, a change that has only been permitted since this race. The Frenchman from Saint-Malo hardly ever showed up at other races before the Vendée, training quietly for himself. Obviously very successful, he is sailing almost on a par with "PRB" and is stubbornly resisting being overtaken by Sam Davies ("Initatives Cœur") and Boris Herrmann.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
