"It's a bit like a monster accompanying them". This is how Vendée Globe TV presenter Andi Robertson drastically described the persistent area of high pressure that continues to challenge the leading group of the Vendée Globe and accompanies them on the course to Cape Horn like a Christmas ghost. A bad one or a good one? It remains to be seen for whom the Christmas poker ends well. What is certain is that the flat conditions have brought the field closer together and are creating high tension in the South Pacific. The cat-and-mouse game continues. On the afternoon of 24 December German time, "Apivia" skipper Charlie Dalin had worked his way up to within 16 nautical miles of the leader Yannick Bestaven on "Maître Coq IV" on his more southerly "crawl" along the ice edge. At the same time, third-placed Thomas Ruyant on "LinkedOut" had initially lost miles with his decisive northerly beat, but could quickly make up for this with better positioning in the fresher wind.
With Christmas greetings from Boris Herrmann: The "Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco" skipper first chats in French with the competition as Christmas approaches and then talks in English about his 46th day at sea
The group of chasers behind the top trio is now led again by Boris Herrmann. The "Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco" skipper had slipped back to eighth place overnight, but regained his fourth place just in time for Christmas Eve and thus gave himself a perfect present. The small rollercoaster ride through the top ten is due to the narrow gaps between the boats from fourth to ninth place. Overall, they were only 60 nautical miles apart on Thursday afternoon. Boris Herrmann, Jean Le Cam ("Yes We Cam!") and Benjamin Dutreux ("Omia - Water Familie") moved almost synchronised with each other - sometimes within a radius of less than four nautical miles - in Christmas harmony. And all this after 46 days at sea and around 15,000 kilometres away from Boris Herrmann's home port of Hamburg between the 50th and 55th parallel south. Boris Herrmann shows how much fun the encounters at sea were in his first Christmas Eve video, in which he first speaks to the competitors in French and then reviews the day in English.
In the doldrums of the Pacific and further back in the fleet of 27 of the 33 boats that once started, the sailors distracted themselves on this festive Thursday with creative Christmas decorations, Christmas Eve greetings and philosophical thoughts about the regatta. Boris Herrmann not only received calls, greetings, voicemails and pictures from family and friends back home, but also a surprising message from Emirates Team New Zealand, who will be defending the America's Cup off Auckland in March. The letter from team boss Grant Dalton to Boris Herrmann read, among other things: "Our compliments, mate! We are following your progress. What you guys are doing down there is superhuman, full throttle. We hope you can celebrate Christmas with a 500 nautical mile plus. Grant Dalton and everyone here at Emirates Team New Zealand."
