Cape Horn is almost in sight for Yannick Bestaven. The "Maître Coq IV" skipper should pass the legendary landmark on Saturday if he can withstand the stormy conditions to some extent. Around ten to twelve hours later - probably on Sunday night - the second-placed "Apivia" skipper Charlie Dalin is also expected there. The wind is still picking up for the leading boats. As is the swell. It cannot be ruled out that Bestaven and Dalin will reduce their speeds in order to protect their boats.
They can only breathe a sigh of relief at the end of the Drake Passage between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands, when the wind drops back to around 25 knots. But even that will only be to a limited extent, as squalls will continue to accompany the frontmen for a while yet. The conditions are only expected to become really moderate from the Falkland Islands onwards. Remarkable: for both Bestaven and Dalin, it is the first Cape Horn passage of their sailing careers. Both reported in the morning at the 58th parallel south that they and their boats are ready for the exceptionally tough test.
Bestaven was sailing with a third reef and J3, and Dalin pointed out that he had never travelled this far south before. While Bestaven had fully deployed his 2015 version foils, Dalin explained that he had half reefed his 2019 ones. Dalin continued: "Yannick will reach the storm a bit earlier than me. And it will hit him even harder than me. But he's really strong. I'm happy that I managed to pull away from the chasers: 48 hours ago I really had to fight to stay ahead of the front. In the end, the hard work paid off because they never overtook me and I was able to gain an advantage. I can't wait to finally reach our dear Atlantic Ocean again. And warm temperatures..."
At the end of the 55th day at sea, it looks as if the leading duo have managed to break away for the time being. Although Dalin is also 165 nautical miles behind Bestaven, the chasing pack with Thomas Ruyant ("LinkedOut") and Damien Seguin ("Groupe Apicil") in the lead is already almost 500 or more nautical miles behind Bestaven and will have to make haste if it wants to catch up with those in the lead on the Atlantic ascent. Boris Herrmann's gap to the current number 1 was 674 nautical miles on the morning of 2 January.
On the night of 2 January, Boris Herrmann sent this message from See
The "Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco" skipper was in a good mood. Observers believe that the German in sixth place, the French record participant Jean Le Cam on "Yes We Cam!" in seventh place and the German-French Isabelle Joschke ("MACSF") behind him have the best chances of making up ground in their Cape Horn passage, given their positions. On the night of 2 January, Boris Herrmann said: "We're almost there: Cape Horn is not far away. I can hardly wait. I hope that I will get to see this rugged rock at the southern tip of Chile in daylight. I will follow tradition and pour a good shot of whisky into the sea when the time comes. For me, this passage will be the biggest celebration of my journey, because then we will leave the Southern Ocean and reach more predictable Atlantic climes again."
Further west in the Pacific, the Swiss Alan Roura continues to struggle with his keel blocked due to hydraulic problems in the axle; "Medallia" skipper Pip Hare has already had to let Roura pass. He is now under pressure from Arnaud Boissières and "Charal" catch-up king Jérémie Beyou. The latter is only a good 100 nautical miles behind Boissières and should soon make up further places if he keeps up the pace. The Frenchman, who only started the 9th Vendée Globe nine days after the field after breaking and being repaired, has already caught up with a good third of the field and could still set a new best time for the race.
