The start of the Vendée Globe is a complicated one for the skippers this time. First a calm, then an early storm front, and now they have to sail around the centre of the former Caribbean storm "Theta" far, far to the west. It is already clear that the fleet will miss the nine days it took Alex Thomson to reach the equator as the fastest boat in the last race by at least two days this year. The really fast reach conditions have been lacking so far.
But that's exactly what the first boats could get today. Overnight, the group of western breakaways formed and positioned themselves perfectly to the west of the depression, so that Thomas Ruyant's "Linked Out" at the front, Charlie Dalin's "Apivia" and Kevin Escoffier's "PRB" are fighting a tough battle, partly within sight of each other. This morning, Alex Thomson was also still in the mix before deciding to sail a more southerly course with an astonishing number of gybes, while the competition sailed a westerly arc without manoeuvres.
The Briton appeared fresher and more rested than the days before during a live broadcast from on board yesterday:
The Briton reports from his "Hugo Boss"
"The racing is really close here now, I'm sailing four miles from 'Apivia' and four from 'PRB'. I'm enjoying it! The storm was exhausting, the first waves came at very short intervals, which is dangerous for the boats. Later we had five-metre waves, one was seven metres, we can measure that with our sensors. The gusts went up to 53 knots! I needed two attempts to tack in 40 knots to get the boat through the wind!"
We will probably find out tomorrow whether the Briton's decision to leave the group of three will pay off. Thomson has a penchant for splits like this and has done them time and again at the Vendée, albeit often with rather disastrous results. In 2016, he rode an easterly route away from the field off the Canary Islands, which cost him almost a hundred miles.
Boris Herrmann, on the other hand, is unhappy with his position. In a video from on board, he said that he didn't dare to drop off for too long when passing the front to protect the boat from too strong a swell and lost touch with the leaders. He then got stuck in a weak wind zone, while the four western runaways were still able to pass it. Contrite, he uses the "F" word in his video analysis... He is now in midfield and is travelling almost seven knots slower than the group positioned to the west in the weaker wind.
Boris Herrmann reports
A real phenomenon of the race so far, however, is Frenchman Jean Le Cam. The 61-year-old, who is sailing his fifth Vendée, is mathematically in the lead with his 13-year-old non-foiler from Farr Design. Although the foilers in the west will certainly overtake him today, it could be that he will take the lead behind them. The oddball Frenchman is known for sailing very smart. Last time he finished sixth with the same boat, and he has finished three times in total, his best position being third place in 2005.
Yesterday was also a good day for Armel Tripon. He was able to replace the defective latch lock on his "L'Occitane", which he actually wanted to repair while anchored off A Coruña, yesterday at sea. He immediately turned round and is now back in the race. Just like Fabrice Amedeo, who has been sailing again since yesterday and is currently stuck in the doldrums off Cap Finisterre.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
