In a field of 33 starters, which is already spread over a distance of around 3000 miles just two weeks after the start, it is not so easy to do justice to the participants away from the top and the repairs and breakages. So it's all the more pleasing that two of them are attracting attention with their actions today and have really earned it: Sam Davies with her "Initiatives-Cœur" and Louis Burton with "Bureau Vallée 2".
Over the course of the night, they both decided to jibe away from the large five-strong chasing group ("Seaexplorer", "Arkéa Paprec", "Maître Coq IV") and head southwest around the complicated weather situation ahead of them, which lies on the edge of the St Helena High and two small lows to its left. It had been apparent for days that the routing models also indicated such a variant, but most of the plans were to take the direct route south-east, straight towards the Cape of Good Hope. It takes a lot of courage to sail so far away from the field, especially when you are well in the race, with Burton in sixth place and Davies in ninth to tenth, depending on whether you include the drifting "Hugo Boss" or not.
The 46-year-old Brit is currently the best-placed woman in the field. She has sailed a smart race so far and was roughly on a par with Boris Herrmann for a long time. Just like him, she spared her "Initatives-Cœur" when it mattered in the two storms at the beginning, but is now still so well in the race that her big goal - after a fourth place in 2012 - to sail onto the podium seems quite feasible. In any case, the British woman is in a unique position in the field: for the first time since the Vendée Globe was founded, a married couple is competing in the race at the same time. Her husband, Romain Attanasio, is also sailing on his "Pure Best Western" and is currently in 17th place with the non-foiler. In the last edition of the race, Davies stayed at home with their son, this time both parents are sailing and the junior is likely to have a hard time deciding who to root for more.
Now Sam Davies is taking a big risk and opting for the course to the south, which involves many more nautical miles, but faster sailing towards the end, much further south, perhaps even close to the ice limit that the race organisers have already defined. In the weather models, the course was not clearly favoured, "Malizia" member Will Harris said on Friday that both courses lead to the same point south of the Cape of Good Hope in a time window of about six hours. Of course, that may have changed in the meantime.
Sailing 16 nautical miles ahead of her is Louis Burton with his "Bureau Vallée 2", a 35-year-old Breton from Saint-Malo, who already came seventh in his first Vendée in 2016/17 with an old boat without foils. Even then, this caused quite a stir - a strong performance for a rookie with an old boat. Burton had already earned a reputation back then for sailing tactically clever, keeping the boat technically well together and not overtaxing it. He sailed the old "Banque Populaire", with which Armel Le Cléac'h won the last edition. Although he didn't have the budget to equip the boat with new foils, he has managed to tease out more speed through minor modifications - the boat can now angle the foils by five degrees like the newer designs - and can certainly keep up with retrofitted boats such as Boris Herrmann's "Seaexplorer". His goal in the race is certainly similar to Davies': a podium finish. So it will be interesting to see what the breakaway attempt will bring them.
There is also some bad news: Frenchman Sébastien Destremau, who is sailing his old "Merci" in 30th place, has reported keel damage and is currently drifting south of the Cape Verde Islands in the Doldrums. The ship and skipper are not in any immediate danger. What exactly the problem is has not yet been announced.
Alex Thomson reports construction progress from on board
Meanwhile, there is some good news from on board the "Hugo Boss". Alex Thomson has made so much progress with the repairs that he has set course for the destination again and is travelling under defensive sail. "But the repairs are not yet complete, I think it's another five to eight hours of hard work, then I hope to be finished," he reported in his last video from on board.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
