Retour à La Base: Favourites tussle at the front, Herrmann advances, Le Cam arrives

The Imoca soloists have heralded their "breakaway" to the east on the third day of their previous northern course at the Retour à La Base. The riders in the leading group are engaged in thrilling battles for position. Jérémie Beyou continued to defend his lead on the morning of 1 Advent on "Charal" ahead of the tenacious Brit Sam Goodchild on the 2019 design "For the Planet" and Yoann Richomme's new Koch-Conq projectile "Paprec Arkéa". Behind them, other co-favourites jostled for the best positions. Fourth was ex-Malician Nico "The Brain" Lunven on "Holcim - PRB".

The holidays are over" (Conrad Colman)

Boris Herrmann had moved up to sixth place with "Malizia - Seaexplorer" on Sunday night, but dropped back to seventh place in the final hour. The German Imoca was repeatedly one of the fastest boats in the fleet. At speeds of more than 23 knots, it made brisk progress over the weekend. The field is now chasing the lows in the north in order to be able to advance eastwards as quickly as possible.

"The holiday is over - the holidays are over." With these pithy words, "MailBoxes.etc" skipper Conrad Colman, who celebrated his 40th birthday at sea on 2 December, succinctly described the imminent scenario of increasing winds during the Imoca soloists' return race from the Caribbean back to Lorient. Boris Herrmann's storm-tested boat, which is very fast in strong winds, is likely to be favoured by the soon to be crisp winds.

The first lows come on Monday

31 Imocas are heading home before Christmas. It is the expected fast ride home. "The skippers will move further north to avoid the area of high pressure," explains regatta meteorologist Dumard. And he continues: "They will then reach the edge of the first low, be lifted on the north side of the high and then, in the course of the fourth day (Editor: Monday) hit the first low."

Dumard had explained that it was up to the skippers to decide where they would head east. At the same time, the French navigation and weather expert pointed out that the swell would probably rise to up to five metres when the second low comes through - in his view, the biggest challenge of the coming days.

Only short "power naps" for Boris Herrmann

Boris Herrmann met the challenge in the first few days of the Retour à La Base with many short sleep sessions of a maximum of 25 minutes. "On the one hand, because I first have to get used to sailing solo again, and on the other, because the conditions are so unstable," he said, explaining the lack of sleep phases lasting several hours so far.

While the fleet is making good progress on day three, one of its big hitters only arrived on Saturday from the transfer with his new non-foiler in Fort-de-France, Martinique: Jean Le Cam will follow the field as quickly as possible to earn valuable qualifying miles for the 2024/2025 Vendée Globe. The start line of the Retour à La Base will remain open until 1pm local time on 7 December.

The more temperamental the horse, the more time you need to tame it" (Jean Le Cam)

Jean Le Cam, who made headlines as Kevin Escoffier's saviour in the last Vendée Globe, said with a broad smile: "We did exactly what we wanted to do: We did a transatlantic voyage without taking any risks. And we took the opportunity to get to know the boat better. The better it went, the more comfortable I felt."

His new boat requires "a new instruction manual that you have to adapt to again and again", explained Le Cam. The Atlantic crossing enabled him and the team to understand the boat better. His credo: "The more temperamental the horse, the more time you need to tame it." Jean Le Cam has announced that he will not enter the Retour à La Base as the 32nd challenger until Monday, but has not yet given an exact start date.

The late start to the Retour à La Base marks the beginning of Jean Le Cam's race preparation for his sixth Vendée Globe campaign

In his typical "Yes we can" style, Jean Le Cam stated: "We will set off again to write a new story: the next stage in the young history of this boat." His boat now bears the very Breton name "Tout commence en Finisterre - Armor Lux". The brand new Raison design will carry the 64-year-old 2004 Vendée Globe runner-up and winner of the 2015 Barcelona World Race around the world in his sixth Vendée Globe campaign from 10 November 2024.

Follow the Retour à La Base here in the live tracker:

Reunion with ex-Malician Nico "The Brain" Lunven - his report from See on Saturday:

With greetings from front runner Jérémie Beyou: