Retour à La Base: Thomas "Rakete" Ruyant breaks 24-hour solo world record

As usual, the new record still has to be ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC), but the achievement is already fabulous: Transat-Jacques-Vabre double-handed winner Thomas Ruyant has catapulted himself into third place in the Retour à La Base solo return regatta, and not just with a mighty leap. Between 3.30 p.m. German time on 3 December and the same time on 4 December, his Koch-Conq-Imoca completed an incredible 539.94 nautical miles over 24 hours.

Alex Thomson's almost seven-year-old solo record fell at the Retour à La Base

The Frenchman beat the previous solo monohull record set by Brit Alex Thomson on 16 January 2017 (536.81 nautical miles) by a good three nautical miles. Alex Thomson set his record almost seven years ago during the Vendée Globe. Ruyant is now the new speed king, but could still be beaten in the coming days. The leading Imocas are still travelling very fast. They are chasing the low-pressure systems eastwards on course for Europe and their home port of La Base in Lorient.

Just four days after the start, Imoca's best had already mastered half the distance to the first virtual gate imposed by the race organisers during their unusually fast ride from the Caribbean port of Fort-de-France to Brittany: it runs right through the middle of the Azores, towards which Richomme, Goodchild, Ruyant and Co. are racing like unleashed gallopers. The compulsory passage of the gate is intended to prevent the fleet from travelling too far north on the return à la base and possibly putting themselves in danger of falling into ice.

Ruyant's racing team colleague Sam Goodchild also impresses at the Retour à La Base

In the middle of the Atlantic on Monday evening, Yoann Richomme with the second Koch-Conq new build "Paprec Arkéa" stood out on the tracker picture. The Transat Jacques Vabre runner-up has ventured furthest north, where he can expect the strongest winds according to the latest forecasts. It remains to be seen whether the extreme course will make him faster or whether he will have to slow down because it is too wild. On the evening of 4 December, on the fifth day at sea, Thomas Ruyant on "For People" was still the fastest in the top ten with more than 23 knots.

At the same time, his racing team colleague Sam Goodchild impressed on Ruyant's ex-boat "LinkedOut". With the four-year-old Imoca, now racing as "For the Planet", the Brit continued to defend second place in the evening behind Richomme and ahead of team-mate Ruyant, who in turn pushed Jérémie Beyou into fourth place. The initial Retour à La Base leader Jérémie Beyou continues to have technical problems, has now installed his replacement wind sensors and is fighting to stay in the top three.

Boris Herrmann stays on the ball

Three Ocean Race sailors took places five to seven on Monday evening: Nico Lunven on "Holcim - PRB", Sébastien Simon on "Groupe Debreuil" and Boris Herrmann on "Malizia - Seaexplorer". Boris Herrmann tended to head north in the late evening. The top ten was completed by "Initiatives Cœur" skipper Samantha Davies, "Groupe Apicil" tamer Damien Seguin and "L'Occitane en Provence" soloist Clarisse Crémer in eighth to tenth place in the 33rd Latitude North.

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