Retour à La Base: Yoann Richomme on course for victory, Boris Herrmann still strong

Is Yoann Richomme on his way to his first major solo victory at the Retour à La Base on the new Koch-Conq "Paprec Arkéa"? Everything pointed to this on the morning of 8 December.

Nine months have passed since the blue and red rocket designed by Antoine Koch and Pascal Conq in collaboration with skipper and naval architect Richomme was christened at the end of February this year. Now the two-time Figaro and two-time Route du Rhum winner could claim his first major solo triumph in the Imoca class.

Retour à La Base: Richomme, Beyou and Goodchild on the podium?

On course for the Vendée Globe 2024/2025, Richomme's performance in the Retour à La Base is tantamount to a declaration of intent for the Vendée Globe 2024/2025. However, other players are also ensuring that the tension is constantly rising until the summit attempt on 10 November 2024.

Behind Richomme, two very different characters are battling it out for the podium places: Jérémie Beyou on his Manuard design "Charal", which is almost a year old to the day - the christening took place on 7 November 2022 - and the 34-year-old Brit Sam Goodchild on the 2019 design "For the Planet" are fighting for second and third place.

Sam Goodchild had already attracted attention in the two-handed race Transat Jacques Vabre with "For the Planet", the ex-"LinkedOut" of his racing stable boss Thomas Ruyant, with third place behind the two new Koch-Conq sisters from Ruyant ("For People") and Richomme. Now Sam Goodchild is doing it again - and confirming his class as a sailor with the four-and-a-half-year-old Imoca.

Boris Herrmann defends fourth place

Boris Herrmann and "Malizia - Seaexplorer" are playing at a high level in this concert of the Imoca grandees. The fact that the man from Hamburg is heading for Lorient in fourth place after a series of technical problems and the corresponding loss of miles is a remarkably strong performance by man and boat.

After passing the first of two virtual gates set by the race committee, Herrmann positioned himself in the centre of the ideal course for the finish. He said on Friday that he now needed "his extra strength" for the demanding final phase and was one of the two fastest boats in the top ten at more than 20 knots.

Damien Seguin: Master even with one hand

The "Malizia - Seaexplorer" skipper was followed on Friday morning by Damien Seguin on "Groupe Apicil". His performance also stood out once again. The French Paralympic champion from 2004 and 2016 does with one hand what others can tackle with two.

The fifth place is chased by Samantha Davies on "Initiatives Cœur" and the strongly emerging Louis Burton on "Bureau Vallée", who recently beat Nico Lunven on "Holcim - PRB" from seventh place. Burton is attacking in the chasing pack of the leading trio from the north, but had to contend with winds in excess of 30 knots before the weekend.

Signs of fatigue, fracture and a head injury

In these final days of the fast-paced Transat Sprint, which could come to an end for leader Yoann Richomme as early as the afternoon of 9 December, all skippers are also struggling with signs of fatigue, breakage and injuries on the ninth day at sea.

Sébastien Simon, who was in the leading group for a long time on "Groupe Debreuil", suffered a head injury on the night of St Nicholas' Day. He initially had to treat it himself in close consultation with the race doctor before making an emergency stop on the island of Flores in the Azores to seek hospital treatment. The Ocean Race navigator from Team Guyot is now back in the race, but has dropped back to 16th place.

Sunday final for Boris Herrmann

However, Sébastien Simon was not afraid to push further north on Friday morning in order to possibly make up ground in brutal winds of more than 40 knots in places. He did the same as Louis Burton, who got closer and closer to Sam Davies and Damien Seguin ahead of him over the course of the morning. The northern strikers could therefore still make leaps forward.

Boris Herrmann's team awaited his skipper at the finish line on Sunday according to the latest routings. Click here to go directly to the live tracker:

Cranking, fighting, cooking, showering - insights into the cockpits of the soloists at sea: