Over the past two days, the "PRB" distress at sea has focussed public attention on the events surrounding the rescue of Kevin Escoffier, but one of the skippers in the field has quietly switched to attack mode: Breton Louis Burton is sailing his "Bureau Vallée 2" deep down in the south all alone, virtually on the edge of the ice limit set by the race management, and has been logging high speeds of just under 20 knots for days. Down there, the distance sailed is shorter, the wind has been stronger for days, but the swell is also higher - but perhaps also longer and less chaotic, as the skippers in the north have surmised over the last few days. Because further north, the current at the Cape of Good Hope produces unpleasant waves.
The experienced sailor Burton, who sailed extremely cleverly at the last Vendée, was really fast with an old boat and finished seventh, doesn't seem to be deterred by any of this. He is hot on the heels of Charlie Dalin's "Apivia" and Thomas Ruyant's "LinkedOut" and is not letting up. Whenever Dalin lets up, he makes up miles. The gap is currently 253 miles; when the boats arrived in the Southern Ocean, it was 550.
And now he seems to be making his next determined push: while the entire chasing pack is heading north to avoid a storm depression that is likely to pass through tomorrow, he is staying far to the south, risking the full force of the front with average winds of over 30 knots and corresponding gusts well over the 40-knot mark. The Breton obviously trusts his "Bureau Vallée 2", the old "Banque Populaire" with which Armel Le Cléac'h won the last Vendée. She has the old, smaller foils - perhaps that is why the Frenchman is not too worried about the loads on the new foils with their up to three times larger appendages. In view of the catastrophic failure of the structure of "PRB", many a skipper could be experiencing sleepless nights at the moment.
Boris Herrmann is in the northern chasing group and is in fifth place after overtaking Jean Le Cam and Yannick Bestaven in the aftermath of the rescue operation. All three skippers were struggling with exhaustion and lack of sleep afterwards. It is not yet clear how the regatta organisers will compensate the participants for their efforts; normally there are time credits for boats involved in such actions - a difficult decision in a race like the Vendée. So far there has been no word on the subject.
At the front, Charlie Dalin is sailing a lonely race, 230 nautical miles ahead of Thomas Ruyant and 250 nautical miles ahead of Louis Burton. His "Apivia" seems to have few technical problems (or he is simply not communicating them), and he is in the comfortable position of being able to ride on the front of the low coming up from behind for longer than his pursuers. It will be interesting to see whether this remains the case in the storm of the next few days. So far, however, Dalin has delivered a very strong performance that fully lives up to his position as one of the favourites ahead of the race.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
