The fleet is still split into two parts on Thursday, with the leaders expected to reach the Cape of Good Hope by Sunday
While Charlie Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance) was still leading the Vendée Globe on Thursday 28 November at the 7am time of the clock, his lead over his immediate pursuers melted away during the night, benefiting Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil), who moved from third to second place. In the early morning, the leader only had a 22.88 nautical mile (nm) lead over his new runner-up, who is continuing his comeback, and 31.04 nautical miles over Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable), now third.
The fleet remains split in two with, on the one hand, these first nine boats which had been able to benefit from a favourable depression leading them at very high speed towards the Cape of Good Hope. Much further behind, the second part of the fleet is still led by the British Samantha Davies (Initiatives-Coeur), now more than 570 nm away.
Taking your foot off the gas before the Aiguilles current? On Wednesday, Sébastien Simon had also set a new record for the distance covered in 24 hours. The skipper from La Roche-sur-Yon had sailed at an average speed of 25.11 knots (46 km/h) and improved by 22.7 nm the previous mark set two days earlier by Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa), fourth and still lying in wait 52.61 nm from the leader.
Launched at full speed towards the Cape of Good Hope, the leaders of the Vendée Globe should reach the Aiguilles Current at the end of the week, at the southern tip of Africa, where the risks of accidents are numerous and often prohibitive. “It’s the place I dread the most in the round the world race,” explained the leader Charlie Dalin before the start, referring to this current which descends along the east coast of Africa to create whirlpools in the south of the Atlantic.
“There’s a lot of debris, mammals coming to feed, tree trunks and so on. Last time, I had raised my foils to get through. There’s a chance I’ll do the same thing this year,” he added. The biggest budget yachts rely heavily on these carbon side appendages, most often sunk into the water to allow the boat to take off, in order to reach speeds of around 50 km/h..
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