Charlie Dalin maintains the lead but sees Sébastien Simon returning in his wake… Follow the position of the skippers live

The fleet is still split into two parts on Thursday, while the leaders should reach the Cape of Good Hope by Sunday.

If Charlie Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance) was still in the lead of the Vendée Globe, Thursday November 28 at the 7 a.m. check-in, his lead over his immediate pursuers melted away during the night, benefiting Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil), who moved from third in second place. In the early morning, the leader only had a lead of 22.88 nautical miles (nm) over his new runner-up, who is continuing his comeback, and 31.04 nautical miles over Thomas Rettant (Vulnerable), now third.

The fleet remains split in two with, on the one hand, these first nine ships which had benefited from a favorable 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 behind.

On Wednesday, Sébastien Simon had also set a new record for the distance covered over 24 hours. The skipper, native of La Roche-sur-Yon, had traveled at an average speed of 25.11 knots (46 km/h) and improved by 22.7 nm the previous mark established two days earlier by Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa), fourth and still in ambush 52.61 nm from the lead.

Launched at full speed towards the Cape of Good Hope, the leaders of the Vendée Globe should reach the Aiguille Current at the end of the week, at the southern tip of Africa, where the risk of accidents is numerous and often prohibitive. “This is the place I fear the most on my world tour”explained leader Charlie Dalin before departure, referring to this current which descends along the east African coast 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 pulled up my foils to pass. There's a chance I'll do the same thing This year”he added. The biggest budget sailboats rely heavily on these carbon side appendages, most often sunk into the water to allow the boat to take flight, in order to reach speeds of around 50 km/h.