It's really chilling! For several days, this had been buzzing from the race management side, and the alert had been sent to all the sailors who are currently sailing along the ice zone, in the middle of the Pacific (and there are a lot of them!). Two icebergs had been spotted by satellite outside the Antarctic Exclusion Zone (AEZ), and their position could be close to that of our competitors in the Vendée Globe. Caution and vigilance were therefore required on this first day of 2025 to avoid these ice behemoths, which drift and break into “growlers” that are more difficult to spot, and which are not a good idea to approach too closely…
“I admit that it blew my mind! ». Keeping his distance was the intention of Sébastien Marsset (Foussier, 22nd), who was nevertheless the first to sound the bugle. Warned of a possibility of an iceberg whose calculated drift placed him to his North, the Nantes skipper said in the evening: “My radar alarm which went off: I had an echo four miles ahead. I poke my head out, and immediately I see the iceberg. There's a fight going on because I'm at 17 knots under little gennak! So you have to drive to avoid the iceberg. I bear down, which temporarily makes me aim even more, I roll, and I find myself 2.5 miles from the iceberg… I try to luff but without accelerating too much, I end up taking a second reef to really slow down, and I wait a long time! Because frankly, it blows my mind, I was going straight for it! This iceberg had therefore ultimately not drifted towards the North at all, but due East, so I was at the same latitude as it, and I found myself… facing it!” Sébastien Marsset, foussier.Still shaken by this vision of the immaculate block a hundred meters long, a veritable cargo of blue ice, the Nantes skipper was, quite logically, torn between fascination and stress: “I admit that I don't I didn't sleep much last night, but now… it's trending! It's tense because we're scrutinizing everything, I have all my alarms, I spent I don't know how long outside looking at the slightest foam, believing it was a piece of ice! You have to take a breath, everything is fine, there is another one further in the East, but I think I will put more distance with its theoretical position. My idea was to take off from the ice zone, I admit that it took my breath away! The year 2025 is starting off very intensely, and I saw an iceberg for the first time in my life!” Sébastien Marsset, foussier.“I remind you that my case is 3.6mm thick”A few hours later, the same feelings of dizziness for Eric Bellion (STAND AS ONE – Altavia, 23rd), who filmed the frozen monster at 54° south and felt very small: “I admire our pioneers, on the first trips around the world they were going there, it took a good dose of courage and certainly a little unconsciousness too, respect to them! Already on a daily basis it's muscular so if you add the spice of ice cream… for January 1st, a little gift from the Pacific Ocean! It's scary. The boat and I are not being smart! I remind you that my case is 3.6mm thick, I can't afford to type that. Icebergs are beautiful with expedition boats equipped with steel hulls but not with our carbon racing boats” Eric Bellion, Stand as one, Altavia.“I said hophophophop”A little further north, Guirec Soudée (Freelance.com, 2nd), his body still badly bruised from a shock which, ten days ago, had made him fly around in his IMOCA like a rag doll, also told us about his long hours waking up with fear in his stomach. Because everyone knows, at the slightest shock, the caps would be cooked for the rest of their adventures, which justifies reducing the sail: “I slowed down the pace, I was doing 18-20 knots with peaks above, so I said hophophophop. I've already caught ice at 4-5 knots with a steel boat, it wasn't very pleasant, so with a carbon boat I prefer not to think about it! It adds a little spice to the race, but it's a little stressful all the same, I'm on my radar, every 20 minutes I go outside, you can see the horizon clearly so that's cool .” Guirec Soudée, Freelance.com. Indeed, if we want to see the glass half full (of ice cubes), the skippers indeed benefited all day from good visibility, which, in the kingdom of gray, is far from be acquired! But at night, as we know, all the icebergs are gray too, and it was therefore a little worrying that the last of the mohicans in the pack, the New Zealander Conrad Colman (MS Amlin, 29th) saw the sun beginning to go to bed…
Just before dusk, a gigantic silhouette once again stood out on its horizon, even allowing the Kiwi to launch his drone to film the natural wonder up close… A second iceberg whose presence was obviously reported to the management racing, which will continue to try to follow its drift for the next ones to pass in the corner…
Certainly, 2025 promises to hold some nice surprises in store, if it is like this first day of racing in the Vendée Globe, when Fabrice Amedeo (Nexans – Wewise, 34th) sent us rare photos of a aurora australis! Don't throw away any more on the big show side, we're full!“Neither of these options appeals to me much.”Well, not quite, because we almost forget that there is always a race going on… And which does not decrease in intensity! On the lead side, it was another painful night in slow motion, from which Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) came out in the lead again, but only just… Yoann Richomme (PAPREC – ARKÉA, 2nd) has indeed reduced the gap again, while waiting to touch, both hope more than ever, the trade winds during the day.
Along Argentina, the journey up the South Atlantic remains as complex as ever for the group led by Paul Meilhat (Biotherm, 5th). Contacted during the night, Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE, 8th), told us about this complex passage against the wind, which leaves little room for rest: “Life on board is not simple, and neither is the strategy! We don't have a vision of a simple option, between going to the East and having very strong wind or to the West and no wind, or just a few storm clouds! None of these options appeal to me much, but they are the only ones that exist, so we have to try to find the best one!” Sam Goodchild, Vulnerable.“It will have been a journey of the cross”Not simple, this is also the observation of Romain Attanasio (Fortinet-Best Western, 14th), who is starting to stick out his tongue less than 36 hours after passing Cape Horn. If the latter was very gentle to welcome the previous ones, including Benjamin Dutreux (Guyot Environnement – Water Family), who took the opportunity to steal 11th place from Clarisse Crémer (L'Occitane en Provence, 12th), it is a completely different sauce awaits the sailor from Briançon. “I'm sitting in front of my seat in front of my slate that says Cape Leeuwin December 14, and I was just saying to myself that it will have been a crossroads to get here! I don't want to jinx myself, I haven't passed Cape Horn yet, but it's true that… the Indian was tough but the Pacific was almost worse in fact! The two previous Vendée Globes, I was told the Pacific is great, you'll see, I hadn't found it, but this time it was really worse! Crazy! We're still in the storm there, with horrible seas, and I think we still have 40 knots when we arrive at Cape Horn in 36 hours! It's not crazy» Romain Attanasio, Fortinet – Best Western. If the skipper of Fortinet-Best Western is trying to contain the increasingly urgent return of Damien Seguin (Groupe Apicil, 15th), it is above all that of Jean Le Cam (Tout Commence en Finistère – Armor-Lux, 16th), now 300 miles from his transom, which annoys him greatly: “Damien, I try to hold him but he’s fast and it’s not easy! I think he goes faster than me with his latest generation foils. But the one I really don't want to see come back is Jean Le Cam, it's crazy, he's taking a straight route, with a north wind, while we're tacking, and the group behind him Also. He’s really between the two, it’s a bit annoying!” Romain Attanasio, Fortinet – Best Western. It's like that at the ocean canteen: you never know how you're going to be served, and in what proportion… Only one certainty: you won't have to leave your stomach in knots, otherwise you won't be hungry! Find our every day race weather analysis with METEO CONSULT Marine in our special report Vendée Globe and follow the skippers live thanks to the cartography.
