Update on the race
Off the coast of Brazil, Charlie Dalin is finally taking advantage of the tropical trade winds to accelerate and soon cross the equator, with a lead on Saturday evening of some 120 miles over Yoann Richomme, who maintains all his chances in this Vendée Globe.
At 7 p.m., Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) was 118.44 miles ahead of Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA), compared to 65.95 twenty-four hours previously. But the first of the pursuers is holding on and has even regained some ground in recent hours.
After crossing a zone of light wind, the cars of the two leaders regained speed, with stronger winds approaching the equator, which they should cross on Sunday afternoon.
Dalin and Richomme widened the gap on the third man, Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil), who chose the option of going back north along the Brazilian coast, now relegated to 670 miles from the lead. Behind, the battle rages for the places of honor, Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) ahead of Paul Meilhat (Biotherm) by only 20 miles.
After 55 days at sea, how fit are you and your boat?
Everything is fine. We had a few quiet days. It was quite pleasant, it allowed me to sleep really well. The wind was stable and it was almost as if we were in port. Good recovery. I was able to square the boat for the final sprint, to climb the mast. We accelerate again there. Last night I was doing peaks at 27 to 28 knots (more than 50 km/h), I had almost lost the habit. It beats you!
How do you envisage this final stretch?
There are several sections to negotiate, finish the southeast trade wind section that we are currently doing, find the optimum crossing point in the Doldrums and get out of it. This is not easy to envisage. You have to find the right line to enter and manage the Pot. I will really know what sauce he is going to eat me with 12 to 20 hours before. When you get out, you update your routings and see which lines you have to take to get home.
You were announced as one of the favorites, after your second place four years ago, and you are in the lead. Do you think about victory?
No way. As soon as I think about the finish, I come back to what needs to be done. The road is long, there are traps still to be avoided: the Doldrums, probably a high pressure ridge on the Canary Islands side. Things can happen. The trap is thinking about it, as soon as my brain thinks about it, I try to reframe it.
If all goes well, you should arrive in Les Sables-d'Olonne around January 15 and break Armel Le Cléac'h's record (74 days, 3 hours and 35 minutes in 2017). Is this a surprise?
Yes and no. No because I know the boats have the potential. We already had the potential four years ago but it really depends on the weather. Within a few hundred kilometers, it's not at all the same Vendée Globe. Armel's boat was a boat with small foils, with incomparable performance. But even there we took a while to get back to Armel's time, it's very linked to the conditions, but I had exceptional south seas. If I do another round-the-world trip, there is a very low percentage chance that I will do one again with such lenient conditions.
My only big obstacle was finding myself facing the big depression [dans l’océan Indien, NDLR] and having managed to put it behind me. It was the big storm of the Vendée Globe. Before Cape Horn, I had some nice gusts, I had gusts two or three times but never in the very, very hard. I'm the only one because even Yoann was expensive going through the north.
The last obstacle to victory is Yoann Richomme, right on your heels… Did you expect to find him neck and neck until the end?
Already, I didn't know if I was going to manage to be in the lead. That’s a success, so that’s cool. Concerning Yoann, we will say that if I had to bet, if I had to put a coin on another boat, I would have put Yoann. Since he announced that he would do this Vendée Globe, I suspected that he would be one of the clients, if not the most serious client. The toughest.
