Navigator Charlie Dalin (Macif), leader of the 10th Vendée Globe for a week, passed the Cape of Good Hope on Friday afternoon in first position, at the tip of Africa, gateway to the formidable South Seas. .
The Norman reached the latitude of the first of the three reference capes of the course, with Leeuwin and Horn, at 4:45 p.m. after 19 days 3 hours and 43 minutes of racing, according to the organizers. It took him 7 days and 18 hours to reach it from the equator.
“I lost track of time a little! I don’t know what day it is anymore… Friday, I think…”, conceded Charlie Dalin on the organizer’s website, visibly a little unphased.
“I feel like I’ve been teleported! It’s really impressive how little time it took us to complete this section!” added the skipper of MACIF Santé Prévoyance.
Dalin admitted to being surprised by his speed: “It was so fast that I don’t really realize where I am today. The averages at which we moved towards the South-East mean that we lost between 5 and 6 degrees in 24-hour increments and that we crossed many time zones in a short time. This morning, I was surprised that the day dawned so early!”
Behind the Frenchman, at the 3 p.m. check-in, followed two of his compatriots: Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable), at 17 miles, and Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa), at 35.5 miles.
On the Swiss side, Geneva’s Justine Mettraux (Teamwork – Team Snef) is 11th, 857 miles from Dalin. Geneva’s Alan Roura (Hublot) is in 24th place (1778 miles from the leader) and Zurich’s Oliver Heer (Tut Gut) remains 33rd (2079 miles).
