Iceberg in sight: “It’s scary, we’re not being smart”

In a race slowed down by capricious winds, Charlie Dalin remains at the head of the Vendée Globe, closely followed by Yoann Richomme in their journey up the Atlantic, far ahead of certain competitors tensed by the appearance of an iceberg in the Pacific.

During the night, Dalin lost a good part of his lead, which was almost 50 miles at the 7:00 p.m. point on Wednesday, over Richomme, which fell to just 18.3 miles at the 7:00 a.m. point on Thursday. The mano a mano continues off the coast of Brazil while the first two hope to finally benefit from the trade winds to accelerate towards the equator.

Far behind, in the peloton sailing towards Cape Horn, the skippers must negotiate with the visit of an iceberg, escaped from the ice zone prohibited to competitors.

“It’s scary, we’re not being smart,” whispered Eric Béllion, 23rd in the solo race around the world. “I remind you that my case is 3.6 mm 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.”

Before him, Sébastien Marsset, 22nd, was the first to see the iceberg and began a “fight” to avoid it: this vision, “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!

Marsset maneuvered well to move away and continue on his way. He can now “take a breath” even if another ice monster has been announced a little further to the East. “The year 2025 is starting in a very intense way, and I saw an iceberg for the first time in my life!”, he concluded.