Yoann Richomme remains at the top of a very tight ranking after passing Madeira… Follow the position of the skippers live

The skipper of Paprec-Arkéa leads the fleet, the first six of which are held within 25 nautical miles (46 kilometers), as they approach the Canary Islands.

“The fleet has a very high level and it shows!” Yoann Richomme, the skipper of Paprec-Arkéa, even if he still leads the race, sees his pursuers getting closer in recent hours. At 7 a.m. on Thursday, November 14, there were six of them at the head of the fleet, 25 nautical miles (around 46 kilometers). The boats are now approaching the Canaries, where the wind is expected to be very calm.

Until then, the skippers had benefited from a steady wind to go down to Madeira, which then calmed down, which favors rapprochements, like that of Jérémie Beyou (Charal), now third, behind Charlie Dalin (Macif ). “The start of the race was very intense: not a lot of downtime, if at all, with a very unstable windsays the newcomer on the podium. We were able to sleep a little at the start of this stretch, up to about a hundred miles from Madeira, and after that everything started to get complicated again. There’s a whole mass of cloud blocking it, so we didn’t get much sleep. The first ones stopped a little, I hope that we will pass!”, he explains on the official Vendée Globe website.

With unpredictable winds, competitors are not safe from damage. And if destiny smiled on Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable), who moved up to 4th position despite a leak in his boat, Maxime Sorel (V and B – Monbana – Mayenne) cannot say the same. Hit in the ankle, he also experienced a hook problem (the system allowing the sail to be blocked once hoisted to the desired position with a hook), and therefore diverted towards Madeira. Samantha Davies (Initiatives-Coeur) warned the race management that if she was no longer moving forward, it was not because of damage, but because there was no wind. She is in 17th position.