Sam Goodchild (Vulnerable), who had regained the lead of the 10th edition of the Vendée Globe the previous evening, increased his lead during the night and was almost 43 miles ahead of his first pursuer Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil) at the ranking at 7 a.m. Monday.
Thomas Rettant (Vulnerable) posted the highest average speed over 24 hours (more than 13 knots) and gained four places overnight to reach third place, 61 miles from the leader.
The more easterly route chosen by the oldest Jean Le Cam (65 years old), which had allowed him to take the lead of the fleet for a time, played the bad trick predicted by the routers: the lack of wind compared to to the majority of skippers, who took further west of the coast of Africa, made him lose speed (a little more than 5 knots on average over the last 24 hours) and distance.
In the early hours of Monday morning, the skipper of Tout commence en Finistère – Armor-Lux was still in 4th place, but more than 106 miles from the lead.
“The files didn’t necessarily correspond to reality and Sam handled that very well. He knew how to exploit the wind shifts at the right time rather than waiting for a longer-term wind shift, explains Justine Mettraux for the Vendée Globe website. Several of us waited for a change in the wind which took a long time to come. I only started having it last night (editor’s note: Sunday)».
At 7 a.m., the Genevan was 17th, three places behind Alan Roura who was losing speed (3 knots on average over 24 hours). The third Swiss representative, Oliver Heer, is 34th. “The first week went by quickly and at the same time, it was super busy,” explained Justine Mettraux. I feel good at sea and everything is fine!”
