Is it a rock? No. Is it a peak? Neither. This is a milestone that the head of the Vendée Globe fleet is preparing to cross this Friday. Good Hope is in the crosshairs and Charlie Dalin is on the right track to be the first to fall into the terrible southern seas (even if the roaring 40th have already been crossed). To enter the Indian Ocean, you will have to wait until you pass Cape Agulhas, a little further to the east. But it shouldn’t be long, either.
Thomas Ruyant recovers the place of runner-up
“These 5 days in the South Atlantic will remain in my memory. I had never gone so fast, for so long. We were on a kind of rapid reaching, little or no vmg. It was necessary to be […] on the attack to take advantage of this depression and this northwest wind. We see today, with this transition under Africa, that it was worth the struggle. We have created a break in the fleet, and we will be able to keep some wind to enter the Indian. » The analysis is by Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable), who is hotter than ever on the unsinkable Charlie Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance) at the head of the race. The positions in the ranking are still symbolic within the leading group given the road ahead, but the low pressure systems are one after the other in favor of the “big four” and, barring major technical glitches, the pursuers will have difficulty seeing them again any time soon. .
The ranking at 11 a.m.
1. Charlie Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance), 17,910.6 miles from the finish
2. Thomas Rettant (Vulnerable), 28.78 nm from the leader
3. Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa), at 37.93 nm
4. Sébastien Simon (Dubreuil Group), 48.91 nm
5. Nicolas Lunven (Holcim – PRB), at 168 nm
Where Escoffier had sunk…
The Cape of Good Hope is not only a symbolic marker of the Vendée Globe, it is also a dangerous event. The sailors cross the current of the Needles, where the swell is raging and the OFNIs are very present. In this zone of permanent stress, traps are everywhere.
“This is the place I fear the most during the world tour,” explained Charlie Dalin before the start. It is in this area that in 2020, Sébastien Simon and Samantha Davies had to abandon their Vendée Globe after collisions and that Kevin Escoffier saw his boat “folded in two” by a rogue wave.
News from Marina Foils
The skipper of 20 Minutes on Virtual Regatta remains stable at 300,000th place in its strategy of detouring in search of wind. If the bulk of the peloton (around 100,000th place and more) has no other choice than to play with the Saint Helena high to continue advancing at a good pace, Marina Foils is counting on the depression which arrives in the South to later push it towards Good Hope. It will take patience to reap the rewards of this bet.
Adjacent, the imaginary Imoca is sailing at a fairly decent speed of between 13 and 15 knots. Looking forward to the southern seas as its foils allow it to soar a little.
