This Sunday morning again, the two skippers at the head of the race are in a tight spot.
Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa) and Charlie Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance), with a route very south of the Indian Ocean, have taken turns in recent hours at the head of the 10th Vendée Globe, Richomme ahead of Dalin by 5 nautical miles in the score of 07:00 (GMT+1) Sunday.
«It's funny and quite incredible to be edge to edge like that, in the middle of nowhere. We find ourselves like at the time of the Figaro even if we have already experienced this in Imoca since last year we finished first and second in the Fastnet Race with a gap of five minutes», recalled Dalin.
With peaks of 24 knots on Sunday morning, the two skippers have posted an average speed of more than 20 knots over the last 24 hours and are preparing to face a depression.
«There is still today (Sunday) to think about how we are going to manage this coming depression.», explained the skipper of Macif as he approached the Marion and Prince Edward Islands.
Very slightly further north, Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil) completes the provisional podium less than 35 miles from the leader, with around thirty miles ahead of Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable).
The rest of the fleet generally lost ground on this quartet during the night and only the top nine are sailing in the Indian.
Samantha Davies (Initiative-Coeur), 10th with more than 1000 miles now, has not yet crossed the Cape of Good Hope.
Vendée Globe rankings Sunday at 7:00 a.m. (GMT+1):
1. Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa) 16,725.20 nautical miles from the finish
2. Charlie Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance) 5.45 miles from the first
3. Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil) at 34.59 miles
4. Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable) at 61.64 miles
5. Jérémie Beyou (Charal) at 166.03 miles
6. Nicolas Lunven (Holcim – PRB) at 234.52 miles
7. Sam Goodchild (Vulnerable) at 320.27 miles
8. Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq V) at 385.26 miles
9. Paul Meilhat (Biotherm) at 598.00 miles
10. Samantha Davies (Initiatives-Coeur) at 1,079.97 miles
…
39. Szabolcs Weöres (New Europe) à 3,854.60 milles
Abandon: Maxime Sorel (V and B-Monbana-Mayenne)
