Yoann Richomme is in third place in the rankings this Tuesday, December 3, behind Dalin and Simon. He chose to head north, even if it meant losing speed and being left behind by the leaders. Because the front of the fleet is heading towards the first big blow of the solo round-the-world trip, expected on Wednesday in the Indian Ocean.
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Yoann Richomme will have had a few days of respite. Time to make a few videos for his fans, and also time to launch the second Argos beacon entrusted to him by the CNES (Centre for Space Studies) which will make it possible to measure the speed of the currents.
But that was before… Before the fleet found itself confronted with a “little southern monster”, according to the organizers of the Vendée Globe.
In its latest press release, the skipper’s team does not beat around the bush: “we will have to put the race on hold for a few days aboard Paprec Arkéa and the boats at the head of the Vendée Globe. No more regatta at all costs, welcome to inhospitable regions, or the management of yourself, the boat and the equipment will take precedence.”
Indeed, the first storm in the Indian Ocean will hit the leading pack in less than 48 hours, with forecasts of 60 knots of wind and 9 m of waves respectively!
Two options are on the table: extend the route by escaping this storm from the north or go straight, due east, trying to pass through a less aggressive wind corridor and not break.
Yoann Richomme decided to follow the first, to change his route to reposition himself further north, in front of the second peloton led by Thomas Ruyant, while Charlie Dalin and Sébastien Simon seem to continue due east, banking on their speed to escape the phenomenon .
“Me, my trajectory goes towards the north to shelter me a little more from the bad weather, so sheltered from bad weather, that still means taking a small packet since there will be 40 knots of wind and 7 to 8 meters of waves, so it will still shake for a few days” the skipper told us this Tuesday morning.
“Yes, it’s the choice of security, assumes Yoann Richommethis is not perhaps not actually the winning choice in terms of trajectory, but I didn’t want to bet everything on a decision there in the Indian. CIt’s a little early in the Vendée Globe“.
At this crucial moment, the skipper could have headed due east like his leading competitors “the problem of being in the south is perhaps a road that is faster, but with winds certainly very very strong all the same, almost 60 knots, the problem is that if we have a problem down there well, we don’t have many people to come pick us up and we don’t have many loopholes to repair either.”.
There is no question of risking breakage for Yoann Richomme, who after three weeks of racing has not experienced any major damage.
And Yoann Richomme hopes to avoid it!
“The South Seas are extreme for two things, these storms that we are going to have in 48 hours now are really very big, a lot of sea, lots of wind. Afterwards, the temperatures are freezing. There I went down to the ice zone, the other day, it was about 5 degrees in the water, 5 degrees in the air, so take storms with temperatures close to zero, It’s getting pretty extreme.” comments the skipper.
For now, Yoann Richomme is sailing under 10 knots of wind. “Cit’s quite light, I am in a small transition actually before the storm, which will happen this evening, see you tomorrow morning for me. It’s true that she’s quite big.”
While the sailing conditions are, for the moment, still manageable, we are taking this opportunity to ask Yoann Richomme to take stock of these first three weeks of racing.
“In the attack on the southern seas, we were not left behind. JI find that I am in the right rhythm, I am happy with the equipment that I have, I’m happy with my boat, I’m happy with my sails, I don’t have a lot of breakage, so today, I think I can say that things are still going really well!”,
” LThe fleet is very compact, there are 10 boats at the forefront, ultra-competitive, clearly 6 or 7 are a little above the rest. OIt is far from the very large differences that we have experienced in other editions, Afterwards, we are not at the end of our surprises either, We’ve only been in the Indian Ocean for 4-5 days…”
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