Richomme slows down, Dalin progresses
The information came early in the morning, at 7:30 a.m. Yoann Richomme told race management that his headsail hook (J0) had broken and the sail had fallen into the water. The skipper had to work to bring the sail back on board before realizing that it was torn and therefore unusable. Consequence: Yoann was slightly delayed by a few hours. This damage comes at a bad time less than five days from arrival. Certainly, the absence of D0 will not be detrimental immediately since it will benefit from downwind winds once it returns to the South-East of the Azores. On the other hand, it could be more difficult at the start of the week, when it will be necessary to knit from the Breton coast until the arrival in light airs… Anyway, Charlie Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance) is still expected on Tuesday at the finish line and Yoann Richomme between two and twelve hours later.
Finally some relief in the chasing group
Pour Sébastien Simon (Dubreuil Group, 3rd), the high pressure ridge is rising and could slightly block its path, which would force it to realign itself. No worries however for his third place, his arrival is rather estimated between Thursday January 16 and Friday January 17.
2,500 miles further south, the chasing group, which is undoubtedly leading one of the most intense “match within a match” of this Vendée Globe, is finally starting to see the end of the tunnel. Everyone is finally starting to extricate themselves from the semi-permanent cold front, the chaotic zone made up of squalls, thunderstorms and very unstable wind. The supporters of the West, Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE, 4e) et Jeremy Beyou (Charal, 5th) took a slight advantage, which was already evident yesterday. If Paul Meilhat (Biotherm, 6th) managed to get closer, Nicolas Lunven (Holcim-PRB, 9th) was slightly behind. Jeremiah Beyou (Charal, 5th) does not hide his pleasure, he who first has a word for Nicolas Lunven with whom he has come a long way since the start:
