Vendée Globe: Justine Mettraux sets out to make history

Vendée Globe: Justine Mettraux sets out to make history
Vendée Globe: Justine Mettraux sets out to make history

Around ten days after the victorious arrival of Charlie Dalin, Justine Mettraux and eight other skippers must cross the line in Les Sables-d’Olonne one behind the other from Thursday evening, worn out by a Vendée Globe which did nothing for them. no gifts. The Geneva native should also set a new record.

Justine Mettraux should arrive in Les Sables-d’Olonne on Saturday.

KEYSTONE

At midday on Wednesday, Jérémie Beyou (Charal) was only 500 miles from the finish (926 km) and should complete his third Vendée Globe during the night from Thursday to Friday, in 4th place after 74 days at sea.

“With 24 hours to go, I need to be able to pass Cape Finisterre without a collision. I no longer have radar, no more VHF antenna at the masthead so I am not very visible to others. If I stop, the others can come up on me quickly,” Beyou, who is on “extreme vigilance,” told AFP on Wednesday.

Around 200 miles behind arrive Paul Meilhat (Biotherm) and Nicolas Lunven (Holcim – PRB), double winner of the Solitaire du Figaro who will place for the first time in a Vendée Globe.

7th place in this 10th edition should be fought between Justine Mettraux (Teamwork – Team Snef) and two members of the same team, Thomas Ruyant and the Briton Sam Goodchild (Vulnerable). Expected on Saturday morning in Les Sables-d’Olonne in 75 days of racing, the Genevan will easily beat the best women’s time in the history of the event (87 days 2 hours and 24 minutes).

“Adrenaline shots”

Announced as one of the big favorites, Thomas Ruyant experienced a complicated Vendée Globe, marked by numerous damages, including the loss of his main sail off the coast of Montevideo (Uruguay). His British teammate completed a promising first world tour, leading the race for a good part of the way down the Atlantic. But he tore his mainsail on Monday and had been stalling ever since.

“We’re at the stage where I’m out of glue! I had 14 cartridges, and I don’t have any more,” said the sailor on Wednesday in a video sent to the organizers where he shows his repair work on the sail. “After two and a half months, this theoretical line no longer holds much ground! There are shots of adrenaline that push us, and then make us fall even harder,” he explained.

-

Hot on their heels, Benjamin Dutreux (GUYOT environment – ​​Water Family), Clarisse Crémer (L’Occitane en Provence) and Samantha Davies (Initiatives-Coeur) were fighting for 10th place and were expected on Sunday in Les Sables-d’Olonne.

This entire group of sailors suffered the full force of a major depression off the coast of the Azores. “Until the end the weather was catastrophic for us,” Jérémie Beyou said on Wednesday. “Taking into this depression, the rough seas, it’s like the whole of Vendée. When I look at the track of the first three, we didn’t do the same race at all, they were like on a treadmill,” he added.

Alan Roura crosses the equator

Note also that Alan Roura (Hublot), currently 20th at 3,123 miles from the finish, has shifted north of the equator. “I haven’t finished the Vendée Globe yet, but in my mind, I’ve done my third round the world trip. It is therefore with a lot of emotion that I attack this last part of the race,” explained the Genevan on Wednesday on his site.

Further away, off the coast of Uruguay, we find Oliver Heer (Tut Gut.), third Swiss in this “Everest of the seas”. The Zurich native is sailing in 31st position, 5,592 miles from Les Sables-d’Olonne.

The race was won on January 14 by Charlie Dalin (Macif) in 64 days 19 hours 22 minutes, ahead of Varois Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa), who arrived a day later (65 days 18 hours 10 minutes). Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil) finished 3rd on January 17 (67 d 12 h 25 min).

Charlie Dalin wins the Vendée Globe!

Charlie Dalin wins the Vendée Globe 24-25, beating the 2017 record. Starting on November 10, 2024, he dominated the race, crossing the Capes of Good Hope (November 29), Leeuwin (December 9) and the point Nemo (December 20)

14.01.2025

-

--

PREV Massimiliano Allegri to become Al-Ahli’s new coach
NEXT “And afterward, we wonder why people don’t watch Belgian football”: Toby Alderweireld not kind to Anderlecht – All football