Vendée Globe: Justine Mettraux: a magical encounter and a great comeback

Thomas Ruyant was the first skipper to leave the Doldrums, an intertropical convergence zone known for its unstable weather which slowed down the fleet, and took the lead of the Vendée Globe for the first time on Thursday morning.

While he had dropped to 11th place momentarily on Wednesday evening, Ruyant overtook the leading boats from the west and took control at the 7 o’clock point, Sam Goodchild being 2nd only a few cables away.

“In the middle of the night, over four hours, his speed was 16.9 knots, compared to 5 to 6 knots for Sam (Goodchild) and Sébastien (Simon), explains Pierre Hays from the race director. He managed to find a less complex passage and take advantage of it.

“The Doldrums is not that simple,” confirms Charlie Dalin, sixth at 7am. “With Yoann (Richomme), we had regained a lot of ground on Sam, Thomas and Nicolas (Lunven). And then there was a beautiful corridor but a new cloud mass was created right above us and we got a little expensive.”

“I hope to get out of it soon, even if you never know when it’s completely over,” continues the former leader of the solo race around the world.

The leading group should cross the equator within 24 hours, celebrating Neptune on the way as tradition dictates, before diving into the South Atlantic off the coast of Brazil.

A leading group of which Justine Mettraux is part, she who made a crazy trip to the Doldrums after having encountered a pod of dolphins hunting a few hours earlier. While she occupied 11th place on Wednesday at 7:00 a.m., the Genevan was in 5th place this Thursday morning.