While at the front, Yohann Richomme continues to get closer to Charlie Dalin, some competitors have had to face serious damage like Violette Dorange.
Positions continue to tighten in the Vendée Globe. At least as far as the leading trio is concerned. If Charlie Dalin continues to lead the fleet in the Pacific, the skipper of Macif Santé Prévoyance is only 45 miles ahead of Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa), Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreul) completing the podium in third place with 123 miles outlay on the leader.
The rest of the fleet is much further away since Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable), fourth, is 823 miles behind, followed (very) closely by Jérémie Beyou (Charal) and Nicolas Lunven (Holcim-PRB). And far from the leaders, the boats have been put to the test in recent days. This is evidenced by the problems encountered by Violette Dorange (Devenir), the youngest in the race.
Like Benjamin Ferré (Monnoyeur – Duo for a job) a few days earlier, the Charentaise had to repair a broken winch. A repair that was tedious to say the least since she had to do it twice, spending no less than seven hours on this winch column, which is used to maneuver her sails without having to exert too much physical effort.
“It was a big, big day”
« I'm happy with myself because I managed to repair my spine. I had to dismantle everything, clean everything, all the parts, check everything. And then put it back together. And once I had managed to put everything back together, that I had finished everything, which already took me a good 4 hours I would say, well it still didn't work, she explained. So I had to dismantle everything to redo everything a second time. And the second time, that's it, it was the right one. The chains on my spine fitted well and it stopped derailing. »
“It was quite exhausting because I did it from 3 a.m. UT to 10-11 a.m. I did 7 hours of repairs. And then I didn't stop because I had to put everything away, clean everything. It was carnage because there was chain grease everywhere in my cockpit,” continued the one which is currently at 26e Place du Vendée Globe.
“Afterwards there were also the maneuvers, so reefing, removing the reefs several times, and then a jibe with all the gear. And also to scoop out the water that was at the front of my boat at the level of the fins. Anyway, it was a big, big day, she insisted again. And now it's dark and I'll finally be able to go and rest. It was hard but I'm happy to have succeeded. And I was a little afraid of not being able to use my spine until the end of the race. It would have been really complicated because my spine allows me to multiply the forces. And without it it's really hard to do the maneuvers. So it's a good thing to do. It's repaired and I will be able to continue and above all rest now. »
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