“And there you go, that's it, crossing the equator, we're there, we're there,” declares Dalin in a video published on the Vendée Globe website, as he enters the Northern Hemisphere. “So good, what's more, it's going to the front, a little icing on the cake,” continues the navigator. “I asked Neptune on the way out for a stay in the Southern Hemisphere without any problems, I had a few hiccups but I still have the boat 100% and so thank you Neptune (Roman god of the Sea, Editor's note) , I offer you some champagne,” he said before uncorking a small bottle, drinking two sips before throwing the rest into the water.
Lunven in difficulty
The third, Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil), lost further ground on Dalin and Richomme, after having had to repair his mast in recent days and then being confronted with an engine generator problem. The skipper, forced to abandon the previous edition, lost almost 100 new miles on the lead in ten hours and is 871 miles from Dalin.
Behind this trio, Paul Meilhat (Biotherm), who had returned at 7 o'clock to 30 miles from Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable), fell back to seventh place. But the big loser of the day is Nicolas Lunven (Holcim – PRB), who lost three places and finds himself ninth. The gap between the fourth, Ruyant, and the tenth, the Swiss Justine Mettraux (TeamWork – Team Snef), is only 160 miles, and the positions between this group of six are likely to change again in the coming days.
