Vendée Globe 2024: Englishman Sam Goodchild takes the lead… The classification of the race on the evening of November 12

An Englishman at the top of the Vendée Globe. After two days at sea, British skipper Sam Goodchild (Vulnerable) took the lead this Tuesday in the 10th edition of the Vendée Globe, overtaking Norman Charlie Dalin (Macif) off the coast of Portugal. “I didn’t really look for this first place,” explained the surprised 34-year-old Englishman, who has the ambition of completing his first solo round-the-world trip. In the lead since Monday morning, Charlie Dalin had nevertheless crossed Cape Finisterre at the front of the fleet, the first big difficulty of the race, but at the 11 a.m. check-in Sam Goodchild (Vulnerable) had fallen behind. At 8 p.m., the gap between the two men remained very slim, however, since the Briton was only 9 miles ahead of the Norman, while Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkea) completed the provisional podium.

The night from Monday to Tuesday was particularly trying for the 40 skippers involved with wind gusts measured at 40 knots at the tip of Cape Finisterre. “Luckily we don’t experience this in the Vendée Globe every day,” said Dalin. The sea was short, it was really not pleasant. » Thomas Ruyant fell back in the general classification (5th) after managing a water leak aboard his Imoca. “In the conditions encountered over the past few hours off Cape Finisterre, rough seas and fairly strong winds, the Dunkirk skipper regularly pumps the water that has entered the sail hold,” his team indicated on Instagram.

Maxime Sorel, the navigator on V and B – Monbana – Mayenne, has had a series of adventures since the start of the race. His night was particularly complicated because of a technical problem and an ankle injury. “I can’t reduce my mainsail, I’ve tried everything. In my battle with the hook (a hook for attaching a sail hoisted to the halyard point), I injured my right ankle. It’s slightly swollen under the malleolus, I’ll keep an eye on that. I’m a bit on standby waiting to see how it goes,” he says.

The wind should be a little less strong in the coming hours. The forecasts indicate less than 7 knots of wind between the Canaries and Cape Verde. In these zones of calm, everything is a matter of placement and shifts. The regatta continues with Madeira in their sights: the leaders should reach it tomorrow evening.