In the space of a few hours, the Paprec Arkea navigator moved up six places thanks to a distance covered at crazy speed.
The navigator Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkea), one of the leaders of the Vendée Globe, covered 551.81 miles (1,021 km) between Tuesday and Wednesday while approaching the Doldrums, a new record for a monohull sailboat .
In the space of 24 hours, the Var sailor, one of the favorites of this 10th edition of the Everest of the seas, took six places over the competition, reaching 4th place at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, thanks to downwind winds. around 20 knots. His average speed over one day was recorded at 22.89 knots (42.4 km/h), three knots faster than current leader Sam Goodchild (Vulnerable) on whom he was falling in the post- noon.
In a video Tuesday evening, he filmed himself sailing at more than 30 knots at the helm of his flying sailboat, delighted to have found some wind after several days of light weather. The previous record was set last week by his competitor Nicolas Lunven (Holcim-PRB) off the coast of Portugal. The Breton had covered 546 miles in 24 hours to get back into the lead.
«I have a little message for Nico Lulu, man I'm sorry, I'm sad for you, I stole your world record“, joked Richomme in a video sent from the edge seconds after the news was announced. “Revenge in the South», he added facetiously and laughing. Having arrived at the helm of an Imoca only a year and a half ago, after having won two Solitaire du Figaro and two Route du Rhum in Class40, this diligent sailor with a large size quickly showed that he could win against the best.
He won two (The Transat 2024, Return to Base 2023) of the three solo transatlantic races on the selection course for the Vendée Globe. Its blue and red sailboat, launched in February 2023, is considered one of the fastest in the fleet. Like the other leaders in the race, however, he was forced to slow down on Wednesday afternoon, entering the unpredictable Doldrums where the wind should be much lighter.
