Charlie Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance) regained the lead of the 10th Vendée Globe in the rankings at 7:00 a.m. Friday (GMT+1), but he remained in a tight spot with Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable), second at 3 nautical miles, and Sam Goodchild (Vulnerable), third at 6 miles.
The head of the fleet continued its descent due south off the coast of Brazil in the early morning, hoping to recover at Cape Frio (east of Rio de Janeiro), a depression which could propel the boats towards the Cape of Good Hope.
“The first should reach it (depression, editor's note) within 24 hours,” underlines Pierre Hays at the race director. “Even if it is still difficult to be affirmative, the top ten should be able to benefit from it,” he adds.
“It’s a pretty cool scenario. If we are lucky enough to catch this depression coming out of Brazil, we will quickly be able to descend towards the Cape of Good Hope, we will be catapulted to South Africa. This would allow us to cut the route and quickly cross the South Atlantic,” explains Samantha Davies (Initiatives Cœur), 12th at 88 miles.
“It’s an elevator not to be missed,” confirms Jérémie Beyou (Charal). We all want to catch that little depression and escape with it.”
“A big blow to the knee”
Ninth, 53 miles from the lead, Beyou suffered a knee shock. Coming out of a very complicated doldrums, Jérémie Beyou (Charal) took “a very big blow to the knee” last Thursday. “It's not too bad, it's swollen a lot. I tried to make a maneuver as best I could, I'll see how it develops. This matter worries me a little. I use cream and cold,” he told Ouest France.
“It's swollen, I'm trying not to move too much, to keep it at rest… I hope it gets better,” he commented.
At dawn on Friday, 17 of the 39 boats in the race had left the Doldrums. And, since Ruyant crossed the equator in the lead the day before in the early evening, there were 14 of them sailing in the southern hemisphere.
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