64 days 19 hours and 22 minutes for Charlie Dalin who took the lead in the Vendée Globe this Tuesday. this 10th edition broke several records, notably that of Armel Le Cléac’h, winner in 2017. Explanations at crazy speed.
A shattered record! Armel Le Cléac’h, author of the reference time (74 days) in 2017, had the enthusiasm of sailing and technical enthusiasts in front of the performances of Charlie Dalin and Yoann Richomme. “It’s almost 10 days less than me, it’s a great time! We’re going to finally reach a ceiling of a reference time in a monohull, as we managed to do today in a multihull. Like the The 40-day barrier to circumnavigate the world in a multihull is difficult to overcome, in a monohull 18 meters long, perhaps the 60-day barrier will be a somewhat complicated barrier to overcome in the coming years. we knows that the size of the boats is a bit of a speed limit on what is possible on a round-the-world trip.”
The “foilers” clearly to their advantage and little damage
Each edition demonstrates a little more that foil technology is more and more reliable and efficient. With a 24-hour speed record raised to 615 miles (1,139 kilometers) by Sébastien Simon at the end of November and very fast passage times since the southern descent of the Atlantic, new generation monohulls and their sailors who have not chosen to stay with straight fins like Jean Le Cam are much more efficient.
“It’s true that the boats have progressed enormously in eight years,” confirms Le Cléac’h. “Four years ago, there was also a slightly reduced preparation with the Covid. The new boats had sailed very little, the sailors too, and as a result the boats had not been used as planned. It’s true that it gave a complicated race time.” One statistic stands out a few weeks before the arrival of all the competitors: the few abandonments. 6 out of 40 (15%) gave up after two months of racing. There were 8 out of 33 participants (24%) four years ago and 11 out of 29 (38%) in 2016.
-Weather favorable to performance
If during the last edition, Yannick Bestaven had taken six days longer than Armel Le Cléac’h to circumnavigate the planet, this is also because the weather had not been conducive to record times. But for this edition, it is also the sometimes riskier strategic choices of the first three which allow the fleet to be led at high speed.
“They managed to go in this weather,” confirms Armel Le Cléac’h. “It allowed them to go very quickly, particularly in the Pacific and the South Atlantic, and therefore to really gain a lot of miles, especially on their pursuers. That’s where we see the difference a little, notably with the group from 4th to 10th. They will almost finish a week or more after them, so it’s still huge. Even though they are very close boats in terms of performance, the weather also helped.
