Of the 39 boats still racing in the Vendée Globe most are now out of the Doldrums and almost half are now across the Equator in the Southern Hemisphere.
Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) led the fleet across last night at 1910hrs yesterday evening. His elapsed time of 11d 07h 08m 15s is almost to the minute two days slower than race record outbound to the Equator than Alex Thomson’s record time set in November 2016. And the skipper from the very north of France’s time is actually the slowest since the 2008 race when Loïck Peyron led over to the South Atlantic after 12d 05hrs.
But after Ruyant slowed to deal with a technical issue Charlie Dalin took the lead early this morning on his MACIF Santé Prévoyance. It is the third time so far this race that Dalin has taken the lead and he has profited nicely from his position and the power of his boat in the trade winds reaching conditions so far.
And so whilst the skippers towards the back of the fleet are still dealing with the lighter winds, the squalls and calms of the ITCZ, the Doldrums, the leading group have their foot down, pushing as hard as they can to make sure they can be on board the first low pressure system developing north of Rio which will propel them to the SE at useful speeds. With the Saint Helena high pressure system displaced to the east there is a great chance of catching up some of the that time lost in the north Atlantic. But missing the low looks expensive as the high pressure reforms in a very messy way.
Ruyant explained in the Vendée LIVE show today, “I had a slowdown due to a hydraulic ram problem on J3, head sail. I had to fix it and that meant changing sails. I had to bear away to fix the problem. I stopped a bit but I got going again. So there were two or three hours when I wasn’t very fast because of this little problem. And the fact of having left the Doldrums very far to the west compared to the fleet, the few degrees of angle, I’m going to try to hold my position and harden up to them I hope. I knew that this tack was going to be complicated, especially since some, like Charlie, are going very fast at these speeds. But right now there are nine of us in less than 60 miles, that’s pretty impressive. Everyone is really in close contact in this race so far. But that takes a lot of energy too. There’s been action from the start. And now the idea of catching this low, it’ll take us at least to the Cape of Good Hope. Normally we should all take the same wagon, I think.”
Clarisse Crémer (L’Occitaine en Provence) is fastest this afternoon on Dalin’s former boat but so also has been Boris Herrmann (Malizia-Seaexplorer) who is 14th. He believes he will just make the cut off to be on the first low, but said today it could be down to 50 miles here or there.
Meantime crossing the Equator cider brandy, beer, wine, Calvados, rum have all been offered up to King Neptune. Teetotal Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) offered special chocolate from Grenada, Pip Hare….a cup of tea and some shredded date cake! On this race to Rio, avoiding the gap, the cut off, every little bit of luck will help not released having Neptune on side!
“North of Rio de Janeiro, during the day on Sunday, the leaders should catch this low pressure system and thus reach the Cape of Good Hope almost directly,” explained Christian Dumard, weather consultant for the event.
And some are still dealing with the ITCZ, “The Doldrums don’t seem too bad but I don’t want to assume that until I’m completely out of it,” commented Fabrice Amedeo (Nexans – Wewise), a bit superstitious but also and above all marked by an experience that he himself describes as “nightmarish” four years ago.
