Richomme’s downwind speed advantage is telling

“I am very happy with the choices I made with the boat and my sails.” Richomme told the French Vendée Globe LIVE! show, speaking of his superior speed with Yann Eliès, the two times Vendée Globe skipper who was his co-skipper on last year’s Transat Jacques Vabre transatlantic race and his stand in, substitute skipper on this race.

But while Richomme is impressing with his measured attack at the same time all the Vendée Globe skippers have been thinking of Brit Pip Hare (Medallia) who dismasted last night and is now heading under jury rigging towards Melbourne, Australia. Other problems are mounting up through the fleet in an especially brutal Indian Ocean. Benjamin Ferré (Monnoyeur – DUO for a JOB, 23rd) had to work “for 12 hours” to repair a keel ram problem, Antoine Cornic (Human Immobilier, 33rd) and Denis Van Weynbergh (D’Ieteren Group, 37th) both climbed their masts while Arnaud Boissières (La Mie Câline, 29th) is dealing with an injured knee.

So far Richomme is not satisfied. He was happy to pass close to and film the Auckland islands off the south east tip of New Zealand that he was able to sail past and his pace is relentless.

“The two skippers are sailing in the same conditions but Yoann is going slightly faster,” explains Christian Dumard, the Vendée Globe weather consultant. “Charlie has lost the lateral separation he had and they have to deal with rather unstable wind.” Richomme is relishing the chase.

“ It’s going very well and of course, this race scenario makes me happy. Since I crossed paths with Thomas (Ruyant) in the Indian Ocean, I’ve been slipping through mouse holes. I feel good on board, I’m in tune with my weather routing, there are no setbacks. I’m lucky to have a fantastic boat in these downwind conditions. Charlie knows that well, we’ll soon be equal. He’ll have his time in the Atlantic, but this is mine. Each of us has their turn.”

The anticyclonic ridge that separates the three leaders from the rest of the fleet is clearly visible on the weather map. This large blue area still acts as an “impassable barrier”, as described by Jérémie Beyou (Charal, 6th). But Beyou and his immediate cohorts will have to cling on their last vestiges of patience as the anticyclone will move back North and finally allow the freshly re-established big group of nine skippers to all continue at speed.

Boris Herrmann (Malizia-Seaexplorer, 10th), Justine Mettraux (TeamWork-Team Snef, 11th), Clarisse Crémer (L’Occitane en Provence, 12th) and Samantha Davies (Initiatives Cœur, 13th) are riding this big depression eastwards. “I hope I’m wrong but the sea state is going to make the next 24 hours very complicated,” grimaced Clarisse this morning. “There are 40 to 45 knots of cross winds to negotiate. If I don’t manage to maintain good average speeds, I’m going to see this bus (the front) leave without me!”

News of Pip Hare’s (Medallia, 16th) dismasting last night is a raw reminder of what can happen and is on everyone’s minds. “I felt so sad, it brought tears to my eyes, it’s really hard,” confided Isabelle Joschke (MACSF, 18th). “Pip is a great girl, always smiling, always on the ball,” added Arnaud Boissière (La Mie Câline, 29th).

“My heart goes out to her!” Conrad Colman (MS Amlin, 27th) had the same misfortune in 2016 albeit off the coast of Portugal and he managed to finish: “Every mast down is like a knife in the heart. It brings back a lot of emotions for me. When it happens to you, you feel like your whole world is falling apart”. Many sailors have written to Pip to show their support.

The British sailor is still in shock. “I’m fine,” she said in a video, trying to find the words through the disappointment and pain. “I don’t know what happened. Medallia took off and when it landed, the mast fell in two pieces. I don’t think I can explain what I’m feeling right now”. 

But she pledged, “It is not the end. It never is the end. And I hope that by the time I get to the shore I will have a really good plan, how to get Medaliia sailing again, how to get back to Europe, and then get back on the race track in 2025.”

“I want to thank you all for your incredible support, for following our races. And to all the other competitors out there, stay safe, I am really, really going to miss the other half of the world with you guys….”

Hare worked hard to set up a makeshift jury rig that allowed her to make progress at around 4 knots throughout the day. She is 700 miles from the Australian coast, which she should reach in about ten days.

On his fourth round the world race Kiwi Colman himself is finding the Indian Ocean harder than ever and today was pleased to have an interlude of lighter airs,

“I have 15 knots today and it is the first time I have seen less than 25kts for a week or so. And so it feels amazing to have shaken out the reefs and have the ability to go round the deck and feel safer. And so I am enjoying a small moment of respite.” Said Colman, “It’s been bloody horrible, I will be happy to have the Indian Ocean behind me. I have been a little bit taken aback by the frequency of the systems we have been confronted by. This is my fourth race around the world and my memory is not of having been whipped with quite such frequency as we have this time. I like it when the systems move a little bit slower and the ridges between the lows are a little bit more established. Here it is like being locked into a roller coaster and going round and round at full speed all the time. I don’t know that the Pacific will be better, in my experience typically it is. I can’t wait to be in the Pacific.” 

Colman added, “The challenge of the Vendée Globe is to deal with each daily challenge as it comes, sometimes ‘Christmas comes early’ and I have two challenges on one day. And so it is a bit difficult to know which technical problem to deal with first, I have a few pots on the boil at the moment. But I am happy to have arrived at the end of my J3 repair and now with this calmer wind I am going to attack my lazy bag repair because sailing through the Southern Ocean without a lazybag is no fun.” 

As the sixth week of racing begins, fatigue is piling up and so are the worries. Benjamin Ferré (Monnoyeur – DUO for a JOB, 23rd) was woken from a nap because of a “huge bang”. “There was oil everywhere in the boat, the keel ram attachment literally exploded”. For a while, the skipper thought about giving up, heading for Australia. “I really thought my Vendée Globe was over”. He had to work hard for 12 hours helped by his technical team on land and Jean Le Cam who called him regularly. But he is back on track.

Antoine Cornic (HUMAN Immobilier, 33rd) also set off again. He had taken shelter in Saint-Paul, an uninhabited island that is part of the TAAF (French Southern and Antarctic Lands). Race rookie Cornic  climbed the mast to repair his mainsail track. After five hours of hard work, he was able to set off again at the end of the morning. Denis Van Weynbergh (D’Ieteren Group, 37th), managed to climb up to change his wind vane. “It wasn’t easy and above all, it still doesn’t work, it might be a wiring problem”.