Vendée Globe: Positions Tighten at the Front

(November 25, 2016; Day 20, 10:49 UTC) – Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) has lost ground in his Vendée Globe lead throughout the night over Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire VIII) while he maintained his distance from Sébastien Josse (Edmond de Rothschild). That is down to a flat low behind the the Brazilian low, which propelled the group forward for four days. The leader had to luff to make sure he was well away from the Antarctic Exclusion Zone at 43°S at the longitude of Cape Agulhas, while the second boat gybed to get closer and placed himself downwind of the leader.

What stands out in this first part of the Vendée Globe is the almost perfect trajectory from Thomson in spite of moving away from the others off Cape Finisterre, which he can now put behind him. There was his passage through the Cape Verde Islands, his crossing of the Doldrums at 27°W, a pure parabola from the Equator to the Cape of Good Hope. The result of that is that Alex Thomson was the first to reach the Cape, which on the Great Circle Route is 6980 miles away from Les Sables, in less than eighteen days, while in fact out on the water he actually sailed 7678 miles.

A difference of just 698 miles, which helps explain the gain of more than five days as they enter the Indian Ocean, which is also linked to the performance of the black foiler and the very favourable weather, cutting the number of manoeuvres required (no changes of tack and four gybes) in eighteen days. Of course, the British skipper did have to change sails, like all the other sailors, and adapt his route to the sea state, but this lack of manoeuvres also means he has been able to avoid wearing himself out. That has not been the case for many other skippers.

The leading trio is going to be able to get some more rest this weekend or at least eliminate some of the stress in much quieter weather conditions – a 15-knot Westerly wind on slightly choppy seas, but which are much more comfortable 350 miles south of South Africa and the warm Agulhas current, which comes down from Mozambique and meets the cold current from the Atlantic. On these decent seas, the three boats should be sailing in light, variable winds for more than 24 hours, before the Argentinean low sends them off at higher speeds towards the Kerguelens.

The solution is arriving from the West. The gang of three is already sailing ahead of a cold front at good speed, while Yann Éliès (Quéguiner-Leucémie Espoir) is waiting patiently in a 12-15 knot NW’ly and Jérémie Beyou (Maître CoQ) and Paul Meilhat (SMA) are wallowing in a light, variable air stream requiring to carry out manoeuvres until sunset, when the low should lead to stronger northerlies arriving. So it is the group in the middle that is achieving the most this Friday, as Jean-Pierre Dick (StMichel-Virbac), Jean Le Cam (Finistère Mer Vent) et Thomas Ruyant (Le Souffle du Nord pour le projet Imagine) are speeding along ahead of the Argentinean low in a 25-30 knot NW’ly wind.

Like those ahead of them, they must avoid getting caught by the front, as this would mean light winds and then a westerly… That is already the case for Kito de Pavant (Bastide Otio), who is continuing to head down towards the Roaring Forties, in a 20-knot westerly, which will gradually back SW’ly and strengthen. All the aforementioned will be pleased to see that this low down at 40°S will be followed by another and a third all making their way across the South Atlantic, but also all the way across the Indian. This should give them a helping hand to the Kerguelens and Cape Leeuwin…

On the other hand, the pack still led by Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée) closely followed by Stéphane Le Diraison (Compagnie du Lit-Boulogne Billancourt), the Japanese sailor Kojiro Shiraishi (Spirit of Yukoh) and Fabrice Amedeo (Newrest-Matmut) all have a light NW’ly air stream blowing at around twelve knots, but it is not going to last. The Argentinean low is way ahead of them and they will be facing a new high and areas of calm will develop early next week…

After the Tropic of Capricorn, the wind will swing around to the South and even the SE, meaning they will have the hard task of tacking upwind with the high developing out of Rio de Janeiro stretching out across the whole of the South Atlantic. They are going to have to cross this to get to 35°S. Many of them risk being stuck for hours and not only will the gap to the front become huge, but the pack is set to explode into several groups. Maybe an opportunity for Swiss sailor Alan Roura (La Fabrique) to get around this risky area via the West, even if getting down to Cape Frio is not straight forward either. The solution to their problems will once again come from the West with a new Brazilian low taking over on Monday evening. Long term forecasts suggest that the South Atlantic and the Southern Indian Ocean are going to be very lively throughout the week next week…

Les Sables d’Olonne to the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope
1-Alex Thomson: 17d 22h 58’
2-Armel le Cléac’h: 18d 03h 30’ – 04h 32’ after the leader
3-Sébastien Josse: 18d 12h 42’ – 13h 44’ after the leader

Ranking (Top 5 of 29 as of 11:00 UTC)
1. Hugo Boss, Alex Thomson (GBR), 17225.5 nm to finish
2. Banque Populaire VIII, Armel Le Cléac’h (FRA), 35.5 to leader
3. Edmond de Rothschild, Sébastien Josse (FRA), 260.4 nm
4. SMA, Paul Meilhat (FRA), 895.2 nm
5. Maître CoQ, Jérémie Beyou (FRA), 949.1 nm

Race details – Tracker – Ranking – Facebook – VendeeGlobe TV

Background:
The eighth Vendée Globe, which began November 6 from Les Sables d’Olonn, France, is the only non-stop solo round the world race without assistance. Twenty-nine skippers representing four continents and ten nations set sail on IMOCA 60s in pursuit of the record time set by François Gabart in the 2012-13 race of 78 days, 2 hours and 16 minutes.

For the first time in the history of the event, seven skippers will set sail on IMOCA 60s fitted with foils: six new boats (Banque Populaire VIII, Edmond de Rothschild, Hugo Boss, No Way Back, Safran, and StMichel-Virbac) and one older generation boat (Maitre Coq). The foils allow the boat to reduce displacement for speed gains in certain conditions. It will be a test to see if the gains can topple the traditional daggerboard configuration during the long and demanding race.

Retirements:
November 19, Day 14 – Bertrand de Broc, MACSF, UFO collision
November 22, Day 17 – Vincent Riou, PRB, UFO collision
November 24, Day 19 – Morgan Lagravière, Safran, UFO collision

Source: Vendee Globe