Vendée Globe: Indian Ocean Gybing Dual

(December 2, 2016; Day 27) – The leaders in the 8th Vendée Globe are gybing along the edge of the Antarctic Exclusion Zone. Although they have only sailed 330 miles in 24h at an average speed of 13.9 knots for Alex Thomson and 13.4 knots for Armel Le Cléac’h, this has been one of the rare days when their foilers have not clocked up amazing distances. The skipper of Hugo Boss has already sailed 10,700 miles since leaving Les Sables at an average speed of 17.3 knots.

Further back, Sébastien Josse (Edmond de Rothschild) is continuing to narrow the gap recovering 140 miles in 24 hours and was the second fastest in the fleet after StMichel-Virbac.

The contest is still raging between Paul Meilhat (SMA) and Jérémie Beyou (Maître CoQ) who are finishing a hard day of work upwind. In these conditions, Paul on his foiler has been speeding along and is now 8 miles ahead of Beyou.

Jean-Pierre Dick, the fastest in the fleet averaged 22.5 knots in 4 hours and has left Le Cam and Ruyant 239 miles behind. Thomas Ruyant on Le Souffle du Nord pour Le Projet Imagine has slowed following damage to his mainsail battens. Yesterday he was 23 miles behind Le Cam and today 100…

Finally in the pack, Louis Burton is sailing more than 100 miles ahead of the Japanese sailor, Kojiro Shiraishi (Spirit of Yukoh). The battle is raging between Kojiro and Conrad Colman (Foresight Natural Energy), with just six miles between them. Finally, Arnaud Boissières (La Mie Câline) is catching up in the windy conditions in the South Atlantic winning back twenty miles a day to find himself in 14th place this evening 20 miles behind the New Zealander.

Didac Costa (One Planet One Ocean) and Sébastien Destremau (TechnoFirst-faceOcean) are suffering in the ridge of high pressure with depressing speeds: 5.4 knots over the past 24 hours for Sébastien and 7.2 knots for Didac.

Ranking (Top 5 of 29 as of 18:00 UTC)
1. Hugo Boss, Alex Thomson (GBR), 14430 nm to finish
2. Banque Populaire VIII, Armel Le Cléac’h (FRA), 18.48 nm to leader
3. Edmond de Rothschild, Sébastien Josse (FRA), 528.61 nm
4. SMA, Paul Meilhat (FRA), 1157.46 nm
5. Maître CoQ, Jérémie Beyou (FRA), 1165.83 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