Vendée Globe: Sitting in the Slingshot

(February 4, 2017; Day 91, 07:37 FR) – Vendée Globe skipper Nandor Fa is getting a perfect slingshot towards Les Sables d’Olonne on a fast moving low pressure system. This Saturday morning he has a 1300 miles layline for the finish line and is making a steady 15kts on Spirit of Hungary. Fa has 25-30kts of wind and his ETA on the finish line of his second Vendée Globe is still Tuesday afternoon.

Fa is the first non French skipper ever to finish the Vendée Globe. He completed the 1992 race in fifth place behind Alain Gautier, Jean Luc Van Den Heede, Philippe Poupon and Yves Parlier, rounding in 128d 16h. This time he will me more than one month quicker, on course to arrive in 93 days.

Eric Bellion (CommeUnSeulHomme) is wriggling northwards slowly trying to get around the west side of the Azores high and seems to have escaped the lightest winds, making 11.4kts.

Three hundred and 40 miles behind Bellion Conrad Colman (Foresight Natural Energy) is still in a good tradewind, NE’ly 16-18kts and is making 11kts with just over 1000 miles to the Azores.

La Mie Caline and Newrest Matmut, Arnaud Boissières and Fabrice Amedeo, are in lighter E’ly winds, chasing Amedeo is 85 miles behind and very slightly quicker this morning.

Alan Roura (La Fabrique) is still feeling the Doldrums effect making just 7kts this morning but is easing north into a more settled breeze.

Rich Wilson has just over one day to get to the Equator on Great American IV and is making easy, steady miles northwards doing 12kts this morning.

OnePlanet OneOcean is 22 miles ahead of Famille Mary-Etamine du Lys today, Didac Costa continuing to hold a very small speed advantage over Romain Attanasio.

in 17th place Pieter Heerema (No Way Back) is starting to feel a stronger, more regular E’ly breeze and is making 11kts boat speed.

And Sébstien Destremau is still downspeed in the high pressure ridge 745 miles SE of Buenos Aires.

Current Ranking – Finished
1. Banque Populaire VIII, Armel Le Cléac’h (FRA), Finished, 74d 03h 35m 46s (1/19/17)
2. Hugo Boss, Alex Thomson (GBR), Finished, 74d 19h 35m 15s (1/20/17)
3. Maître CoQ, Jérémie Beyou (FRA), Finished, 78d 06h 38m 40s (1/23/17)
4. StMichel-Virbac, Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA), Finished, 80d 01h 45m 45s (1/25/17)
5. Queguiner – Leucemie Espoir, Yann Elies, (FRA), Finished, 80d 03h 11m 09s (1/25/17)
6. Finistère Mer Vent, Jean Le Cam (FRA), Finished, 80d 06h 41m 54s (1/25/17)
7. Bureau Vallée, Louis Burton (FRA), Finished, 87d 21h 45m 49s (2/2/17)

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 (11):
November 12, Day 7 – Tanguy de Lamotte, Initiatives Coeur, masthead crane failure
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
December 4, Day 29 – Kojiro Shiraishi, Spirit of Yukoh, dismasted
December 6, Day 31 – Kito de Pavant, Bastide Otio, UFO collision
December 7, Day 32 – Sébastien Josse, Edmond de Rothschild, foil damage
December 18, Day 43 – Thomas Ruyant, Le Souffle du Nord, UFO collision
December 24, Day 49 – Stéphane Le Diraison, Compagnie du Lit – Boulogne Billancourt, dismasted
December 24, Day 49 – Paul Meilhat, SMA, keel ram failure
January 1, Day 57 – Enda O’Coineen, Kilcullen Voyager-Team Ireland, dismasted

Source: Vendee Globe