Strong grip for Dalin in Vendée Globe

(November 28, 2020; Day 21) – With a comeback for Alex Thomson officially squashed with his retirement from the Vendée Globe due to rudder damage, it is now up to Charlie Dalin on his 2019 Verdier-design Apiva to lead the fleet into the Indian Ocean.

Despite holding a nearly 300 nm lead over Thomas Ruyant’s foil damaged LinkedOut, Dalin remains challenged in sorting through a difficult forecast.

“I’m spending a lot of time at the chart table to adjust my route as best because over the next few days we’re going to have quite a bit of wind: we need to find the best course,” said Dalin. “The sea was quite rough last night but now it’s starting to calm down a bit, albeit only slightly. I’m currently sailing in 22-23 knots of NW’ly…

“The sky is uniformly grey, but the nights are short, which compensates nicely. The Antarctic Exclusion Zone has been moved a bit further north by the Race Direction, which takes away some tactical possibilities in the strong wind that is coming. I’m going to continue northwards, but I’ll come back down after the passage of the front. The wind direction is slightly dictating the trajectory. I guess it will take about a month to get around Antarctica.

“I don’t have the feeling of holding back and am doing a normal pace all whilst not taking any unnecessary risks. We’re all going to find ourselves on the same weather train because and so I will not really make any gains on the chasing pack, who will be able to head due west when I’m still making progress North-West. We should then see a bit a bit of compression in the fleet ahead.

“My lead is likely to diminish over the next few hours… After that there will be strong winds and so it will be our first storm after the Cape of Good Hope! There’s quite a lot of current with the Agulhas: you have to be careful in these places.

“I should cross the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope on Monday (Nov. 30) during the day. But right now, I’m really happy to finally be sailing in these southern seas, especially with the beautiful moon shining. Last night was magical with lots of birds circling around the boat. Having spent the last two weeks wearing shorts, the climate change is quite brutal, despite the gradual change.”

Ranking – 17:00 (GMT)
1. Charlie DALIN, APIVIA – 18349.3 nm DTF
2. Thomas RUYANT, LinkedOut – 291.25 nm DTL*
3. Jean LE CAM, Yes We Cam! – 374.27 nm DTL
4. Kevin ESCOFFIER, PRB – 388.38 nm DTL
5. Yannick BESTAVEN, Maître CoQ IV – 399.13 nm DTL
DTF – Distance to Finish; DTF – Distance to Lead
* Ruyant damaged port foil on Nov. 24 at 02:00.

Race details – Boat types – Tracker – Ranking – YouTube

The Vendée Globe is the only sailing race round the world that’s solo, non-stop, and without assistance, and it was all systems go for the 9th edition on November 8. Beginning in 1989 with 13 entries, the start line in 2020 had 33 skippers taking off from Les Sables d’Olonne, France.

The development of the IMOCA Class toward foiling will see these boats hurl themselves around the world, teetering on carbon skates through inhospitable regions, chasing the record set in 2016-17 by Armel le Cléac’h of 74:03:35:46.

2020-21 Attrition
Nov. 16, 2020 – Nicolas TROUSSEL, CORUM L’EPARGNE – dismasted
Nov. 28, 2020 – Alex THOMSON, HUGO BOSS – damaged rudder

Participation history:
1989-90: 13 boats at the start
1992-93: 15 boats
1996-97: 15 boats
2000-01: 24 boats
2004-05: 20 boats
2008-2009: 30 boats
2012-2013: 20 boats
2016-2017: 29 boats
2020-2021: 33 boats

2020-21 Entries
Fabrice AMEDEO: NEWREST – ART & FENÊTRES
Romain ATTANASIO: PURE – BEST WESTERN
Alexia BARRIER: TSE – 4MYPLANET
Yannick BESTAVEN: MAÎTRE COQ IV
Jérémie BEYOU: CHARAL
Arnaud BOISSIÈRES: LA MIE CÂLINE – ARTISANS ARTIPÔLE
Louis BURTON: BUREAU VALLÉE 2
Didac COSTA: ONE PLANET ONE OCEAN
Manuel COUSIN: GROUPE SÉTIN
Clarisse CREMER: BANQUE POPULAIRE X
Charlie DALIN: APIVIA
Samantha DAVIES: INITIATIVES-CŒUR
Sébastien DESTREMAU: MERCI
Benjamin DUTREUX: OMIA – WATER FAMILY
Kevin ESCOFFIER: PRB
Clément GIRAUD: COMPAGNIE DU LIT / JILITI
Pip HARE: MEDALLIA
Boris HERRMANN: SEA EXPLORER – YACHT CLUB DE MONACO
Ari HUUSELA: STARK
Isabelle JOSCHKE: MACSF
Jean LE CAM: YES WE CAM !
Stéphane LE DIRAISON: TIME FOR OCEANS
Miranda MERRON: CAMPAGNE DE FRANCE
Giancarlo PEDOTE: PRYSMIAN GROUP
Alan ROURA: LA FABRIQUE
Thomas RUYANT: LINKEDOUT
Damien SEGUIN: GROUPE APICIL
Kojiro SHIRAISHI: DMG MORI
Sébastien SIMON: ARKEA – PAPREC
Maxime SOREL: V AND B – MAYENNE
Alex THOMSON: HUGO BOSS
Armel TRIPON: L’OCCITANE EN PROVENCE
Nicolas TROUSSEL: CORUM L’ÉPARGNE

Source: Vendée Globe