Vendée Globe: Room at the mark

(January 4, 2021; Day 58) – It was a busy at Cape Horn as five Vendée Globe skippers made the turn today, with seven competitors now taking on the 7000 nm climb back to Les Sables d’Olonne where the winner could finish in the last week of January.

3. LinkedOut (Thomas Ruyant) at 00:40 UTC
4. Groupe APICIL (Damien Seguin) at 02:40 UTC
5. OMIA – Water Family (Benjamin Dutreux) at 14:52 UTC
6. Bureau Vallée 2 (Louis Burton) at 17:14 UTC
7. Yes We Cam! (Jean Le Cam) at 20:18 UTC

This evening and tonight the winds will build again to batter the lonely South American rock as a powerful northwesterly flow will strengthen, generating gusts of over 40 knots and heavy seas. The lighthouse keeper on Hornos Island will be kept busy.

The lighthouse looks over the deadly stretch of water where 10,000 sailors are believed to have died in the 16th to 18th centuries when more than 800 different ships were wrecked or lost on the Drake Passage. The lighthouse keeper lives there with his family and they are the only inhabitants of the island, the position offered and managed by the Chilean Navy.

Cape Horn was discovered in 1616 by Dutch explorers Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire after whom the passage between Staten Island and the mainland is named.

For the leaders, the passage north is a tricky conundrum as they look to break through or around a high pressure system which blocks the route north of the Falklands. Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq IV) leads Charlie Dalin (Apivia) on an eastern route while Thomas Ruyant is trying a more direct, westerly route.

Damage control
• Franco-German sailor Isabelle Joschke suffered the failure of the hydraulic ram yesteday which cants the the keel of her IMOCA MACSF. She was lying in eighth place when the ram failed and now will have to sail the remainder of the race with her keel fixed in the central position therefore lacking the righting moment and power that the canting system gives.

• Germany’s Boris Herrmann of Seaexplorer Yacht Club de Monaco has mainsail damage and is racing under headsails only but still making good speed towards the Horn in 35 to 40kt winds.

Ranking – 21:00 (GMT)*
1. Yannick BESTAVEN, Maître CoQ IV – 6362.05 nm DTF
2. Charlie DALIN, APIVIA – 218.45 nm DTL
3. Thomas RUYANT, LinkedOut – 333.4 nm DTL**
4. Damien SEGUIN, GROUPE APICIL – 436.04 DTL
5. Benjamin DUTREUX, OMIA – WATER FAMILY – 623.37 nm DTL
DTF – Distance to Finish; DTL – Distance to Lead

* Time awards given to Yannick Bestaven, Jean Le Cam, and Boris Herrmann for their participation in the rescue of Kevin Escoffier will be applied when the skippers finish. – Details
** 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, and held every four years, 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 – rudder damage
Nov. 30, 2020 – Kevin ESCOFFIER, PRB – hull damage (sunk)
Dec. 4, 2020 – Sébastien SIMON, ARKEA PAPREC – foil damage
Dec. 5, 2020 – Sam DAVIES, Initiatives-Cœur – keel damage (collision)
Dec. 11, 2020 – Fabrice AMEDEO, NEWREST – ART & FENÊTRES – computer failure

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