Vendée Globe Race Sunday Update: A pacy Pacific on the cards
by Vendée Globe media 15 Dec 2024 17:14 GMT
15 December 2024
Sébastien Simon on Groupe Dubreuil during the Vendée Globe 2024 © Sébastien Simon
Progressively breaking out of the high pressure ridge speeds are building for the back part of the group which is chasing the three Vendée Globe leaders, Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance), Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA) and Seb Simon (Groupe Dubreuil).
After spending between 36 and 48 hours slowed, now is the opportunity for the pack to put their foot down and take advantage in the Pacific. This should be a good week for the pack spanning Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE, 4th) back westwards to Samantha Davies (Initiatives Coeur, 13th).
Davies, Justine Mettraux (TeamWork-Team Snef) and Boris Herrmann (Malizia Seaexplorer) are all making more than 21 knots at the front of the new low pressure, meantime Ruyant must wait for it to arrive to him and was still doing only 12 knots this afternoon.
At the other end of the 38 boat fleet, still not in the Indian Ocean, Hungarian skipper Szabolcs Weöres (New Europe, 38th) - a professional rigger by trade - must deal with the breakage of his port D2 upper shroud. Damien Seguin (Groupe APICIL, 17th) is finally enjoying slightly more clement conditions, Antoine Cornic (HUMAN Immobilier, 33rd) is heading towards Saint-Paul to take shelter and repair his mainsail track, Denis Van Weynbergh (D'Ieteren Group, 37th) reported a weather vane problem and Sébastien Marsset (FOUSSIER, 24th) celebrated his 40th birthday, appropriately in the Roaring 40s - at 41 degrees South in the Indian Ocean.
Charging Richomme (PAPREC ARKEA, 2nd) is continuing to close in on leader Dalin. This afternoon they are back to within 80 miles of each other. Of the reappearance in his rear view mirror of Richomme, who in 2014 and 2015 was a training partner when both were part of the Skipper MACIF Figaro programme, Dalin remains typically sanguine, "We will probably meet again at some point. I was expecting a round-the-world fight with him and so that is what we are gong to start again!"
He explains, "Yoann has overtaken Seb and he has already taken advantage of the compressing weather in the last few days, they caught the front before me and because I had to do a SE/NW course, they gained quite a lot and looking at the situation it should carry on a bit like this right now as he has a bit more left in his wind so he should be able to do a lower course, a lower angle.
If he is keeping a weather eye on Richomme, Dalin assured us this morning that he had not "routed" (made computer projections on their possible optimum routes according to their weather.... editor's note) the chasing group. Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE, 4th), Jérémie Beyou (Charal, 5th) and Nicolas Lunven (Holcim-PRB, 6th) are still with this ridge of pressure. After this major regrouping they will slip south under the anticyclone and then lengthen their stride until they get a depression expected at the end of next week. "They could have a very quick crossing of the Pacific," is the opinion of the race's weather consultant Christian Dumard.
In fifth Jérémie Beyou (Charal) deciphers the situation: "The small anticyclonic center that was created acted as an insurmountable barrier. I tried to go back up north, like Thomas Ruyant but I was a little too fast, I fell into it. Of course it's infuriating but you have to be a bit philosophical, make do with what you have. Here, I tried to gybe to be well positioned and progress in the South-East. But now, as expected if we keep average windspeeds around 25 knots we really can go quite quickly!"
Trouble for 'Szabi', respite finally for Seguin
More than 6,800 miles away, in the South Atlantic, Szabolcs Weores (New Europe, 38th) needs to dig even deeper into his mental resources. The 38th placed Hungarian informed race management that his port shroud (D2, an intermediate cable which supports the middle mast) was broken. He is sailing along the edge of a depression generating gusts of up to 40 knots at 450 miles from Cape Town. His team are reassuring- "Szabolcs is not injured and the boat is not damaged he is working to keep his rigging safe".
In 17th Damien Seguin (Groupe APICIL) has a little respite. He has had days in big seas and winds over thirty knots of wind, but conditions are more bearable. Contacted by the race management, Seguin was reassuring about his physical concerns (neck and knee injuries) and is thinking about a more permanent repair for his damage, the anchor point of a deck spreader chainplate tore off and caused a hole in the hull.
Japanese skipper Kojiro Shiraishi (DMG MORI Global One, 32nd) has also been sailing for several days "with 40 knots of wind and a cross sea of 5 to 7 metres". He is pleased to have "only minor problems, nothing which would have consequences" on the boat. But he has been complaining for several days of very painful mouth ulcers. Denis Van Weynbergh (D'Ieteren Group, 37th) has a problem with his wind vane which sees him at reduced speed. Antoine Cornic (HUMAN Immobilier, 33rd) needs to find a quiet spot to climb the mast to resolve his mainsail track problem. He is making towards Saint-Paul Island even if it will be difficult find decent shelter there, there still being a 4.50 meter swell.
"I have prepared all the equipment, my tools and I believe in it, I know it will work," he said in a video.
"I'm simply where I love to be"
Sébastien Marsset (FOUSSIER, 24th) had time to share a more joyful event: his 40th birthday, at sea, at the heart of the adventure of his lifetime. His eyes are red, the emotion is palpable and his words are delivered with feeling, "It's incredible to celebrate your birthday here. Normally, you celebrate it with your family, your loved ones, especially when you're entering your forties. But I'm all alone on my boat, I've been working for four years to be here. In fact, it's a bit like my midlife crisis! I've never been a fan of birthdays but this one is the best! I'm simply where I'd like to be".
Sébastien was entitled to a few gifts, chocolates, a fun wig - to make fun of his current haircut - and many attentions. A reminder that moments of acute happiness are all part of this race!
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