Vendée Globe Race Monday Update: Leading duo seem blessed at Christmas

by Vendée Globe media 23 Dec 2024 19:04 GMT 21 December 2024

Thomas Ruyant on VULNERABLE in the 2024 Vendée Globe © Thomas Ruyant

Seemingly glued together, only a few miles apart, Vendée Globe leaders Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) and Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA) are set to round Cape Horn this Monday evening around 2200hrs UTC, but even with only hours to go it is still unclear which of the two friends and rivals will be first.

On the 2020-21 race Dalin led at the first two of the Great Capes but was crossed second behind Yannick Bestaven. This race Dalin has again led at Good Hope and Leeuwin but more than ever wants to complete the set. Between the duo who, Dalin recalled today, first sailed against each other in 2005 and who raced and trained together as part of the Skipper MACIF talent identification and training programme, bragging rights are still important

"Yoann? We have sailed the Pacific together and he is my number one rival and I think we will see a lot of each other sailing up the Atlantic. He is a friend and I really appreciate him as a rival. We sailed together for the first time in 2005....so nearly 20 years ago. And we worked at Skipper MACIF together for two years together and he is a fierce competitor. So I am both happy to be ahead against him but not happy because he is a tough competitor. It is going to be a tough one up the Atlantic.

Definitely I want to be ahead at Cape Horn. I managed to grab Good Hope and Leeuwin this time and want Cape Horn." Dalin said today on the Vendée Globe LIVE! English show.

Closer still?

Indeed their match seems highly likely to continue up the Atlantic. Their rivalry is reminiscent of the duel between François Gabart and Armel Le Cléac'h on the 2012 race when the young rookie Gabart led by just 80 minutes at the Horn en route to becoming the youngest ever winner of the Vendée Globe at 27 years old.

"Who will have the advantage? I don't know." Dalin opined in the French show, "In terms of longitude, I'm a little ahead of Yoann. But there will have to be a lot of lifts for him to be able to pass the point without gybing. He should hit the new wind first. So we'll see," the skipper of MACIF Santé Prévoyance reported cautiously.

"We're going to have more than 30 knots and gusts of 35. In absolute terms, it's not huge compared to what we can have in this place. The good news is that we will pass quite close to the cape, and during the day if we keep up with the routing" said Dalin who is preparing to round the southernmost point of South America for the second time in his career and hopes to make up for the frustration of four years ago when he passed at night without being able to see it.

"It's a big stage still to come. I'm happy to be back in the Atlantic. I think I actually like the Atlantic!" chuckled Dalin who was clearly counting his blessings after a super rapid, straightforward crossing of the Great South. "I was probably the luckiest of the entire fleet because I didn't have a single storm, even though I felt the breath of a very, very big one on my neck in the Indian Ocean," he recalled, impatient to be climbing out of the polar temperatures. "To stave off the cold, I have layers and layers of clothing. I can't wait to be able to take them off layer by layer."

Focus on forwards

For the group behind, like sixth placed Jérémie Beyou, it is hard to look forwards without also looking in the rear view mirror,

"With the wind really always coming in from behind you have to keep pushing as hard as you can. You have to play with the clouds and try to gybe at the right times. Nico (Lunven), Thomas (Ruyant) and I we are jammed in the same weather mess. We have no choice but to push and push as hard as we can to do all we can not to be caught up by those behind who can go straight unlike us," commented sixth placed Beyou who will pass Cape Horn next Friday. "Since the first Indian depression where the first three managed to get away and put 1000 miles on us I've been praying that there will be an opportunity to come back. There wasn't one in the Pacific. So now I'm praying that this will be the case in the Atlantic. I'm almost afraid to look too hard at what awaits us there because I'm afraid of being disappointed," added the skipper of Charal.

The situation still has a lot of time to evolve - and even change radically - but meteo aces observe that it could be that the Dalin - Richomme duo will benefit from a near-perfect weather pattern for their climb back to Les Sables d'Olonne. According to the latest models they might be back in the Vendée in just 21 or 22 days. On this record breaking edition the best is yet to come!"

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