On the afternoon of his 35th birthday British skipper Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) took the race lead again.
Moving at more than 24 knots he will have had little time for cake and candles but his gift to himself is a margin which looks set to open up more. He is already more than 40 nautical miles ahead of Seb Simon (Groupe Dubreuil) who was matching Goodchild’s speed some 50 miles to the east.
Having battled for the best part of three days to the escape Doldrum like conditions which have prevailed in place of the trade winds that would normally have been accelerating the Vendée Globe fleet south at speed, now it is time for the real thing.
The winds have been picking up since Tuesday morning and with it the speedos on the flying, foiling IMOCAs have climbed accordingly.
But from Wednesday at midday the leaders will hit the buffers again as they reach an active Doldrums zone which might take 24 hours to cross.
“We are picking up speed little by little. We are leaving this zone of light airs and no trade winds and now we are going to have wind all the way to the entrance of the Doldrums. Even if the last few days have been quite peaceful and really quite pleasant, it is nice to find some wind pressure again and to be going fast and in the right direction!”, enthused Clarisse Crémer.
After having spread out over more than 300 miles laterally the leading pack is starting to converge towards the same axis.
The Doldrums will be harsher for the leaders
‘The leaders should enter tomorrow in the middle of the day and come out 24 hours later. As things stand, we can expect the leaders to deal with more activity, that is to say squalls, rain and so on than their pursuers,’ said Basile Rochut, the race’s weather consultant.
Meanwhile Hungarian skipper Szabi Weöres is back on the race course after making a painstaking repair to a tear in his mainsail. Knowing that he still has most of the globe to race round he was taking no chances in his repair.
Vendee Globe Leaders at 18:00 hrs GMT Monday 19 November 2024
1st GBR Sam Goodchild VULNERABLE
2nd FRA Sébastien Simon Groupe Dubreuil
3rd FRA Thomas Ruyant VULNERABLE
4th FRA Charlie Dalin MACIF Santé Prévoyance
5th FRA Jean Le Cam TOUT COMMENCE EN FINISTERE – ARMOR-LUX
6th FRA Nicolas Lunven HOLCIM – PRB
7th FRA Yoann Richomme PAPREC ARKÉA
8th FRA Yannick Bestaven MAÎTRE COQ V
9th GBR/FRA Samantha Davies Initiatives-Cœur
10th FRA Jérémie Beyou CHARAL
11th FRA Clarisse Crémer L’OCCITANE en Provence
12th SUI Justine Mettraux Teamwork-Team Snef
13th FRA Paul Meilhat Biotherm
14th FRA Damien Seguin GROUPE APICIL
15th FRA Benjamin Dutreux GUYOT ENVIRONNEMENT – WATER FAMILY
16th GBR Pip Hare MEDALLIA
