With wind from south-south-west, Jean Le Cam rushes towards Cape Horn as leader of the 25,000 nautical mile regatt Vendée Globe with his "Bonduelle".
Only 2000 nautical miles separate the leader of the Vendée fleet, Jean Le Cam and his Open 60 "Bonduelle", from the third of the great capes, Cape Horn. The Frenchman is currently sailing east at 55 ° 15'04 south, 128 ° 05'56 west at around 16 knots. He continues to defend a lead of around 160 nautical miles on his worst adversary to date, Vincent Riou ("PRB"). Another 60 nautical miles back, the Brit Mike Golding lurks with his "Ecover" for mistakes of the two leaders. With distances of over 380 miles, all three skippers are currently on their way very quickly.
On the other hand, sailing fans have tears in their eyes when they watch the course of the race at Sébastien Josse ("VMI"). After ramming a growler last Thursday, the Frenchman sails with a broken bowsprit and rudder problems and, previously in third position, is now falling further and further back. He is now 836 nautical miles behind Jean Le Cam. Apparently Josse has nothing to do with the outcome of the race. For him the motto can only be: (Heil) Arriving gives full points. What a shame!
Patrice Carpentier, who broke the big tree on his "VM Matériaux" a few days ago, has now found a quiet bay in the south of Tasmania, where he now wants to try to repair the damage. "It's really strange, the sea was still roaring, and now the boat is lying quietly on flat water," the oldest participant in the Vendée reported to the race management when he reached the bay. In any case, he wants to stay in the race.
As the sixth sailor, Jean-Pierre Dick has now crossed the date line. He reported icebergs from board his "Virbac-Paprec" sailing at 52 degrees south. For the French, these represent a particular problem because, due to a generator defect, they have little energy on board and can therefore only use their radar very sparingly. Conrad Humphreys with his "Hellomoto" continues on his way forward within the fleet. After losing repairs in a bay near Simonstown / South Africa for two days, he is now in 13th place (out of 16 sailors still in the race; 20 skippers started). From the current 12th, Benoit Parnaudeau, only 150 nautical miles separate him.
Incidentally, the Vendée skippers will be able to wave a greeting from board one after the other over the next few days and weeks. Namely whenever the British single-handed sailor Ellen MacArthur passes another Open 60 with her trimaran "B&Q", trying to circumnavigate the world as the fastest sailor ever. The Briton has already collected the last two in the Vendée field, Karen Leibovici and Raphael Dinelli.