Golding ("Ecover") is still hoping for victory
On the 81st day at sea, the French Vincent Riou leads the Vendée Globe fleet with his "PRB", 134 nautical miles ahead of his compatriot Jean Le Cam ("Bonduelle"). British rider Mike Golding ("Ecover") followed in third place, another 82 miles behind.
Despite being behind, the former firefighter is still optimistic about the future. "There are still some areas with less wind ahead of us, maybe Vincent will even park completely," he said in a conversation with the race management. In addition, according to Golding, the last 800 nautical miles of the race would be sailed high upwind, which is what he and his "Ecover" could do.
While Golding exercises patience and waiting for better winds, Jean Le Cam tries for better or for worse to find the shortest path to a high to get serious wind conditions - always with the risk of shortening ultimately in the zero wind -Areal to get stuck. Riou himself meanwhile concentrates on his tasks. He doesn't look back, just tries to get his "PRB" home as soon as possible. Would that be a success if he could stand against the newbuildings of Le Cam and Golding with the winning boat of the last Vendée (then sailed by Michel Desjoyeaux).
Meanwhile, the Australian Nick Moloney reached the MarindGlori in Rio de Janeiro yesterday evening at 9.30 p.m. Two days ago he was towed by a patrol boat of the Brazilian Navy after his keel had been lost. The British Conrad Humphreys experienced a moment of shock yesterday when he discovered that one of his keel cylinders had failed due to a massive loss of oil. Thank goodness the two cylinders that push or pull the tilting keel to the sides work independently of each other, so that the ballast bomb still has a secure hold and can also be swiveled to the side. In the first moment, before he forced himself to calmly observe the situation, Humphreys had already picked up his emergency kit and prepared himself for the worst.
As the first woman in this year's Vendée, Anne Liardet rounded Cape Horn with her "Roxy" last night. Thus, according to Liardet, both she and her ship would now have circumnavigated Cape Horn in both directions. With "Roxy", Philippe Monnet had sailed his previous record, one-handed and non-stop against the prevailing winds and currents in 151 days.
Ranking on Thursday morning at 5 a.m.:
1. PRB, Vincent Riou, 33 ° 19'44 N, 30 ° 10'12 W, nautical miles to the destination: 1,483.7 2. Bonduelle, Jean Le Cam, nautical miles behind leader (ShF): 134.53. Ecover, Mike Golding, ShF: 216.04. Temenos, Dominique Wavre, ShF: 1,068.65. VMI, Sébastien Josse, ShF: 1,087.76. Virbac-Paprec, Jean-Pierre Dick, ShF: 2,546.17. Arcelor Dunkerque, Joé Seeten, ShF: 3,364.08. Hellomoto, Conrad Humphreys, ShF: 3,554.59. Ocean Planet, Bruce Schwab, ShF: 3,956.710. Max Havelaar / Best Western, Benoît Parnaudeau, ShF: 4,284.111. Roxy, Anne Liardet, ShF: 5,449.612. AkenVérandas, Raphaël Dinelli, ShF: 5,842.913. Benefic, Karen Leibovici, ShF: 6,292.4abd: Skandia, Nick Moloneyabd: Pro-Form, Marc Thiercelinabd: Sill & Veolia, Roland Jourdainabd: Hugo Boss, Alex Thomsonabd: VM Matériaux, Patrice Carpentierabd: UUDS, Hervé Laurentabd: brother, Norbert Sedlacek