The two leaders of the Vendée Globe, Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) and Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA), may finally have extricated themselves from cold front off Cabo Frio by Rio.
Both Dalin and Richomme still have some light winds to break through before reaching the southeasterly tradewinds which will allow them to accelerate more directly north towards the equator and home. Richomme is 48nm behind leader Dalin.
Clarisse Crémer (L’Occitane en Provence) completed her second solo passage of Cape Horn at 14:19hrs Wednesday afternoon in 12th position, the same position as she rounded in January 2021. She was closely followed 1hr and 19 minutes later by Benjamin Dutreux (Guyot Environnment).
Briton Sam Davies (Initiatives Coeur) was due shortly after. Speaking to Tracy Edwards on the Vendée LIVE! English show, she recalled her mood when she rounded in 2021 out of the race . . .
“For me it is such a massive achievement to get here in a very different mood to last time I was here. I am so thoroughly enjoying this race. It is great to be able to turn the page and go past Cape Horn again, I am not quite ranking where I hoped to have been and that is a bit frustrating but the race is still long and I am going for it.”
While the first skippers of this 10th Vendée Globe are heading back up the Atlantic, the group led by 20th placed Benjamin Ferré (Monnoyeur DUO for a JOB) are sailing close to the Antarctic Exclusion Zone (ZEA) as they approach the latitude of Point Nemo.
Two iceberg have been detected which are most relevant to this group, 20th placed to 29th. Which are beyond the limits of the ZEA.
Once the first yachts have passed, the Exclusion Zone cannot be modified. Instead the race regularly issues “ice reports” with satellite images from Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS). In particular to monitor the icebergs that identified under the ZEA when it was defined. If necessary, they communicate the information to the sailors, individually.
Some ice floes appear in the new images, close to the ZEA. In a few days, they moved towards the North, and are now above the zone.
Wednesday we have two confirmed detections, which were seen on the images three days in a row, 24 hours apart. We therefore warned the skippers concerned, one by one, by transmitting all the information to them.
Vendee Globe Leaders at 22:00 hrs GMT Wednesday 1 January 2025
1st FRA Charlie Dalin MACIF Santé Prévoyance – 4379 nm to Finish
2nd FRA Yoann Richomme PAPREC ARKÉA – 36 nm to leader
3rd FRA Sébastien Simon GROUPE Dubreuil – 406 nm to leader
4th FRA Thomas Ruyant VULNERABLE– 1403 nm to leader
5th FRA Paul Meilhat Biotherm
6th FRA Nicolas Lunven HOLCIM – PRB
7th FRA Jérémie Beyou CHARAL
8th GBR Sam Goodchild VULNERABLE – 1741 nm to leader
9th GER Boris Herrmann MALIZIA – SEAEXPLORER
10th SUI Justine Mettraux TEAMWORK-Team Snef
11th FRA Benjamin Dutreux GUYOT ENVIRONNEMENT – WATER FAMILY
12th FRA Clarisse Crémer L’OCCITANE en Provence
13th GBR Samantha Davies Initiatives-Cœur – 2666 nm to leader
14th FRA Romain Attanasio FORTINET – BEST WESTERN
15th FRA Damien Seguin GROUPE APICIL
16th FRA Jean Le Cam TOUT COMMENCE EN FINISTERE – ARMOR-LUX
17th SUI Alan Roura HUBLOT
18th FRA/GER Isabelle Joschke MACSF
19th ITA Giancarlo Pedote – PRYMIAN
20th FRA Benjamin Ferre – Monnoyeur
