Please select your home edition
Edition
Switch One Design

Vendée Globe – Day 47 – 3,2,1 Le Cléac'h at the Horn Friday

by Vendée Globe on 22 Dec 2016
Day 47 – Armel Le Cléac'h – Vendée Globe Armel Le Cléac'h /Banque Populaire/ Vendée Globe
Armel Le Cléac'h is expected to lead the eighth edition of the Vendée Globe solo round the world race around its most feared but most universally welcomed landmark, Cape Horn, tomorrow around midday. The French skipper should pass the notorious southernmost tip of South America with the biggest lead since January 2001 when Michel Desjoyeaux led English skipper Ellen MacArthur by some 600 miles.

That over the ensuing seven days Desjoyeaux's lead over MacArthur in early 2001 was cut to some 140 miles in the sticky South Atlantic high pressure system, as that edition of the race effectively re-started there, will continue to give hope to second placed Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss. The only British skipper in this race struggled today with a very disorderly small low pressure cell which has slowed him still more while Le Cléac'h has remained relatively speedy. At 595 miles behind Banque Populaire VIII Thomson may find himself racing upwind, albeit on his favoured starboard tack tomorrow before finally making back some ground after Le Cléac'h passes the Horn.

Third in 2008-9, second in 2012-13, first in 2016-17?
For Le Cléach it will be the third time in successive editions of the Vendée Globe that he has rounded the Horn in the top three. In 2008-9 he was third behind Roland Jourdain and eventual winner Michel Desjoyeaux. And in the last edition he was just two and a half hours behind victor François Gabart. In the 2004-5 race Vincent Riou lead Jean Le Cam around Cape Horn by 15 hours and went on to win. Desjoyeaux led Roland Jourdain in early 2009 by nine hours and won the race ahead of Le Cléac'h after Jourdain's keel bulb dropped off south of the Azores.



After Alex Thomson established a new record for the stage from Les Sables d'Olonne to the Cape of Good Hope, on 24th November, some five days and one hour faster than the mark set in 2012 by Le Cléac'h, there looks set to be little in the way of significant net gain or loss on that advance since. A relatively fast Indian Ocean has been followed by a passive, complicated Pacific and so Le Cléac'h seems likely to pass in somewhere around 47 days. On this schedule Le Cleach should reduce the record of Francois Gabart by a matter of five days and some hours. At this same time on the first day of 2013, Gabart had slashed four days and nine hours off his mentor Michel Desjoyeaux's mark set in January 2009. Thomson will be buoyed by the expectation that the weather after Cape Horn does finally look a little more complicated for the race leader, who has enjoyed particularly smooth, assured transition periods, not least managing to multiply a margin of some 15 or so miles to the comfortable cushion he looks set to round Cape Horn by Armel Le Cléac'h.

SMA Solution
Paul Meilhat, who lay in third place, continues to plough a forlorn furrow northwards into lighter winds after his keel ram cracked. His team have found a solution, a replacement from Maître CoQ, the sistership which the SMA skipper spent 25 days racing alongside, and which raced as Le Cléach's Banque Populaire in 2012, duelling around the globe with MACIF which is the compromised SMA. Their plan seems to be to send a team to fit the replacement ram and SMA continue her course unclassified.



After a few very fast days on his foils since passing New Zealand Jean-Pierre Dick - who finished fourth in the last edition, is now up to fourth and 270 miles ahead of his closest rivals. But he has run into a ridge of high pressure. Yann Eliès (Queguiner-Leucémie Espoir) and Jean Le Cam (Finistère Mer Vent) have regained around thirty miles on JP Dick, while Jérémie Beyou (Maître CoQ) has accelerated. The South Pacific has its ups and downs, winners and losers, but this morning's life enhancing consolation for JP was a pod of dolphins dancing around his boat.

The race is close again too for the group of five entering the South Pacific. The youngest competitor in the fleet Alan Roura, 23-years old, with his boat which dates back to 2000 keeping up with four IMOCAs from the 2007-2008 generation. They are all within 145 miles of each other with Eric Bellion (CommeUnSeulHomme) still keeping his foot hard down. Over the past 48 hours, the 40-year old racing the powerful Finot Conq designed former DCNS, who sees the Vendée Globe as his big adventure has been the fastest in the fleet clocking up 400 miles a day and averaging 17 knots.

Four hundred miles from Melbourne, Australia, Stéphane Le Diraison the skipper of La Compagnie du Lit-Boulogne Billancourt has run into a wind hole. This is tough for the skipper, who was only making 4.5 knots when he had thirty knots of wind. Le Diraison has had to use his DIY talents to improve his jury rig. “I had kept around a ten square metre piece of the mainsail after the boat was dismasted. I have become a sail maker setting up a mainsail suitable for my rig. It's been successful. I have managed to raise my jury rig and now I have a bit more sail up. I shall be able to sail higher when I have headwinds. Otherwise there was the risk of ending up back where I started.”

Palm Beach Motor YachtsCyclops Marine 2023 November - FOOTERArmstrong 728x90 - HA Foil Range - BOTTOM

Related Articles

Dragon Edinburgh Cup in Torbay overall
Tight Racing and Tactical Brilliance The final day of the 2025 Edinburgh Cup brought sunshine, shifting breeze, and two exciting races that kept the championship wide open until the very last run.
Posted today at 8:13 am
Seldén Rodkicker 50 - manual rigid vang
Specifically sized for yachts between 50 and 55 feet A Rodkicker rigid vang is designed to enhance sail handling during reefing and allows for greater sail trim control.
Posted today at 8:00 am
WASZP Games 2025: Talent & fun descend on Weymouth
Poised to be the largest and most competitive in the class's history The 2025 International WASZP Games, set to take place from July 19–25 at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy, are poised to be the largest and most competitive in the class's history.
Posted today at 7:23 am
Transpac 2025 Update: Moon River Tonight!
The magic of offshore racing in the 2025 Transpac A vast ocean separates Los Angeles, California, from Honolulu, Hawaii, but the boats racing in this year's Transpac have now crossed the halfway mark. Race leaders are in the tradewinds and making their approach to the Aloha State.
Posted today at 12:26 am
20 Canadians set for Long Beach Grand Slam Event
The Long Beach Olympic Classes Regatta will be held July 12-20 20 Canadian sailors will take part in the fourth and next-to-last event of the 2025 Sailing Grand Slam Series, the Long Beach Olympic Classes Regatta, to be held July 12-20 at one of the two Olympic venues for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
Posted on 10 Jul
All smiles among first finishers of the AEGEAN 600
The fastest teams crossed the finish line today at Cape Sounion As the fastest teams crossed the finish line today at Cape Sounion and made their way to the harbour at Olympic Marine, there were exhausted smiles all around.
Posted on 10 Jul
British Classic Week day 4
It was a classic Solent day in Cowes for the OneSails inshore race It was a classic Solent day in Cowes for day 4 of British Classic Week with hot temperatures, sunshine and no breeze in the morning before the sea breeze kicked in from the west and it was time to go racing.
Posted on 10 Jul
iQFOiL Worlds a Aarhus day 5
Finalists locked in for new Medal Series format With the sea breeze stubbornly refusing to make an appearance, Day 5 of the iQFOiL World Championship turned into a long waiting game both ashore and on the water.
Posted on 10 Jul
Jazz Turner Video Interview
How she Faced Everything And Rose during Project FEAR I travelled to Brighton Marina to catch up with Jazz, talking about her own sailing, the challenges she faced during the circumnavigation, how the money raised will be used, and a glimpse of her future projects!
Posted on 10 Jul
CYCS SailMV's Vineyard Cup Preview
The regatta will feature stunning classics racing around the beautiful island of Martha's Vineyard. The second Classic Yacht Challenge Series (CYCS) event of the 2025 season gets under way on Friday, July 11 with the Vineyard Cup organized by Sail Martha's Vineyard (SailMV).
Posted on 10 Jul