Vendee Globe - And then there were twelve

by Vendee Globe on 26 Jan 2017 After the arrival of three skippers in three hours yesterday afternoon, Les Sables d’Olonne is now looking towards the next competitor to finish, but he is not expected until early next week. Louis Burton is still 2200 miles from the finish, while Sébastien Destremau at the back of the fleet is 8000 miles from Vendée…

Quiet weather and quiet scenes in Les Sables d’Olonne this morning after the unprecedented finish by three French solo racing stars yesterday. While the crowds cheered their heroes home, in the South Pacific, the situation was very different for Sébastien Destremau (TechnoFirst-faceOcean). He was forced to slow down to let a violent storm go by through Drake Passage. Behind the system, he will be getting bitterly cold southerly winds, but these will propel him towards Cape Horn, some 970 miles ahead. On the Atlantic side of the tip of South America, Pieter Heerema (No Way Back) is making his way calmly towards the Falklands in a moderate NW’ly wind that will back westerly, allowing him to climb up towards Cape Frio in the coming days.

Sailing off Rio de la Plata, Romain Attanasio (Famille Mary-Étamine du Lys) is putting the pressure on Didac Costa (One Planet-One Ocean). They are both sailing in a 20-knot SE’ly wind, but will have to deal with a transition zone tomorrow evening, as they face the same sort of weather pattern as the four that preceded them. Rich Wilson (Great America IV) is sailing upwind in a northerly breeze further back from Alan Roura (La Fabrique), Fabrice Amedeo (Newrest-Matmut) and Arnaud Boissières (La Mie Câline). A very close battle just under 5000 miles from the finish, rather like the one that raged between Eliès and Le Cam. There is not so much pressure on Éric Bellion (CommeUnSeulHomme), who is controlling New Zealander Conrad Colman (Foresight Natural Energy) 250 miles to his south. Both skippers are still in the trade winds associated with the St. Helena high. These easterlies should back SE’ly as they approach Recife.

Nándor Fa (Spirit of Hungary) slipped through the Doldrums without any problems. The Hungarian is now in the trade winds in the Northern hemisphere blowing at around fifteen knots, as he follows in the wake of Louis Burton. With 2200 miles to go to the finish, the skipper of Bureau Vallée is starting to turn towards Vendée after pointing his bow towards Newfoundland. On the tail of an Atlantic low in southerly winds, which are set to strengthen to around thirty knots as he passes the Azores. With low-pressure systems sweeping across from Canada, it’s going to be mild but wet in the coming days…