Vendée Globe – Romain Attanasio at the Horn

by Vendée Globe on 21 Jan 2017 Romain Attanasio (Famille Mary-Étamine du Lys) rounded Cape Horn, the third of the legendary capes in the Vendée Globe at 2043hrs UTC on Friday after 75 days eight hours and 41 minutes of racing. Only Dutchman Pieter Heerema and Frenchman Sébastien Destremau are still sailing in the Pacific.

Conditions were very manageable for Romain Attanasio last night, but the skipper was not really able to take advantage of the occasion, as while a strong breeze was blowing in the Pacific, the wind was light between the Horn and Staten Island. His predecessor Didac Costa (One Planet-One Ocean), who rounded seven hours earlier has not been making very good progress and the two found themselves just thirty miles apart this morning.

The four skippers battling it out together in the South Atlantic are continuing their difficult climb up to Cape Frio. Fabrice Amedeo (Newrest-Matmut) and Arnaud Boissières (La Mie Câline) were only making around eight knots this morning, while Alan Roura (La Fabrique) and Rich Wilson (Great America IV) were just about touching ten knots in NNE’ly headwinds. The story was very similar for Conrad Colman (Foresight Natural Energy) and Eric Bellion (CommeUnSeulHomme) at around 430 and 240 miles from Cape Frio. They appear to have sailed out of the thunderstorms, but are now facing strong NNE’ly winds. The climb up to the Equator is looking very slow.

It is also slow going for Nándor Fa (Spirit of Hungary), who has reached the latitude of Salvador da Bahia with a tewelve knot easterly trade wind. He still has a round a thousand miles to go to reach the Equator… In front of him, Louis Burton has still not managed to get out of the Doldrums. Bureau Vallée has been tossed around there for three days now and over the past 24 hours only covered around sixty miles.

Approaching the Azores, the situation is very different for the three making the most of an Atlantic low. Jean-Pierre Dick (StMichel-Virbac) was the first to take advantage thanks to his position out to the west, which explains why Yann Eliès (Quéguiner-Leucémie Espoir) and Jean Le Cam (Finistère Mer Vent) also moved further west last night. Finally, Jérémie Beyou (Maître CoQ) is about to enter the Bay of Biscay, but there is very little wind. The 380 miles he has left to sail to take third place are going to be extremely painful, particularly seeing the Breton sailor’s wind instruments and autopilot are faulty. He is now expected to finish around midday on Monday…