Vendee Globe - Follow the leader
by Vendee Globe on 10 Nov 2016
Armel Le Cléac'h - Banque populaire VIII - Vendée Globe Yvan Zedda
http://www.zedda.com.
The top three skippers, Armel Le Cléac’h, Sébastien Josse and Paul Meilhat are lined up one behind the other with 15 miles front to back. All three are making similar speeds, eight and half to nine knots on the 1700hrs ranking.
Le Cléac’h is now angled more west so will pass well to the west of Madeira during the night.
Didac Costa and his team will decide tonight if the departure from Les Sables d’Olonne will be in the morning or afternoon Thursday. The Catalan has a deficit of about 600 miles on the 28th placed Sébastien Destremau tonight. That will be a long, hard difficult mountain to climb alone. Perhaps he will take inspiration from Michel Desjoyeaux who re-started in 2008 with that kind of deficit to the leader! But Didac knows anything can happen and will set off in a positive mood.
Japan’s Koji Shiraishi is battling back to strength. His seasickness is improving very slowly. Even so he had an apple and banana yesterday night and still brought them straight back up again. He is scheduled to speak to Race HQ live tomorrow, a first for the Japanese skipper.
Quotes
Bertrand de Broc, MACSF: 'Before getting to Cape Finisterre, it was going well, but then I made a few tactical mistakes and lost some ground. It’s always hard to catch up after that. After the ridge of high pressure, we should get moving again. I’m not too badly positioned for the long term. I think I’ll leave Madeira and the Canaries to port. We have to be a bit cautious about what the forecasts are telling us.'
Tanguy de Lamotte, Initiatives Coeur: 'We’re in a battle with Jean (le Cam) and Thomas Ruyant. We are just entering an area of lighter winds. I’m in a nice group with boats that I would like to race against. I had a tiny problem yesterday evening. The attachment for my vang came off. The part itself wasn’t damaged, so I just needed to get it back in place. Five minutes work according to my stopwatch...”
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