SiFi says the Doldrums could be messy and look out for Dalin
by Ed Gorman / IMOCA Globe Series 20 Nov 2024 12:25 PST
20 November 2024
Simon 'SiFi' Fisher © Jean-Louis Carli / IMOCA
The Doldrums might cause a big shake-up at the front of the fleet and watch out for Charlie Dalin are two of the key messages from Simon Fisher as this fascinating Vendée Globe reaches the end of its 10th day.
The navigator on board The Ocean Race-winning IMOCA, 11th Hour Racing Team, "SiFi" has been watching the race unfold as the now 39-strong fleet has dealt with the impact of a low pressure system in the eastern Atlantic that has disrupted the trade winds.
Fisher says the front group of 12 boats led by Britain's Sam Goodchild on Vulnerable has finally been benefiting from some strong north-easterlies, but the Doldrums - an area of unpredictable and squally winds with rain showers and thunderstorms - look potentially disruptive as the leaders slow down on their way into them tonight.
"That front group probably had better than forecast trade winds just in the last 12 hours overnight and were doing pretty big speeds. But we can see them all slowing down now," Fisher told the Class from Amsterdam where he is attending the Yacht Racing Forum.
"I think they are going to hit the Doldrums probably at about six or seven degrees north and the satellite pictures this morning show a band of almost 300 nautical miles from the entrance to the exit of the Doldrums with a lot of convection."
Fisher says this could lead to even further compression at the front as the boats trailing Goodchild, led by Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil, +11.9), Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance, +31.2) and Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA, +31.8), come up from behind. "They are all reasonably far west. I think we are going to see a big compression at the front of the fleet today, with everyone going into the Doldrums. Whether it's super-messy and it shakes things up, I think there is potential for that," Fisher added.
The Goodchild group is quite well-bunched behind the 35-year-old British skipper, but two boats - Nico Lunven's Holcim-PRB (+34.3) and Thomas Ruyant's VULNERABLE (+51.4) - are out to the west, at 70 and 100 miles west of Goodchild respectively. Fisher says this might help them if the Doldrums remain narrower further west, but it is far from certain.
"Usually when you get to this sort of stage, the lane you've got is the lane you've got. If you are Sam you probably wouldn't have done anything different, but maybe a little bit more westing, given the situation, might be good and might work out well for Thomas. But it's a little bit in the lap of the Gods, so we'll see," said Fisher.
In the build-up to the start, Fisher worked with Dalin on his routing choices in the Atlantic and he has been keeping a keen eye on him since then. He said Dalin, along with Richomme and Jérémie Beyou (Charal, +53.0) suffered in the ranking for going hard west to avoid the light winds south of Madeira, but they did well to stick to their guns.
"It was Yoann and Charlie and Jérémie and the ranking was obviously not very flattering and they had to wait a long time for the shift to come. But it's no surprise to see them coming back to the fore now because they invested all that in the west which makes getting south a bit easier," said Fisher.
"Obviously I've been watching Charlie pretty hard," he added. "He's been going really well. He was very quick out of the blocks which was good. Then everything got shaken up a bit in the random stuff, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him put on a bit of a charge now and climb up to the front."
Fisher has been impressed with the way Goodchild has handled his first Vendée Globe, managing to stay in the lead or within the top echelon throughout all the snakes and ladders of the last four or five days.
"So far, Sam has sailed a great race," he said. "It looks like he's sailed his own race and hasn't got too flustered about what the rest of the fleet are doing. He's been taking the shifts and taking his chances and it's worked out really well for him not being too reactive to what everyone else is doing. He's going quick, he's got a good boat and he's got confidence in all of that and it's allowing him to enjoy himself and sail a good race, so it's really cool to see."
Also catching his eye is Sébastien Simon in Fisher's old Ocean Race-winning boat. "He's doing well and has always been there or thereabouts. It's kind of cool to see our old boat going well." And then there's Justine Mettraux on Teamwork-Team SNEF in 10th place, 65 miles behind Goodchild. Fisher sailed as co-skipper with her during the 2021 IMOCA season and is not surprised to see her in the front group.
"She really enjoys her time on the boat," he said. "She loves it. She's such a gritty, determined sailor, so it's no surprise to see her up right here fighting it out. It's good to see."
He says this race is fascinating because there are so many potential winners. "It's been light and there has been a lot of randomness...but it's shaping up to be a great race and the cool thing is there are so many people you can list off, and we haven't mentioned Yannick Bestaven (Maître-Coq in 6th place), Paul Meilhat (Biotherm, 12th) and Sam Davies (Initiatives-Coeur, 11th) who is also coming back into that front group," said Fisher.
Record broken
Driven by a trade wind breeze over a nearly flat sea, Yoann Richomme covered a total of 551.84 miles between 9:30 a.m. yesterday and the same time today (equivalent to 1,022 kilometers). At the dawn of his eleventh day of racing in the Vendée Globe, the skipper of the IMOCA PAPREC ARKEA improved by 5.24 miles on the performance achieved by Nicolas Lunven (Holcim - PRB) between November 12 and 13 during the same event. This feat, however, is still awaiting official ratification by the WSSRC.
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