Nico Lunven in the Vendée Globe: "I don't have much hair already, but now I'm losing even more!"

Nico Lunven aboard Holcim-PRB - Vendée Globe 2024-25 © Adrien Nivet / polaRYSE

Aboard Holcim-PRB, Nicolas Lunven hasn't lost his sense of humor, despite battling a series of technical issues since the weekend. First, he had to deal with a hydraulic leak in the keel system, and then he noticed the loss of the masthead cap, which deprived him of valuable wind data...

The weekend and yesterday were spent brainstorming to try and get out of this situation. On the oil leak front, it seems everything is back in order. "This ascent of the South Atlantic isn't easy. I knew it would be tough from having done it before in the Volvo Ocean Race or as a router for Armel Le Cléac'h last winter, or even as an observer. This part is not easy. It's been confirmed! The weather conditions are very unstable, with very disruptive squalls. There's also some nasty chop. And on top of that, I had a small hydraulic leak in the keel, but it seems to have been resolved. It was just a nut that had loosened," explains Nicolas, who managed to reach a difficult-to-access area yesterday to apply a crucial turn of the wrench.

When it comes to wind data, it's more complicated. He is relying on a backup system placed on a pole at the back of Holcim-PRB, but the information is imprecise, forcing him to constantly adjust the sails and play with the remote control to steer the monohull as best as he can. The wind direction indicated by the backup system is reliable, but the wind strength is much less so. This makes it extremely demanding for Nicolas, who must stay alert at all times. "Whenever there's a slightly stable situation, I take the opportunity to sleep, setting alarms everywhere to wake up quickly if anything happens. It requires a lot of energy. With the spare aerial, the wind strength is not reliable at all. So at night, it's complicated. I already don't have much hair, but now I'm losing even more! It's a shame because the boat is great," details the skipper, who, under these conditions, has inevitably lost ground to his competitors.

He is currently in 10th place, but the battle is fierce with a group of six other boats. The lateral gaps are significant, as each competitor applies their strategic plan for this Atlantic ascent. Nicolas has chosen to head east. He is offshore, just like Paul Meilhat, while his rivals (Jérémie Beyou, Sam Goodchild, Boris Hermann, Justine Mettraux) are making progress along the Brazilian coast. Thomas Ruyant, on the other hand, has chosen a median route. Despite his technical problems, Nicolas hasn't forgotten his strategic abilities and has carefully thought through his positioning. It's hard to say for now which choice will be the winning one, but he's satisfied with the conditions they're encountering.

"So far, I'm not unhappy because I've always had wind to move forward. I haven't stopped in a calm zone. I hope it will stay like this until the end. We have a front to manage, which we call, in meteorology, the semi-permanent South Atlantic front, which starts from Rio and crosses the South Atlantic in a southeast direction. Along this front, which is almost always present with a thunderstorm character, depressions form off Brazil. They then follow this front and cross the South Atlantic. You have to manage to cross it. The options are simple: you can try your luck near the coast on a more direct route, but at the risk of having less wind, or you can decide to go around offshore, extending your route but crossing a narrower difficult zone. That seemed to me to be the least risky choice, especially since I should be better positioned to follow and play the wind rotation to the north, then the northeast, and finally to the east," explains the skipper of Holcim-PRB, before adding: "For now, I can't say whether it will work or not. However, I can say that I'm happy with the wind I have because even though I'm facing weather situations with squalls, I've always managed to make progress. And I see that my friends on shore have started to slow down."

Within 24 hours, we'll get a sense of which of the two groups will take the upper hand for the approach to the equator and the return to the North Atlantic.