Of the 39 boats still racing in the Vendée Globe most are now out of the Doldrums and almost half are now across the Equator in the Southern Hemisphere. Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) led the fleet across last night at 1910hrs yesterday evening. His elapsed time of 11d 07h 08m 15s is almost to the minute two days slower than race record outbound to the Equator than Alex Thomson’s record time set in November 2016. And the skipper from the very north of France’s time is actually the slowest since the 2008 race when Loïck Peyron led over to the South Atlantic after 12d 05hrs.
But after Ruyant slowed to deal with a technical issue Charlie Dalin took the lead early this morning on his MACIF Santé Prévoyance. It is the third time so far this race that Dalin has taken the lead and he has profited nicely from his position and the power of his boat in the trade winds reaching conditions so far.
And so whilst the skippers towards the back of the fleet are still dealing with the lighter winds, the squalls and calms of the ITCZ, the Doldrums, the leading group have their foot down, pushing as hard as they can to make sure they can be on board the first low pressure system developing north of Rio which will propel them to the SE at useful speeds. With the Saint Helena high pressure system displaced to the east there is a great chance of catching up some of the that time lost in the north Atlantic. But missing the low looks expensive as the high pressure reforms in a very messy way.
@VendeeGlobe
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