Vendée Globe

That is nearly what the two tail-enders will be facing as the leaders pass Cape Horn. Raphaël Dinelli (Fondation Océan Vital) and Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch) will only be passing the Cape of Good Hope this evening, while Jean Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2), will only be 1200 miles from Cape Leeuwin…

That is nearly what the two tail-enders will be facing as the leaders pass Cape Horn. Raphaël Dinelli (Fondation Océan Vital) and Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch) will only be passing the Cape of Good Hope this evening, while Jean Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2), will only be 1200 miles from Cape Leeuwin… At this pace, we can expect a month and a half between the winner and the last boat to reach les Sables d’Olonne.

Equator : 1 day 19 hours 45’ behind the record time set 4 years ago (Jean Le Cam in 2004 : 10d 12h 13’). Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty) took 12d 07h 58’. But it was Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty (Maisonneuve), who was the fastest between les Sables d’Olonne and the Equator (11 days and 13 hours).

Good Hope: Sébastien Josse (BT), the leader at the time was 2 days 17 hours 20’ behind the record  at the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope ( Record set in 2004 by Vincent Riou : 24d 02h 18’). But once again it was Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty, who was the quickest after restarting from Les Sables 24d 06h 27’, while  Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) was the fastest between the Equator and Good Hope with a time of n 12d 04h 50’.

Daily average: Jean-Pierre Dick holds the record for the best run over 24 hours.  On 12th December, he clocked up 448.5 miles in one day, just twenty miles from the outright record for a monohull sailed by a solo IMOCA sailor (468.7 miles in 2003 by Alex Thomson)…

Change of leader:  Since the start on 9th November, there have been 25 changes of leader with seven different sailors occupying first place in the rankings: Marc Guillemot (Safran), Loïck Peyron, Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement), Jean-Pierre Dick, Sébastien Josse, Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux), Yann Eliès (Generali).

Retirals: Seven boats have officially retired from the race: Yannick Bestaven (Aquarelle.com), Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss), Marc Thiercelin (DCNS), Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel), Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore), Unai Basurko (Pakea Bizkaia). Two others will probably to follow them: Dominique Wavre (Temenos II) on his way to the Kerguelens, and Loïck Peyron on his way to Australia under jury rig.

Comebacks: Only the official start ultimately counts, but we feel we have to mention three exceptional comebacks: setting out  a week late, Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty has regained 200 miles (out of the 2000 he had to regain to catch the leader). Bernard Stamm regained 220 miles out of the 950 miles he had to catch up after settings sail four days after the start. Finally, Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) regained 290 miles after setting out 1.5 days late (in Les Sables he was 360 miles behind).

Leeuwin: 36 days 11 hours 48 minutes. That was the record time set in 2004 but winner Vincent Rious. At their current speed, the leader is set to reach this longitude in 3 days, in other words after 37 days of sailing… It is already fairly clear that the WSSRC record for the solo crossing of the Indian Ocean aboard a 60-foot monohull (Mike Golding en 14d 21h 30’) will be smashed… We can imagine a time of around ten days and a few hours...

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