Back in October the skippers were told there was risk of large icebergs and growlers around the Gough Island waypoint, the first ice gate of the Vendée Globe, west of South Africa.

“An ice field has been accelerating north, speeding up from 10 nautical miles a day to 13-14 nautical miles and in 40 days or so, if they continue moving north, will be arriving pretty close to the gate where you (the skippers) arrive,” Louis Mesnier, the project director at Collecte Localisation satellite (CLS), said. CLS is the company that tracks the ice fields for the Vendée Globe and sends daily reports to the skippers. Mesnier was briefing them on how they will receive information from the race office about ice fields.

“Logically they (the icebergs) would start moving south when they get there,” Mesnier said. “But I can see why they (the race office) left Gough Island to starboard. They (the icebergs) do not move in a straight line, this is not an exact science.”

Today, it was announced the first gate had been moved 1 degree north and 7 degrees east.

No change in the positions tonight as the fleet make their way to Gough Island approximately 8 days away from the leaders.

Rankings at 2000hrs UTC Tuesday 26^th November

1 Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire), to 19746.9 miles from the finish

2 Francois Gabart (MACIF) to 34.4 miles (DTL)

3 Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec 3), to 159.0 miles (DTL)

4 Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) at 165.4 miles (DTL)

5 Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) to 171.7 miles (DTL)

Clare Macnaughton