The skippers are recovering after three days of racing and some are suffering.

Having set off on Sunday, November 10 from Sables-d’Olonne (Vendée), at noon, the fleet of the tenth edition of the Vendé Globe is currently gliding across the Atlantic towards Madeira, skirting the coast of Africa for the first time. and the Portuguese coast for the slower ones. After more than three days of racing, the 40 competitors – including 6 women – and their 18.28 m monohulls (Imoca) begin to pick up the pace and experience the ups and downs inherent to this solo, non-stop, round-the-world trip. without help.

For Yoann Richomme (Paprec-Arkéa), morale is quite good, although he described the navigation as “ hyperintense », during the session on Wednesday, November 13. Having taken control of the test thanks to an option further west, during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the 41-year-old skipper participating in his first Vendée Globe admitted to having “ Really hit when passing Cape Finisterre. “, at the tip of Spain, to compensate for the ” bad choice » from his first night of racing.

“ I hope I haven’t taken too many risks with the boat.He continued, although the wind did not subside, still around 30 knots (between 50 and 60 km/h). I hope it calms down, I try to keep a little more “Vendée Globe” pace, a little softer, but it’s not easy, the boat accelerates quite a bit in the waves and ends up crashing. » Difficult, in these conditions, “to eat, and less to go to sleep”breathes the new leader, happy to have returned to Charlie Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance), impressive host of this beginning of the event. “ But we’re not going to let him go! », warned Yoann Richomme.

Like him, Dalin is the favorite for this 45,000-kilometre solo round-the-world trip. During the previous edition, in 2020-2021, he crossed the finish line in the lead before descending to 2nd^my place behind Yannick Bestaven (Master-CoQ), after granting hourly compensation to several sailors sent to rescue Kevin Escoffier after his shipwreck off the Cape of Good Hope. Macif Santé Prévoyance’s skipper quickly took control of the race.

Record for the longest distance in 24 hours in an Imoca

On Wednesday, in qualifying at 3:00 p.m., Dalin was in second position, 12 miles behind the leader, ahead of the formidable Briton Sam Goodchild (Vulnerable), at 22 miles, who has barely left the leading trio since the start. But a quartet composed by Nicolas Lunven (Holcim-PRB), Jérémie Beyou (Charal), Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable) Thomas Ruyant victim of a “ small waterway » which he says he can control at the front of his monohull, and Louis Burton (Valley Office), leads the chase about fifty miles

Taking the fleet’s westernmost option to cross Cape Finisterre, Nicolas Lunven set the 24-hour solo record in an Imoca with 546.60 miles (1,012.30 km) traveled. New to the Vendée Globe but a very experienced offshore racer, he has thus improved the mark of 540 miles, previously set in the distance by Thomas Ruyant, in December 2023.

In the middle and rear of the fleet, others face their first physical, psychological or material setbacks. Like the Chinese Jingkun Xu (Haiku by the Singchain team), whose left arm was amputated below the elbow after a fireworks accident as a child, suffers a sprained left ankle but grits his teeth.

Struggling with a recalcitrant mainsail hook (a system that allows a sail to be hoisted to the desired position), Maxime Sorel (V and B-Monbana-Mayenne) He also injured his right ankle overnight from Monday to Tuesday. In the early hours of Wednesday, November 13, he announced that he was diverting towards Madeira. After climbing the mast in a sea” drugged “who left his arms” paralyzed ” and not ” didn’t fix his injury », intends to take refuge on the outskirts of the Portuguese island to climb the crossbar more calmly and solve the problem.

At the rear of the fleet, the Hungarian Szabolcs “Szabi” Weöres (New Europe) continued his steps towards Madeira to also climb her mast in the hope of assessing the damage to her mainsail and a headsail that suffered serious damage during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.

Clarisse Cremer (L’Occitane in Provence) for his part, spent an exasperating night from Tuesday to Wednesday. She lost her largest sail off the coast of Portugal after it deployed without warning. “ I was quite happy with my race, quite proud of my maneuvers and my trajectories, although some were guided mainly by caution. Without this sail, the next few days downwind and in light air will not be much fun. I lost a lot of energy but the race is still long! », explained the navigator in the session, 12^my from the previous edition.

For the next few days, Basile Rochut, meteorological advisor of the Vendée Globe, predicts “ a fairly straight path, with stable conditions and few maneuvers to make “. The meteorologist still reports a “ huge vent » [manque de vent] around Madeira and, for the first, a possible slowdown from Thursday, November 14, with weak conditions between the Canary Islands and Cape Verde.