Vendée Globe at crazy pace: Richomme in the lead, Lunven does 543 miles in 24 hours, it’s a record

Day four of Vendée Globe with the round-the-world fleet racing south in a sustained northeast wind, already past Gibraltar and en route to Madeira and the Canary Islands. At the front the pace is furious, with several changes of leadership but gradually the odds-on favorites are occupying the top positions. After a muted start, Yoann Richomme on Arkea Paprec came out in the descent down Portugal and took the lead with a perfect stern tack. In his wake, however, detached by only 12 miles, is Charlie Dalin’s Macif and just behind is Britain’s Sam Goodchild, one of the surprises of these early days.

Vendée Globe – new record in 24 hours

The pace at the front of the race as we said is tight, Nico Lunven on PRB set a new 24-hour course record for a solo Imoca 60, stopping the clock at 543.8 miles, a new benchmark for these boats. The previous solo benchmark was by Thomas Ruyant with 539. Instead, the record in the 24-hour crew time is held by Boris Herrmann’s Malizia with 641 miles.

Lunven made a more extreme strategic choice, going to position himself further northwest in the strong wind than the outriders who dropped immediately south. Tactics currently worth the top 5 and the record in the 24 hours. Positive last night’s racing for Giancarlo Pedote on Prysmian, climbing back into the top 20, now 180 miles behind the leaders but apparently in a good phase. The first of the women, however, is Justine Mettreaux, 11th. Jean Le Cam ‘s choice to race a new classic dinghy boat does not seem to have brought any particular advantages at the moment. In fact, Le Roi is accusing 170 miles of delay from the outriders and does not seem to be able to keep up the indemonious pace of the top 10 foilers, at least at the moment. We discuss this today at 6:30 p.m., live on Facebook and YouTube, in the third episode of The Vendée Globe Trial. Mauro Giuffrè and Luca Sordelli’s guests will be Francesca Clapcich, winner of The Ocean Race, the round-the-world crewed race; then there will be Luca Rosetti, the latest winner of the Mini Transat, and our weather coach Gianni Bianchini. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiWWp7633pQ