Vendée Globe, Richomme covers 551.84 miles in 24 hours at 22.9 knots average

Nicolas Lunven’s 24-hour solo record didn’t last long, Yoann Richomme displacing him by clocking in this tenth day of Vendée Globe 551.84 miles.

The average recorded by Arkea Paprec is 22.99 knots, in trade wind conditions around 15 20 knots. Richomme improves by 5 miles the record set off Portugal by Lunven, but the feeling is that this measurement could also be further tweaked, perhaps before reaching the Cape of Good Hope. The crewed record is 640 miles set by Boris Hermann’s Imoca 60 Malizia, the boat with which the German is racing: 640 miles, a number that hints at the level of performance of these boats, which cannot be sailed exactly 100 percent as well as crewed solo.

Vendée Globe, Goodchild gets serious.

Meanwhile, the fleet continues to be led by an excellent Sam Goodchild, the first to enter the dolldrums, the zone of convergence of the trade winds of the northern and southern hemispheres, also known as the equatorial calms or Pot au Noir. In observing the race of Britain’s Goodchild, with a penultimate-generation Imoca, a parallel with Alex Thomson comes to mind: Goodchild does not pierce the screen like The Boss, but on the other hand he seems to be very intent on giving the fight at the top of the leaderboard a run for its money. The Imoca 60s of the Vendée Globe will move through the next few hours amidst thunderstorms and wind that will have large changes of direction and will generally be very weak. Beyond this “wall” is the equator and southeast trade winds, an appetizer for the big south, which is the last days when skippers will live in relatively calm conditions and mild temperatures. Giancarlo Pedote is about 350 miles behind the leader and has regained good speed after the anticyclone difficulties. The current gap does not compromise anything, but the top 10 is now distant as Justine Mettreaux, 10th, is instead only 50 miles behind Britain’s Goodchild in the lead.

Review the Vendée Globe Trial

In yesterday’s episode of the Sailing Newspaper’s Vendée Globe Trial we anticipated the possibility that there might be a new record. We analyzed this phase of the world tour with Francesca Clapcich, Alberto Bona, Antal technical aplication manager Bernardo Zin and weather coach Gianni Bianchini.

Follow the Vendée Globe with us!

Follow the Vendèe Globe with the Sailing Newspaper! In the section “The Vendèe Globe Newspaper” you will find all the up-to-date news about the race, while on our Youtube channel, every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., “The Vendèe Globe Trial” (in collaboration with Raymarine, Antal and Gottifredi Maffioli) goes live, where our experts, along with a parterre de roi of great sailing guests, comment on the great adventure of the solo round-the-world race.

Mauro Giuffrè