Vendée Globe, duel in the storm: heading north or heading east?

The going is starting to get tough at the Vendée Globe, when the front-runners in the round-the-world race are transiting the remote Kerguelen Islands. In fact, the weather situation is beginning, as was to be expected, to get complicated, with the first big southern depressions hitting the competitors. At the head of the fleet is the pair Charlie Dalin – Sebastien Simon, who have been sailing very close for 48 hours now, and have been the only ones to bet on the eastern option in view of the emerging weather system. Behind the outriders, in fact, a deep depression is emerging in this hour, which will begin its eastward motion.

The winds expected in 24 hours are also well over 50 knots, Dalin and Simon are the ones who have chosen to try to stay ahead of this weather system, while Richomme and Ruyant have moved further north so as not to risk being encompassed by suffering the worst of it. The choice on how to position themselves is crucial, Dalin and Simon have made one that can be a winner by greatly increasing the gap with the pursuers, but also quite risky: if the depression overtakes them they end up in the area with more wind and wave, and in case of problems they cannot lean far south because there is the virtual ice limit imposed by the organization. The group further north, on the other hand, will be in a zone with less wind and wave, in case of problems they will have more room to the south to be able to lean, but they risk seeing the gap from the first ones increase. Giancarlo Pedote is experiencing a different situation, at the passage of Cape of Good Hope, which for him will happen tomorrow. The Tuscan has had a series of technical glitches, first an elbow in his keel, then electronics-related woes, and he seems to be having some difficulty holding angles at the lee similar to other foilers as well as drift boats. A problem with a lift sail perhaps? Pedote made no mention of it at the moment, sailing in a depression system that will take him all the way to the Cape, struggling to try to stay close to the top 20. So far it has not been the Vendée of dreams for him, with some technical setbacks and some unfortunate strategic choices keeping him from his best performance. But there is the whole Southern Ocean to try to get back in the game.

The Vendée Globe Trial returns

See you today at 6:30 pm, live on the YouTube and Facebook channels of Il Giornale della Vela, we look forward to seeing you!

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 latest 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