Vendée Globe, crazy duel in the Big South: top three sail on sight
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It’s a no-holds-barred Vendée Globe duel that Charlie Dalin, Yoann Richomme and Sebastien Simon are engaging in in the Pacific Ocean, at 55 degrees south, as they often sail by sight at an average speed of 25 knots. The three skippers took turns leading the race when they were 850 miles from passing Point Nemo, the point on the planet farthest from any landmass. It seemed that contention was reserved for Richomme and Dalin, but instead Sebastien Simon has also entered despite the fact that his Imoca 60 has only one surviving foil. Simon in these hours is taking advantage of starboard tack sailing, the one that allows him to take advantage of his port foil, while the starboard one is now gone after the structural failure.
The duel is exciting, uncertain, not least because after Point Nemo the descent to Cape Horn will begin, down to 56-57 degrees South. Impossible now to imagine or predict who might round the last Cape of the Great South in the lead before returning to the Atlantic. But one thing is certain: this Vendée Globe never ceases to amaze, putting itself forward as one of the most open editions ever in the history of the solo, non-stop round-the-world race. The outcomes of this 3-way battle will depend on many factors: weather conditions, which could favor one or the other boat depending on the situation, but also and above all the tightness of the boats and the psycho-physical tightness of the skippers will count. At the moment no one is lifting their foot off the accelerator in a mad race in the South Pacific. Charlie Dalin confirmed that he had problems with a sail, which explains why he has lost many miles on the road in recent days, but Macif’s skipper seems to be over it. Giancarlo Pedote is about 3,000 miles further west, and he now has a decidedly high pace that has clocked 500 miles in 24 hours, the best performance so far for the Italian skipper. The conditions for Pedote are now favorable, Prysmian is sailing in a depression flow but the presence of an anticyclone further north “protects” him from excessive waves, the sea state is relatively good, and Giancarlo has released Prysmian’s horses. The contention here is also quite tough, because Jean Le Cam who leads this group is not giving up anything, and he too is traveling at similar averages as Pedote and other nearby competitors. The duel to get into the top 20 is, in short, more interesting than ever.
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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
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