And the top group continue to extend away from the pack chasing them in a classic rich get richer scenario as might have been expected of the top sailors with the best, latest foiling boats, the best budgets and – right now – the best possible weather. In some respects the race so far has been atypical with mostly light to moderate winds and no big storms so far and so it has been a perfect showcase for the fast foilers, as 15th placed Romain Attanasio (Fortinet- Best Western) remarked this morning with an element of jealousy in his voice, “We can clearly see that unfortunately for boats with daggerboards it’s more difficult, today the foilers are untouchable in terms of speed, they go so fast, and in general it all starts from the front. We said a lot four years ago “yeah, the foilers and all that”, but four years ago, it was a totally different scenario. Maybe it’ll happen again in this race, that at some point it’ll come back from behind. And of course four years ago we always came back from behind! Today it’s all going on at the front like it usually does, and we can see that the speeds are crazy, and so the gaps are completely mad! That’s how it is, this is a Vendée Globe for foilers.” 

THE RACES WITHIN THE RACE AND LOOKING AHEAD 

But that being said the density of the fleet, with 39 of 40 starters still on the race course, means almost every skipper has a target, a rival to benchmark against, and feeling of being in their own intense Vendée Globe race. The top two daggerboard boats, Jean Le Cam (Tout commence en Finistère-Armor Lux) and Louis Duc (Fives Groupe-Lantana Environnement) are still only two miles apart. Clarisse Crémer (L’Occitaine en Provence) and Justine Mettraux (TeamWork- Team Snef) are two miles apart in terms of distance to finish in 12th and 13th. There are just 20 miles between 32nd placed Guirec Soudée (Freelance), Ollie Heer (Tut gut) Fabrice Amedeo (Nexans Wewise), Manu Cousin (Coup de Pouce) in 35th.

THE LONG GAME

Heer is playing the long game on his first Vendée Globe, curbing his competitive urges a little, sailing a steady race, close to the rhumb line and looking after himself and his boat, “It is going really well, I am quite happy, feeling good. In fact the last two weeks have been quite easy sailing, so I am very happy.” 

With all of the big challenges still to come, his first time solo in the big south, the Swiss skipper explains, “I take every day as it comes, every day is a new day, but for sure my mental coaching ahead of this race definitely helps me to minimise the risk of having any kind of mental difficulties or wobbles.”
“ I had to rewire one of my auto pilots. The voltage supply to the clutch out of the autopilot compter failed so I had to rewire my autopilot and so that is done and I have two working pilots.”
The last two weeks have been quite light winds sailing, and it stays quite light for the next few days and tonight we will see 15-17 maybe 18 knots, before we hook into the first low pressure heading  into the Southern Ocean. I’ll carry on sailing my own race, taking it quite easy and not too far from the rhumb line.
To be fair I am not sailing my boat at full punch yet, it is a long race, I don’t want to break the boat and I want to be in top shape sailing into the Southern Ocean. So if I was pushing the boat to the limit right now it would be wrong, but I do learn how to sail the boat faster with less effort all the time.”