They are slowed – making 10-11kts – this morning in the transition zone before the low pressure system comes in from behind them. Ruyant already went north and then when he got into lighter unstable conditions yesterday evening Richomme made the move progressively yesterday evening and last night.

CATCHING THE TRAIN, OR NOT

Nico Lunven, in sixth place on HOLCIM PRB, observed last night, “The boats in front are making different choices, but it’s because the small gap we had of a hundred miles two or three days ago allowed them to keep the wind for longer and therefore go faster. I didn’t do any routing for them, but they may have a slightly different scenario for managing this depression! But I had looked around a bit, and we can clearly see that in the first group Thomas Ruyant didn’t manage to catch the first train and so he’s a bit caught in the light wind, and he’s heading more north, I have the impression that he’s dropping back to us. Behind, they made pretty much the same choice as Jérémie and me. In any case, I preferred to make this choice early!”

And indeed HOLCIM PRB and Jérémie Beyou (Charal) are on a course more than 100 nautical miles to the north of the Ruyant’s and he is converging with them. It will be a tough call for Richomme to have moved north but it is all a question of timing, prudence, preservation and consolidation. The two leaders still had a little more wind last night but this morning are slowed.

Lunven is not keen on taking any risks with this little monster of a low:

“My choice to climb to the North? There is a depression coming from behind, from the West, which is going to catch up with us and sweep across the entire Kerguelen area, and when it reaches my level, it is going to deepen seriously and be downright bad. And the centre of this depression is quite to the North! If you were to find yourself trapped just in front of the centre of the depression, or worse in the South of the centre you find yourself in a North-East wind tacking upwind, in strong wind, we are talking about 30-40 knots, and especially behind the center of the depression it deepens very strongly and there are winds up to 50-60 knots. And it is obviously kicking up a big seas and waves forecast to be 8-9 meters. So conditions I don’t really want to get into, so we have a significant move to the North shift to avoid the strong wind and the rough sea behind.”

“These are the decisions that we’ve made! On paper it’s not necessarily a winning route, it’s to escape the depression, but I didn’t want to find myself in a situation where I’m hit by this depression. By positioning myself to the North, it allows me to escape from the rough seas and strong winds. This depression deserves care and attention! We are still going to sail a committed route which will be easier to maneuver on and to be able to go faster, perhaps more than boats that would go to the centre of the depression with a risk of being knocked around, of having breakages, and of not handling their boat as it should be!”

All the way through the top half of the fleet there are big differences in winds and boat speeds, all dependant on timing and positioning relative to the low pressure train. Paul Meilhat (Biotherm, 9th), struggled for breeze and was in a turbulent zone after Cape of Agulhas but has come back strongly last night on Yannick Bestaven (8th) and Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE, 7th) who are both very slowed in light winds. All three also are staying well to the north.

For some of the Vendée Globe rookies it is learning by doing, taking new steps and adapting to the new norms. For Benjamin Ferré (Monnoyeur Duo for a Job) in 22nd place, his race is a wonderful mix of competition and adventure, trying to beat his closest rivals – loving the tussle for supremacy in the daggerboard fleet – but dealing with new experiences which very soon become the norm,

“Now I’ve beaten my record for time spent alone at sea, you have lots of different emotions! For two days there’s been a level of anxiety on the boat, three days ago I decided to hoist the spinnaker and I’m still on the edge of its range, it’s okay but there shouldn’t be much more. The first night, I didn’t sleep, paralyzed with anxiety in the cockpit, ready to dump it. At the same time, there was the really exhilarating side because it allowed me to widen the gap with my competitors, and I think we pulled off a great move two days ago by winning in the South, I managed to make up for my loss from the Doldrums and regain the lead I had before the Doldrums, so I was pretty happy with that! From a racing point of view, it was pretty exhilarating, and what’s funny, where it paralyzed me two days ago, at the time now it’s exactly the same conditions, there are 18 knots, it’s gray, I’m under spinnaker, and life is much better! We get used to everything!

He concludes. “ After that I took advantage of the last rays of sunshine today, it’s getting cloudy, it’s starting to get cold, and suddenly, the morale and the atmosphere go a little with the weather, I’m a little more melancholic, and all the more so because there’s a little extra anxiety which is still a little apprehension of the Southern Ocean but especially of the two big depressions that await us! The first one which is already going to be a hell of a challenge, and then the second from Friday noon, where there’s no real escape, and I don’t really know yet how I’m going to negotiate that! It adds a bit of uncertainty and anxiety on the boat, because all of this is still very new! I’m changing from a pure race mode against those round me to a Southern Ocean mode, surviving, being safe. I’m trying to get into that mood!”