Vendée Globe Race - Day 21: Good news and bad news for fleet leaders
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World NZ 1 Dec 22:12 UTC
1 December 2024
Charlie Dalin - MACIF - IMOCA - Southern Ocean - December 1, 2024 © Charlie Dalin
Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa) continues lead on Day 21 of the Vendee Globe 2024 Race, and has extended slightly on the second placed Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance.)
The four race leaders well into the Southern Ocean, as a group they are now almost 150nm ahead of the fifth placed competitor - Jérémie Beyou (Charal), who is 250nm behind the race leader.
A day or so ago there looked to be few options for the race leaders ahead of an approaching storm, which promised gusts of 60kts and 7 metre seas on two of the weather feeds available in Predictwind's weather routing system.
A widening of the centre of the low pressure centre has offered the option for the leaders to move in front of it and enjoy lower windspeeds (but still with a peak gust of over 50kts).
Quite how the full foiling IMOCA60s handle those extreme conditions will be watched with interest, and now it is matter of watching how the various navigational strategies play out.
The afternoon and evening update showed a changing situation, with the eye of the low offering tempting sanctuary, and of sufficient size to be an option - provided one was confident of it going in the right direction, not shutting down, and being able to escape at the right time.
The routing changed so that the lead boat (we used as a baseline) stayed close to the centre, without actually being in it, and then getting out as the low began to dissipate.