Vendée Globe Monday 10th February Update - Getting there one step at a time
by Vendée Globe media 10 Feb 17:06 UTC
10 February 2025
After a truly unforgettable weekend during which five skippers finished their Vendée Globes and enjoyed their welcome back into the Les Sables d'Olonne channel, there are six racers still out on the Atlantic ocean racing and two continuing their respective journeys.
Belgium's Denis Van Weynbergh (D'Ieteren Group) should cross the equator Tuesday night. Out of the race but set to complete his third circumnavigation Éric Bellion (Stand as One - Altavia) is expected in Les Sables d'Olonne tomorrow evening around 8 p.m. whilst the dismasted Arnaud Boissières (La Mie Câline) who is under jury rig heading to Le Marin on Martinique, where he hopes to arrive on Thursday morning, are continuing their adventure, even if they are now outside the official ranking.
Who's next?
Next to finish should be Antoine Cornic (Human Immoblier) who has just under 800 miles to go and is expected in about three days time. Jingkun Xu (Singchain Team Haikou) and Ollie Heer (Tut gut) should be in around the 16th. The Chinese skipper is back ahead of the Swiss German by about 20 miles this morning, both are slowed in the Azores high pressure making 5kts and 4kts respectively.
Cornic reports, "I can't wait to get back to land, to my friends, to have a drink and eat something other than what we have on board. But I feel so good at sea! I'm really enjoying these last moments."
"I contemplate the sea a lot, telling myself that I am lucky to be here, to be at the end of this solo round the world trip. I am truly privileged to enjoy the ocean and these wonderful landscapes. But there is a part of me that wants to arrive. I am careful with my bowsprit which got damaged in the Falklands. This forces me to regularly adapt my sail plan and it makes sailing tiring and stressful." - Éric Bellion, STAND AS ONE - ALTAVIA.
Denis Van Weynbergh, who should return to the Northern Hemisphere tomorrow evening or Wednesday, ""I collect water with a watertight container system to make up my forty litres. Every day, there is a new thing to accomplish. Now, there are three major challenges: getting through the northeast trade winds, managing the depressions and the Azores high, and then crossing the Bay of Biscay. But as always I take it one step at a time, always with the same objective: giving our all."
For Arnaud Boissières, not completing his fifth race leaves an air of unfinished business but he want to come back stronger. The weekend was hard for the Vendée sailor as the group he was racing with all came into finish over the weekend,
"I was dreading the arrival of my friends, I shared a large part of the round the world race with them but in the end I am so happy for them! I am looking forward to what comes next, I am trying to enjoy it. I project that I am really our here family transatlantic trip, but as soon as I open my eyes, I see my injured boat, and it hurts me. But you have to feed off failures to prepare for better days." - Arnaud Boissières, LA MIE CÂLINE.
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