At sea (AFP)

A blow to the right, a blow to the left: the leader of the Vendée Globe Charlie Dalin and his runner-up Thomas Rettant play from maneuver to maneuver on Tuesday to touch the little wind while trying to escape a high pressure area that would be a brake on their southern route.

"I no longer imagined the South Atlantic as the fastest zone around the world, and well it was missed!" Dalin said Tuesday morning during a session with the PC race.

On his latest generation boat capable of + flying +, Dalin (Apivia) has been leading the race since Monday morning in a duel with Rettant (LinkedOut), also at the helm of a sailboat + steering wheel + the latest generation.

According to the race direction, in the game of gybes (passing from one side to the other with the wind at your back), Dalin is one step ahead: ten gybes in 36 hours for Dalin against nine for Rettant (in the scoring 7 a.m. / 6 a.m. GMT Tuesday).

“We spend time at the chart table to find our way. We know the outline, but there are a lot of subtleties to deal with and, for now, Charlie (Dalin) is doing that very, very well. has taken a little lead, but we are not that far, and we have a fairly significant gap with the rest of the fleet, "said Rouillard, who had to climb to the top of the mast on Monday for some minor repairs.

- 'It's not possible' -

The two sailors, who sail in the middle of the South Atlantic, are only separated by a hundred kilometers (56.76 nautical miles) and seek the best way to reach the Cape of Good Hope.

"We are in a very disturbed area with this front that cuts the high pressure area. We are going to look for the south of the southernmost high pressure area. The road will be towards the south-east, to then go to the ice zone and a more classic route for the start of the Indian Ocean, ”noted Rettant.

Some 500 kilometers behind them, Jean Le Cam relishes an unexpected third place.

Aboard his 13-year-old boat (Yes We Cam!), The 61-year-old sailor hadn't considered being in front of the latest generation boats.

"No one had imagined it! Not even us!" Said Le Cam during the daily program dedicated to the Vendée Globe and broadcast on the organization's website.

"This is something that is not predictable. There, it is not possible, not possible to have 10 days of reaching (situation where the boat is moving forward with a crosswind therefore very quickly, Editor's note) on the same on board and let me be there "continued the skipper, who is taking part in his fifth Vendée Globe.

- 'Like a fart on an oilcloth' -

"There it is flat sea, it slides like a fart on an oilcloth, it is the case to say it! It is super pleasant, it is nickel".

The Cam is followed by Kevin Escoffier (PRB), who is 50 nm behind (80 km), then by Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq IV) and the German Boris Herrmann (Seaexplorer-Yacht Club de Monaco).

At the back of the fleet, Armel Tripon and his boat + steering wheel + (L'Occitane en Provence) graze the Brazilian coast but gradually come back into the game (24th).

The Japanese Kojiro Shiraishi (DMG Mori Global One), obliged to repair his torn mainsail for six days, also resumed the course of the race.

Ditto for the big favorite Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss), whose boat suffered structural damage, damage that caused him to lose more than 500 nautical miles (800 km) in 24 hours.

The former leader tumbled to 8th place.

Finally Sébastien Destremau (Thank you) seems able to repair the damage suffered on his keel, announced Tuesday morning to the race director.

© 2020 AFP