Paris (AFP)

Experienced by almost two days of strong winds and aggressive seas, Charlie Dalin went out of business and headed the first Thursday to Cape Leeuwin when Kevin Escoffier set foot ashore in Reunion, ten days after his sinking.

"The wind was whistling in the mast, the gusts were impressive. I was really at the limit, there were a few rather tense hours," said Dalin (Apivia) Thursday morning during a session with the race director.

At 36, the Norman sailor discovered the southern seas and, this year, they are particularly tough!

The novice on the solo round-the-world race was not impressed and mastered the elements on Wednesday night in the biggest storm since the start of the Vendée Globe on 8 November.

"I'm still a little tired from my stormy night. Fortunately, this night (Wednesday to Thursday), I had a little less wind than expected, it allowed me to recover well," continued Dalin.

At the helm of a latest generation boat equipped with foils (large appendages allowing the sailboat to almost fly), he was able to withstand the storm while moving quickly.

"I am relieved to have managed to overcome this obstacle. It is true that the conditions were very tight. I was always trying to find a compromise to go quickly", he noted, adding even: "At one point, I didn't know what to do to slow down because the boat was going really fast".

- His stripes of navigators -

Result: Dalin still leads the fleet for the seventeenth day in a row.

On Thursday at the end of the day, he was ahead of Thomas Rettant (LinekdOut) by 198 nautical miles (363 km) while the race is in its 32nd day.

"I may have just earned my stripes as a South Sea Navigator. After that, there are still weather and storms and we have to take them one after the other but I'm happy to have crossed this one", said recognized Dalin.

The navigator has in his sights the second of the three mythical capes around the world, Cape Leeuwin (southern tip of Australia), which he could cross the longitude in the night from Sunday to Monday.

Kevin Escoffier will not experience this thrill.

The sailor, whose boat broke in two on November 30, arrived Thursday morning on Reunion Island, after being saved by another competitor, Jean Le Cam, then being recovered by the frigate Nivôse il four days ago.

"Thank you to the French Navy, thank you to my friend Jean Le Cam," said Kévin Escoffier, greeted by around thirty people just after setting foot on the quay of the military naval base in the west port, home port of the Nivôse frigate.

The skipper, who is still smiling dressed in a French Navy outfit, explained that he was "divided between the disappointment of having had to abandon the Vendée Globe" and the fact of having lived "a beautiful human story with Jean Le Cam (...) and a beautiful human story with the sailors on the Nivôse ".

Thursday was a complicated day for Fabrice Amedeo (Newrest - Art & Fenêtres).

His second computer has just broken down while the first is already out of service.

It no longer receives weather information which is obviously particularly disabling.

The skipper tries to repair.

© 2020 AFP