Paris (AFP)
About a week from the finish, and after almost two and a half months of racing around the world, the game is still very open in the Vendée Globe, with the first six boats separated by less than 200 miles on Wednesday.
Leading the fleet, Charlie Dalin (Apivia), leader, and Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée 2), 128 nautical miles (236 km), continue to embody the two strategic routes of the moment, the first inside , more to the East, the second outside, more to the West and the fastest.
Between the two monohulls, the lateral offset now exceeds 300 miles (555 km).
But just behind, Thomas Rettant (LinkedOut), Boris Herrmann (Seaexplorer-Yacht Club de Monaco) and Damien Seguin (Groupe Apicil), on the same option as Dalin, as well as Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq IV), sixth at 185 miles ( 343 km), have not said their last word.
Never in the history of the Vendée Globe have so many boats been able to claim victory so close to the goal.
But "you have to take the ranking with a grain of salt for two or three days," warns skipper Sébastien Josse, weather consultant for this 2020 edition, in the organization's daily program.
- Material constraints -
Because this classification is established according to the direct route to Sables-d'Olonne.
However, the leading pack is clearly deviating from it to catch a favorable weather system.
"If the competitors followed the theoretical route, they would go to a windless area in the middle of the Azores high," Josse explains.
To get around it, "they are heading north-west to find low-pressure winds," he continues.
"It is better to go around the ring road by being faster than to go through the city center", with lighter winds, Josse image.
"Once the boats turn their bows towards Les Sables, the positioning will become consistent again," he said.
In this strategic game, everyone no longer has the same cards in hand.
Material constraints after more than 70 days of racing weigh on the options taken.
Only Burton, the fastest over the last 24 hours, can thus still fully rely on his foils (lateral appendages allowing the boat to fly) to sail over the North Atlantic, when Dalin and Rtant, them, can no longer use their foil. left side, hampering the potential speed of their monohulls.
"I am on the wrong foot", summarizes Rouillard.
- Bonuses -
To find out which path will turn out to be the best, you will have to wait until the end of the week.
Dalin has his own idea, however.
"Within 48 hours, we should be over the ridge that we are skirting around and then we will recover the Atlantic low pressure train. I will return under the influence of the high pressure system this afternoon. (Wednesday) and the wind will start to drop. I chose the inside of the turn, we'll see what happens compared to Louis (Burton) who opted for the outside. At the exit, it is quite possible that we find ourselves approximately in the same place under the Azores ", he considered during a morning session with the PC race, after a night" windy and full of stars ".
The maneuvers will then be far from over.
"We will have to string together gybes and sail changes, manage fronts, shifts well, control our competitors and monitor maritime traffic. We will have to be as rested as possible, or as less tired as possible! And lucid", anticipates Dalin .
To further complicate the equation, the bonuses granted to competitors who have diverted themselves to go to help Kevin Escoffier, after his shipwreck off South Africa in early December, could play the spoilsport.
Six hours will be cut off from Boris Herrmann on his arrival, 10:15 am at Bestaven, and 4:15 pm at Jean Le Cam.
What, perhaps, to extend the suspense even beyond the finish line.
© 2021 AFP