Charlie Dalin, on Apivia, leads the Vendée Globe fleet in the South Atlantic.

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Loic VENANCE / AFP

The December 11 newspaper

It tightens at the head of the race

What do we vibrate in the warmth of our armchairs while the leaders of the Vendée Globe are engaged in a merciless fight in the southern seas.

Upon waking up, Charlie Dalin (Apivia), however rather firmly established in the lead when we abandoned him for our sleep the night before, had slowed down and was only 130 miles ahead of his runner-up Thomas Rouillard in the score from 9 a.m.

And that's not all: the Northerner on LinkedOut is himself caught up by Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq) and Jean Le Cam (Yes we Cam!), Who, with the compensations he will receive (one day, we do not know when), may be a virtual leader at the time we are talking to you.

The suspense is total on the Everest of the seas, we vibrate as on the Loze pass.

Classification at 9 a.m.

1) Charlie Dalin

2) Thomas Rettant, 134 miles away

3) Yannick Bestaven, 161 miles away

4) Jean Le Cam, 244 miles

5) Benjamin Dutreux, 250 miles

Manuel Cousin turns around to repair his boat

Vendée Globe cartography junkies will surely have noticed that Manuel Cousin was sailing in the wrong direction, that is to say from the Indian Ocean towards the Cape of Good Hope.

Not that the navigator on Groupe Sétin had gone mad, but he was busy repairing a damage to his cracked port rudder.

“It was while checking the boat that I noticed this crack.

I am lucky to have had weather conditions allowing me to repair this night.

You have to see the positive side!

Maybe I lost a few places, but I'm still in the race, and that's the most important.

In the ruthless Indian Ocean, it is indeed a lesser evil.

Can Fabrice Amedeo continue blindly?

On the other hand, the situation is more tense for Fabrice Amedeo, who is thinking more and more about abandonment.

The latest map update suggests that the skipper on Newrest - Art et Fenêtres is heading for… Cape Town, which would amount to abandoning the race.

Amedeo was completely let down by his computer system, which he himself described as a random failure.

If it still benefits from its GPS data, it is for example now deprived of weather files, which is quite problematic for the future, especially on board an Imoca in the Indian Ocean.

If there is any abandonment, it will be above all for security reasons.

The freeze-dried?

Which freeze-dried?

We told you about it several weeks ago, Vendée Globe skippers are less and less bored with powdered food.

Big smile this morning in the Indian, there are still fresh fruit on board the Mono Banque Populaire X. Clarisse is getting ready to stock up on vitamins for her breakfast!

😋🍊



⛵ 13th


🗺 https://t.co/CQTVBUnhJQ#GoClarisse # VG2020 #FridayMotivation pic.twitter.com/YLVgfsCQNT

- Voile Banque Pop (@VoileBanquePop) December 11, 2020

Whey, Feed bars, all of that is great fun, but nothing beats the pleasure of eating real food.

Clarisse Cremer (Banque Populaire) understood this well and therefore offered herself a small grapefruit to stock up on vitamin C in the southern seas.

Not impossible that it gains places thanks to this boost.

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