The skipper Charlie Dalin.

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AFP

6,857 miles.

It is the distance which separated the leader of the Vendée Globe, Yannick Bestaven, from the finish line of the race at the 9am score.

It is also more or less the gap between this same Bestaven and the red lantern, Sébastien Destremau (on the verge of abandonment).

At the dawn of his 18th day at the front of the fleet, the skipper on Maître Coq, who crossed the longitude of Cape Horn on Saturday afternoon, sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

But we shouldn't be fooled by appearances, the road is still long, if only because the sea will be calmer than in the Deep South and the pace changes numerous.

And behind, Dalin, Rouillard and Seguin are on the lookout for the slightest error.

The classification at 9 a.m.

1) Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq IV)

2) Charlie Dalin (Apivia), at 117nm

3) Thomas Rettant (LinkedOut), at 477 nm

4) Damien Seguin (APICIL Group), at 481 nm

5) Benjamin Dutreux (Omia - Water Family), at 621 nm

Charlie Dalin in turn crosses Cape Horn

After Maître Coq, Apivia became the second boat in the Vendée Globe 2020-21 to leave the Pacific.

Charlie Dalin passed the longitude of Cape Horn on Sunday at 5:39 am French time.

And he should not be too unhappy to be done with the South Seas, which caused him so much trouble and cost him a first place yet so solid.

55d 15h and 19 'to reach Cape Horn, it's not bad: it's better than Le Cam in 2004 or Desjoyeaux in 2008. But it's worse than Gabart in 2012 (52 days) and especially the Le rocket Cléac'h in 2016 (47 days).

The next to cross the last milestone of the race will a priori be Thomas Rettant and Damien Seguin, who are sailing almost hand in hand.

Alan Roura's flashback

The Swiss on La Fabrique is experiencing major keel hydraulic system problems in the Great South.

And this is not the first time that bad luck has surprised him in this part of the world.

Four years earlier, he had hit an ofni, forcing him to play Builder Bob in the front of his boat.

He returns to this episode in a rather nice mini-comic.

[MEMORIES 1/2] 🥺 4 years ago, Alan met an UFO, forced to change his rudder in the 50th.



Back in pictures on this memorable repair of @VendeeGlobe 2016-2017 ⬇️



🎨 © @Astrid__VDH #LaFabriqueSailingTeam #LFST # VG2016 # VG2020 # UnVendéePourLaSuisse 🇨🇭 pic.twitter.com/YS01TCjKt8

- The Factory (@AlanRoura) January 2, 2021

The board allows you to realize the feat then achieved by Roura.

Especially since the whole operation had taken place in the 50th screaming.

We wish him, as in 2016-17 (12th), to succeed in getting out of the galley to join Les Sables.

But today he concedes it.

Because of his mechanical problems, he is "no longer 100% in the race".

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Vendée Globe: Bestaven will take the last Cap of the race in the lead

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