The two leaders of the Vendée Globe may finally have extricated themselves from cold front off Cabo Frio by Rio but both Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) and Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA) still have some light winds to break through before reaching the southeasterly tradewinds which will allow them to accelerate more directly north towards the equator and home.
Dalin has led since yesterday but once more he has seen his margin trimmed by his pursuer, from 93 to 63 miles today.
“The thing has been the weather GRIB files don’t really relate to what we are having. Sometimes we have seen as much as 200 degrees of difference. Only now are they starting to line up a bit.” He explains, “We talk a lot about the Doldrums but the semi-permanent cold front of Cape Frio can be a real headache. It is poorly documented and, in my opinion, underestimated. In this type of place, you sail by sight and, ultimately, in a way that is quite different from what you are used to. You have to be a bit opportunistic, adapt to what is happening but also know how to detach yourself a bit from the files, which is not necessarily easy. So we had to try to imagine what was happening.”
Big wave jumps
In this very unstable area Dalin encountered some surprisingly big waves which had his MACIF Santé Prévoyance leaping out of the ocean, “In fact they were the most violent waves since the start of my Vendée Globe. I did some pretty crazy jumps. Everything flew around in the boat.”
Dalin told the Vendée LIVE! show, “Right now, I’m making progress on port tack to find my point where I will tack towards the North before then starting a very long tack on starboard to the Doldrums. This is a point that promises to be quite important because it will define a line that will then be difficult to change.”
@VendeeGlobe
#VG2024
Interested in seeing more Offshore News?
