Vendée Globe leader Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) is in the Pacific and, mathematically, on his way home. He passed the midpoint of the course, after completing 50% of the theoretical distance of the 23,890 miles track . Speaking to the Vendée Globe LIVE! English show he sounded relieved and pleased, more so to be in the Pacific which seems set to be kinder to him, and those just behind him, than the Indian Ocean was.
Pacific Ocean
Dalin smiled in the dark of the Australasian night. “It is all good here in the Pacific Ocean – very happy to be in this one. It’s very, very unstable tonight, like a frozen doldrums. We’ve got hail squalls and 40 knot squalls and very unstable wind that’s shifting a lot in direction. So not an easy night. Ahead if me it looks like a pretty nice stretch for a while. Medium to not very strong downwind VMG sailing, quite a lot on starboard by the looks of it. Then there’s a storm we might get just before Nemo Point, but until then I’ve got six days of not too strong conditions, which is a good introduction to the Pacific, but maybe a stronger low pressure in a week’s time.”
Dalin was congratulated on the show by Isabelle Autissier, the first woman to complete the Vendée Globe. “ Charlie, you are doing an incredible performance. I feel that the boats are so tough now compared to what we were doing something like 25 years ago, but the speed you’ve done through the Indian Ocean is really impressive.”
And Dalin acknowledged the respect from one of his inspirational childhood heroes, someone who helped kindle his dream of competing in the race,
“Thank you Isabelle. When you were sailing the Vendée Globe, I was a big, big fan of yours and you definitely inspired me into doing the Vendée myself. I always felt like you are a very, very solid and a very fast sailor.”
Chasing Pack
Behind him those chasing in his wake, from Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE, 4th) to Clarisse Cremer (L’Occitane en Provence, 13th) are expected to regroup. They will have to be patient with a ridge of high pressure blocking their path under Tasmania.
@VendeeGlobe
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