When he crossed Cape Horn as the narrowest of narrow leaders at the head of the 36 strong Vendée Globe fleet at 23:27:20hrs UTC on Monday night Yoann Richomme set two new records for the solo round the world course. That he smashed Armel Le Cléac’h’s 2016 mark of 47 days 00 hours 34 minutes 46 seconds racing between Les Sables d’Olonne and the Horn is in big part due to an ultra rapid passage between Australia’s Cape Leeuwin and the Horn which slashed 4 days 10hours 4 minutes and 29 seconds off Le Cléac’h’s 2012 time. Richomme’s new record for the race is 13 days 09 hours 13 minutes 43 seconds.
Richomme certainly owes part of his record to the electric pace forced on him by his closest rival Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) who passed the Horn only 9 minutes and 30 seconds behind, both blessed by a Pacific which really opened up ahead of them – in terms of favourable winds and wave patterns. Having passed both Capes of the course in front it was clearly a source of some chagrin to be denied the hat trick by his nemesis Richomme.
The PAPREC ARKÉA skipper was ecstatic to pass so close to the Cape on his first ever passage, “So cool! What an absolutely amazing moment! So much excitement to pass the Horn. I never imagined I would pass it in conditions like that. There were 15 knots of wind, the swell pushing us. I passed close, what… two miles off?. My God, it was majestic! It was so cool! To see the whole chain of snow-capped mountains. So happy, so proud of myself and the whole team. It’s really a great reward to pass Cape Horn, and in the lead no less. The big job is done. All that’s left is the climb back up. That in itself is going to be exceptional but now, the moment deserves to be savoured. It’s so beautiful.”
But between them the Christmas Eve double act sets up what promises to be the most intriguing, engaging ascent of the Atlantic, one which could still be won or lost on one tack or gybe, or an escape from the many transition zones which are expected. If the duo can escape an area of high pressure and light winds to their west which is herding them northwards along the ice exclusion zone the weather looks set to be another gift and some routings have them at the latitude of Rio at the end of the weekend.
“To date, the scenarios for the Atlantic ascent are quite promising for the leaders”, confirmed Christian Dumard, weather consultant for the event, whose routings suggest an Equator crossing into the Northern Hemisphere as early as January 4th.
Simon’s Christmas Cape
Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil) is more than 600 mile behind in third and should round his first Cape Horn early Christmas Day to escape into the Atlantic with a podium position he can hope to keep to the finish with fourth placed Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) the best part of 1000 miles back from him.
“I can’t wait!” said the sailor from Les Sables d’Olonne who is as excited to leave the Big South “I can’t wait to leave the Southern Ocean and head back to the Atlantic. Rounding the Horn is a huge milestone. It means we’ve completed two thirds of the course. Rounding Cape Horn on Christmas Day is not given to everyone. It’s pretty cool and it’ll also take away some of the emotion and sadness of not being with my loved ones and family. I’m going to enjoy it all the more!”
Opinions are, as ever divided what lead can be considered ‘safe’. After stopping to repair on the top of his mast in the lee of Macquarie Island on the last edition Louis Burton came back from a 1000 miles deficit to finish on the podium. And on that same 2020-21 race clear leader Yannick Bestaven lost 400 miles to Charlie Dalin when he became stuck in a high pressure ridge off the Brazilian coast. So nothing is cut and dried!
@VendeeGlobe
#VG2024
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