Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil), the French skipper who grew up in Les Sables d’Olonne with the Vendée Globe as the backdrop to his life, is Sunday’s new leader of the solo non-stop round the world race. The 34 year-old, who had to withdraw into Cape Town from his first Vendée Globe challenge after suffering damage to his foil housing, has sailed a solid first week on this race, positioning himself close to the rhumb line – the most direct, efficient course south – for a lot of the time to ease ahead this afternoon
Simon, winner of La Solitaire du Figaro in 2018, is now further south than erstwhile leader Jean Le Cam whose position – just 150 miles west of the African coast exclusion – has seen the French veteran struggling for wind. The ridge of high pressure which has been a roadblock for the fleet – has extended east and left Le Cam and New Zealander Conrad Colman (MS Amlin) almost starved of wind.
It has, nevertheless, been a good Sunday for British skipper Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) who is drawing plaudits for his race so far. He found a rich vein of wind and today spent hours at around 20kts of boatspeed whilst rivals to his west and east were still struggling to find double digit speeds. Goodchild is back up to third on this second Sunday afternoon of the race, still some 400 miles or so NW of the Cape Verde islands. He was still making 14-15kts, quicker than leader Simon who had gybed westwards this afternoon.
@VendeeGlobe
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