Vendée Globe Richomme in the lead as he heads back up the Atlantic, Bestaven has suffered damage, the point of this December 24

Richomme takes the lead in the Atlantic crossing. MAXPPP – Marc Demeure

Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa) took the lead in the Atlantic crossing and, after rounding Cape Horn at 00:27, he had an eight-nautical-mile lead over his closest pursuer Charlie Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance), at the 11:00 a.m. time limit on Tuesday.

The two skippers, who have been inseparable for several days, have once again posted 24-hour averages above 20 knots and significantly higher than the rest of the fleet. On Tuesday, at midday, they were still sailing faster than everyone else, at more than 26 knots.

Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil), third at 560 nautical miles, had still not finished with his Pacific crossing.

Further away, Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq V) suffered sail damage during the night from Monday to Tuesday, according to a press release from his team.

“Bestaven was able to recover his sail”

“While he was progressing to 8th position in 20 knots of wind, the system of the Code 0 attachment (one of the headsails) gave way, causing the Code 0 to be lost in the water. After two hours of manoeuvring, Yannick Bestaven was able to recover his sail, which was torn and now unusable”, the skipper's team indicated.

“Yannick is fine and has resumed his course, determined to regain the places he lost. He will try to repair the hook system when conditions allow him to climb the mast”, the press release concluded.

At 11am, Bestaven was thus in 10th place, more than 1,800 miles from the leader, but Only 3 miles from the 9th, Paul Meilhat (Biotherm).