Vendée Globe: sail repaired, Charlie Dalin regains a slight lead at the head of the race

Charlie Dalin mène le peloton de tête après avoir réparé une avarie sur une voile. MAXPPP – Franck castel

The Macif Santé Prévoyance skeeper is back on track in the Indian Ocean, ahead of Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa) and Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil).

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

Charlie Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance), once again the leader since Wednesday of the Vendée Globe, a solo, non-stop, unassisted round-the-world race, regained a slight lead on Thursday 19 December at the 7:00 a.m. time point, over Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa) and Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil).

600 miles in 24 hours

Almost halfway between New Zealand and Cape Horn, Dalin is sailing 31 nautical miles ahead of Richomme and 47 nautical miles ahead of Simon. After recently spending a day and a half repairing a sail, his boat has regained all its capabilities, which has allowed the 40-year-old skipper to cover almost 600 nautical miles in the last 24 hours, the best performance of the entire fleet of 36 boats still in the race.

The leading trio has generally widened the gap of around a hundred nautical miles on their immediate pursuers, like Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable), in fourth position, now 744 miles behind Dalin. The Northerner is closely followed by Nicolas Lunven (Holcim – PRB) and Jérémie Beyou (Charal).

Bestaven: “A lot more is going to happen”

Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq V) is temporarily alone in 7th position, 911 minutes behind the leader, after almost three days of struggling to avoid being caught by a zone of strong wind, with gusts of 50 knots.

“Four years ago, I spent a lot of time stopped in Brazil… A lot, a lot more is going to happen, nothing is prohibitive, even for those in head”, reminds the organization of the title holder, who, unlike his competitors, is currently sailing towards the Antarctic exclusion zone.