A bit like in a bicycle race, the Vendée Globe pack has broken up. Nine of the frontrunners have broken away, and are currently diving towards Good Hope thanks to a nice low-pressure system. Interspersed Justine Mettraux is now among the pursuers, virtually neck and neck with Samantha Davies, Clarisse Crémer and Boris Herrmann. In the pack, Alan Roura had to cope with lighter winds than at the front of the race. IMOCA Hublot, well placed in her group, still has a real chance of making a comeback over the coming weeks. At the back of the pack, but not yet in the gruppetto, Oliver Heer is stretching his legs. The man from Zurich sails cleanly and will have to rely on skimming from the front.
Scare for Justine Mettraux
The news broke on Tuesday morning. The previous night, Justine Mettraux was forced to concede a few miles to her opponents following the tear in the leech of her J0. Nothing irremediable, however, as the Genevan was then able to devote her time to a sail-making workshop in her cockpit. She managed to carry out a fine repair which should guarantee her the use of this indispensable sail in the future. During this interlude, Justine Mettraux was sailing under FR0 (for Code 0 split), which handicapped her for a few hours.
After more than two weeks of racing, this Vendée Globe is shaping up to be more competitive than ever. Maxime Sorel’s retirement is still the only withdrawal to date. Relatively unaffected by the start of the race, the fleet should enter the Southern Ocean in good health. Another lesson is that all the teams seem to have reached maturity in terms of preparing their IMOCA boats, thanks to a dense racing calendar and a high level of professionalism within the class. Since the arrival of foils in the Vendée 2016, the reliability of 60-foot boats has taken a huge leap forward. The entry into the Southern Ocean in a few days’ time should tell us more about the ability of the leaders to maintain their furious pace.