Vendee Globe - compression means high stress and opportunities 24 December 2020
Compared with the last two editions of the Vendée Globe which, by Day 45, had both been distilled down to high octane drag race sprints across the Pacific to Cape Horn, at the front this ninth edition is increasingly becoming an exacting game of strategy and patience.
For the top ten right now rather than spearing eastwards to Point Nemo, the most remote spot on the course which right now is still over 1000 miles to the east, the sport is more reminiscent of an inshore race in the Mediterranean in benign, fickle breezes, fighting with the track of a voracious zone of light winds,
Leader Bestaven Eyes Vendee Globe Christmas Bonus
22nd December 2020
Vendee Globe leader Yannick Bestaven
Leader Yannick Bestaven is being forced to play chicken with the Vendée Globe’s ice zone limit in the South Pacific as he seeks to extricate his Maître CoQ IV first from a frustrating anticyclone which is offering unusually light to moderate breezes even though they are racing at 55 degrees south. Bestaven, who has seen his margin eroded to 84 miles by Figaro one design ace Charlie Dalin while Thomas Ruyant is also about 80 miles behind.
The problem all three leaders face is that the centre of the system is moving east at more or less the same speed as they are. But if Bestaven can wriggle clear and his pursuers remain snared then the leader could hit the jackpot, gaining an advance of many hundreds of miles. Bestaven took himself to within 3.4 nautical of the virtual line today before he gybed back north-eastwards, all the time trying to stay as far south as he coul
Grosjean shares something special with Vendee survivor Escoffier
Issued on:
20/12/2020 - 16:32 3 min
Paris (AFP)
Formula One racing driver Romain Grosjean said he shared something special with Vendee Globe skipper Kevin Escoffier whose round-the-world race ended in near-disaster earlier this month.
Escoffier s boat PRB was smashed up, the bow folded 90 degrees while sailing through the Roaring 40s. He was forced to take refuge in a life raft and was later picked up by fellow competitor Jean Le Cam.
Grosjean also had a death-defying moment when he walked away from a fireball crash at the Bahrain Grand Prix in November. I share something special with Kevin Escoffier in that we have both recently survived very difficult moments, Grosjean told race organisers on Saturday.
New leader in Vendee Globe as Bestaven surges towards Pacific france24.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from france24.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Dalin leads Vendee Globe down to the freezing south
Issued on:
14/12/2020 - 21:34 4 min
Paris (AFP)
A gripping Vendee Globe entered a new phase on Monday as the three leaders, separated by just 70 nautical miles, headed towards the Antarctic Exclusion Zone (AEZ) in search of the winds that will drive them up into the Pacific Ocean.
Charlie Dalin still leads in Apivia, as he has done for the last three weeks, but the gap has shrunk from 300nm last week to just 65nm at 1700GMT Monday.
Yannick Bestaven, who is second in Maitre Coq IV, and Thomas Ruyant, another 5nm back in LinkedOut, give chase.