Dalin leads five way sprint for Vendee glory
Issued on: 4 min
Les Sables-d Olonne (France) (AFP)
French skipper Charlie Dalin is expected to be the first to cross the finish line at the end of the solo round-the-world Vendee Globe on Wednesday but that is no guarantee that he will win the epic race.
The 36-year-old is leading a five-boat sprint for the line at Les Sables d Olonne in Brittany, northern France, and is expected to arrive on Wednesday evening after 80 days and 28,000 often hazardous miles at sea.
But the result is complicated by the fact that two of them Boris Herrmann and Yannick Bestaven were awarded time bonuses to be given after the race for joining the search and rescue for Kevin Escoffier after his boat broke in two in the south Atlantic.
Burton pressures Dalin in six-way sprint for Vendee finish
Issued on: 3 min
Paris (AFP)
Five days before the expected finish of the solo round-the-world Vendee Globe, Louis Burton was gaining fast on leader Charlie Dalin on Friday at the head of the fleet which sees the first six boats separated by less than 150 nautical miles.
At 1700 GMT, Dalin s Apivia was just eight nautical miles ahead of Burton s Bureau Vallee 2.
Coming fast in their wake is the German skipper Boris Herrmann, looking to become the first ever non-French winner of the race which is now in its ninth edition, whose Seaexplorer-Yacht Club de Monaco is just 66nm behind Dalin.
Burton goes faster and further but Dalin gains in long-range Vendee duel
Issued on: 3 min
Paris (AFP)
Charlie Dalin and Louis Burton continued to duel at long distance in the Vendee Globe on Tuesday after choosing different routes home.
Burton in Bureau Vallee 2 was moving faster and was further north than any of his rivals but because he had gambled on swinging west in search of favourable weather, he had dropped two places to fourth and was further from home than fellow Frenchmen Dalin in Apivia, Thomas Ruyant in LinkedOut and Damien Seguin in Apicil.
At 1700 GMT Dalin led Ruyant by 116 nautical miles (215.4 kilometres), with Seguin less than 3nm further back and Burton another 12nm from the finish as they drew level with the Cape Verde Islands.