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Radical Offshore Racing Update

Shot during a pre-start practice session, either a very large shark — or perhaps orca — is keeping pace with Alex Thomson’s sleek IMOCA 60 Hugo Boss, or we’re getting a look at the tip of his starboard foil, which is now broken.

© 2016 Cleo Barnham / Hugo Boss / Vendee Globe

Now more than two weeks old, this eighth edition of the Vendée Globe is beginning to show its true colors, as the leaders approach the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope.

After starting in benign downwind sailing conditions that allowed the fleet to escape from the Bay of Biscay and Europe without any retirements or boat-breaking conditions, damage and attrition are beginning to play an important role in this race. Up front, race leader Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss is sailing with a broken starboard foil after a collision with an unidentified object. Still dragging a stump of a foil, the British skipper has managed to maintain boat speeds near to those of his pursuing rivals and has retained a lead of some 85 miles over second place.

On his way south, Thomson set a new reference time for the passage from Les Sables d’Olonne to the equator: 9 days, 7 hours, 3 minutes, bettering the 2004 record time of Jean Le Cam by one day and four hours. 

Behind Thomson, Sébastien Josse on Edmond de Rothschild and Armel Le Cléac’h on Banque Populaire have been trading second place on the leaderboard for days now, while also beginning to claw back miles from the wounded Hugo Boss, which had shown a clear speed advantage over the fleet before sustaining damage. Behind second and third place, there are just four more boats (Safran, PRB, SMA and Maître Coq) that have managed to hook into this first major low-pressure system and form a seven-boat lead pack. Averaging 20+ knots of boatspeed most of the way, the lead pack has decisively pulled away from the rest of the fleet which is now stuck in lighter air off the coast of Brazil.

Bertrand de Broc on MACSF has become the first boat to officially retire from the race, though he’s soon to have company. For de Broc, it was a collision at sea and damage to the hull and keel that will end his race. Nearly back in Europe now is Tanguy de Lamotte on Initiatives-Coeur, whose masthead sheave assembly failed, leaving the French skipper with no alternative but to head back to Les Sables d’Olonne.

Where Coville’s headed there’s no one to marvel at his speedy tri’s graphics, but that’s probably the last thing on his mind. It’s hard to imagine piloting this monster through the Southern Ocean solo. 

Sodebo Ultim
©2016Latitude 38 Media, LLC

Meanwhile, two maxi trimarans are attempting to break round-the-world sailing records. Thomas Coville on Sodebo Ultim’ is now just 388 miles ahead of the reference time set during Francis Joyon’s 2008 record, after Coville’s boat slowed down in very light air — which forced him to make many maneuvers — underneath South Africa. He has now hooked into a low-pressure system and is quickly working his way east at more than 25 knots.

Having just left Europe yesterday, Francis Joyon and crew on IDEC Sport are making a second attempt at Loïck Peyron and crew’s Jules Verne Trophy record for the fastest outright circumnavigation. After a slow start, the team is now speeding south. While their window through the North Atlantic doesn’t look as fast as Banque Populaire V‘s magical 2012 run, Dutch weather router Marcel van Triest is confident that the window in the South Atlantic looks perfect to get IDEC Sport into the Southern Ocean ahead of record pace.


How fast is IDEC Sport? Check out this video shot just a few days before the start of Joyon’s latest lap around the planet.
Courtesy IDEC Sport

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We made it! El Gato owners Annie Gardner and Eric Witte, on the right, stand atop the cat’s house after making the 1,500-mile passage from Virginia to the British Virgins.