While the storm rages at the front of the race, behind, the winds seem to play tricks on the competitors who advance at a slow pace.
“A month at sea and in a few days the first Cape. Happy at sea,” jokes Alexia Barrier on her social networks. Thirty days can seem both long and short at the same time. In the Vendée Globe, there’s no time to get bored. Since the start, each day has brought its share of news. From the start through the passing of the “Theta” depression, then the gentle Southern trade winds conducive to repairs before heading below the Equator and now finding a rougher sea towards the Indian Ocean, the fleet has not been idle in a month.
A first third of the race that several favorites, aiming for victory like Alex Thomson or Kévin Escoffier, have not passed. Yet it’s hard to say if the competitors will be able to break Armel Le Cléac’h’s record of 74 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes, and 46 seconds, as he had already passed the longitude of Cape Leeuwin southeast of Australia. The weather has never really been favorable for a speed race as one might have expected to see with these new boats that almost fly above the water like Formula 1s of the seas.
Even without foils, the race is crazier! Less speed equals less stress, more thought-out decision-making, and thus a better-managed risk of damage. At least, that’s what can be observed with TSE-4myplanete, which sails at a slow pace (8.9 knots on average) while managing its “old” mount.
Hoping that this chronicle, aimed at following our Maralpine’s journey on this solo world tour, continues next month, which would mean that the passage through the rough and feared Indian Ocean was merely a formality for Alexia Barrier.
