After 31 days of racing, it’s now time for a series of depressions in this 2020 Vendée Globe with one key word: caution!
The conditions are becoming more challenging for the entire fleet in this ninth Vendée Globe. A call for vigilance requires skippers like Alexia Barrier to be even more watchful than usual. All night long, it’s necessary to check the wind’s lift force. “I’m on high alert on this eastern highway with favorable winds, making good progress. A wind between 17 and 24 knots, I’m flying my large gennaker (forward sail) which can theoretically withstand up to 30 knots, but I definitely don’t want to test it. I only have one and I don’t want to tear it,” Alexia recounted at 3 am.
The sailor from the Alpes-Maritimes remains very cautious in this very rough sea that has already caused quite a few problems for some sailors. Sailing on the edge of a depression that will carry them to the Cape of Good Hope, the delayed IMOCA yachts have entered the kingdom of shadows. That of the roaring forties. A name given by sailors to describe the strong winds located west of the Southern Hemisphere. It is therefore important to regulate speed while checking the evolution of meteorological conditions, which can completely change in just a few hours.
The goal, therefore, is to catch the right depression to proceed at a good speed, but with caution, so as not to compromise the chances of continuing the adventure. An adventure that still has over 33,000 km to go for TSE-4myplanete.
