When the 32 competitors of the Vendée Globe begin their second week of racing, all have experienced various kinds of issues.
Whether first or last generation monohulls, all are in the same boat. The skippers must turn into MacGyver to make makeshift repairs. Alex Thomson, Jérémy Beyou, Ari Huusela, Kojiro Shiraishi, Clarisse Cremer, and our own Maralpine Alexia Barrier have all already demonstrated their DIY skills to repair one or several elements on their IMOCA. Last week, the TSE-4myplanet skipper had to repair her broken-down water desalinator.
But apart from technical problems, today’s weather played tricks and forced Alexia to tack to avoid a major storm that would certainly have been devastating for the boat created in 1998 for Catherine Chabaud and which has already seen its share of challenges on the Vendée Globe seas. “Just enough time to furl the genoa in the locker, take a reef, and unfurl the J3. I avoided the lightning; now it’s rain. It’s perfect timing as I just started a laundry,” jokes the local competitor, who will encounter quite challenging conditions again tonight.
Indeed, she is entering an area where two ocean currents intersect, commonly known as the Doldrums, which has been mentioned frequently for several days. It’s a very unstable weather zone between 8° N and 3° N starting from the African coast and sometimes extending to 35° W. The next few hours promise to be very active with several nocturnal maneuvers ahead!
For now, Alexia Barrier fluctuates between 25th and 26th position in the ranking, which she shares with Clément Giraud, only a nautical mile apart to the west in the descent of the Atlantic.
