Some more of the Vendee...

For the first time since the race started, Vendée race fans have a split fleet to watch. With a split-high scenario setting up over the next couple of days, Jean-Pierre Dick on Virbac-Paprec 3 has made a ballsy move and gybed onto starboard and away from the rest of the lead pack on Monday morning. Owning the West and sailing almost due South, the two-time Barcelona World Race champ hopes to be the first sailor in the fleet to hook into the strong Westerlies that will propel the fleet into the Southern Ocean. Race leader Armel Le Cleac’h has opted to work east, stay north and attempt to sail straight for the Aigulles Ice Gate; the first ice gate of the race. MACIF skipper Francois Gabart stuck to Cleac’h’s hip and attempted to follow the race veteran but eventually gybed to cover Dick, setting up this split-fleet scenario. Given all of the chaos at the front of the fleet, Alex Thomson has followed Banque Pop and has moved into second place on the tracker, with Bernard Stamm on Cheminees Poujoulat, maintaining a similar heading, some 50 miles West. Important to note is that at this point, the tracker positions are somewhat irrelevant and probably short-lived.

After a miserably slow crossing of the doldrums, Arnaud Boissieres on Akenda Verandas has had a ripping ride ever since. Consistently posting 24-hour runs either near or at the top of the fleet, “Cali” has been on a tear, moving up to just west of Spaniard Javier “Bubi” Sanso on Acciona 100% Ecopowered, who is still playing catch up in his new-generation Owen Clarke designed boat after his pit stop in the Canary Islands to ascend his rig. Tanguy de Lamotte continues to wow fans around the world with his jaw-dropping performance on his three-generation old Lombard designed Initiatives-couer, still holding onto tenth place on the leaderboard, although this will probably be short-lived as his Easterly course becomes less favored in the next 24 to 48 hours, as Acciona and Akena Verandas hook into northerlies and begin a sleigh ride that should take them towards Gough Island and the Roaring 40’s in rapid fashion. Bertrand de Broc on Votre nom Autour du Monde is finally re-gaining his step after joining Boissieres in an equally miserable crossing of the doldrums.

After hitting a floating metal “harbor buoy” that had presumably broken loose and was left to drift around the Atlantic, ’04-’05 Vendée Champ Vincent Riou onboard PRB has officially abandoned the Vendée Globe and is slowly limping into port in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. With a 1-meter long tear near the bow of his VPLP/ Verdier designed Open 60, there was significant delamination to the outer skin of the hull, with crushed-in honeycomb core. Riou, a composites expert, was able to fix the tear in the hull, but was unable to fix the real problem; a damaged outrigger shroud. Shockingly, as if some sort of bad joke, Vincent Riou has now abandoned two consecutive Vendée Globes after sustaining damage to an outrigger. In the ’08-’09 race, Riou turned around to rescue the capsized, keel bulb-less Jean Le Cam, damaging his outrigger on Le Cam’s keel fin in the process. A day later, Riou’s yacht dismasted and he was awarded a share of third place as re-dress. I’ll bet he goes with a classic rig next time!

Stay tuned for our next update in 3-4 days, this is turning into an epic race!