At the time of this writing, just before Thanksgiving, I’m continuing to find myself captivated by the 2024 Vendée Globe Race. After starting in France on November 10 and having crossed the equator, the 40-boat fleet is flying fast south and east towards the Cape of Good Hope. The biggest news, though, has been at the front of the fleet where several in the top ten have consistently been breaking speed records in their IMOCA 60 foiling machines.
On November 24 alone, several racers beat what was the previous benchmark of 551 miles. The stopwatch came in with Nicolas Lunven at 554.55 miles, then Charlie Dalin with 558.82 miles, Thomas Ruyant with 571.59 miles, and finally it was Yoann Richomme who clocked the longest distance — 579.86 miles, at over 24 knots average speed.
This is incredible to follow! Imagine sailing that many ocean miles in one 24-hour period. It’s hard to fathom.
Along with breaking records, the leaders are having to adapt as best they can to a life at high speeds, riding the crest of a low-pressure system. It’s no surprise that this is an incredibly harsh environment, but it’s amazing how each of the top ten skippers seems to progressively attune themselves to the motion of their IMOCA and manage to function to keep themselves at top speeds.
Things are certain to change, but at the moment the leaders are finding some separation. Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) continues to impose the pace at the front of the fleet, making averages of 23 knots, while Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) hangs on to his wake at around 40 miles behind with a truly impressive consistency. Maybe this duo, having scrapped over the lead for thousands of miles on the last Vendée Globe four years ago are in some way more attuned to the pace and movement? Currently in third place, Yoann Richomme (Paprec-Arkéa) is not finding too much enjoyment living on a runaway train of a sailboat.
Of the speeds they’re reaching and the sea state, Richomme had this to say: “It’s really hard, as we’re trying to escape with this depression, it’s really such a speed race, the sea isn’t too rough but the boat is still jumping in all directions, it’s going very fast, it’s really quite unpleasant. It’s not very reassuring when you think of the boat and the equipment either! I’m still managing to live on board, I’ve just found a happy medium between speed and not doing stupid things, but it’s still complicated and not very pleasant. Maybe I’ll get into my rhythm at some point, but it’s extremely hard!”
To the average sailor, it’s hard to imagine life on the ocean, racing solo around the world at such speeds. But it sure makes it a lot of fun to be able to follow along from home. To learn more about life onboard for the racers, visit www.vendeeglobe.org. You can also follow the race tracker at: www.vendeeglobe.org/en/tracker
