With less than 40 miles separating Vendée Globe leader Armel Le Cléac'h from secondplaced Alex Thomson this morning and under 400 nautical miles left to the finish line, victory in the solo round the world race now comes down to one crucial last manoeuvre.
Crédit : Marine Nationale
Le Cléac'h and Thomson, who have been practically neck and neck over the 24,000nm they have covered since the Vendée Globe began on November 6, have been forced to sail much further north than the latitude of the finish line in Les Sables d'Olonne, France, by an anticyclone blocking their route home. But with the centre of the high pressure system moving north-east over the south of England the door to Les Sables will finally open and both skippers will be able to point their bows towards the finish line. Herein lies the deciding moment of the Vendée Globe 2016-17: picking the right time to tack.
The duo were this morning in decreasing south-easterly winds of 10-12 knots sailing at the latitude of Brest in Brittany. But as they get nearer to the coast the wind is forecast to gradually swing to the north-east and at this moment they will be able to tack onto port and begin the final sprint. The home strait is marked with pitfalls – the islands of Groix, Belle-Île and Yeu will disturb the breeze, the currents in the area are known to be tricky and the coastline is busy with shipping and fishing traffic. It may just be that these obstacles give Hugo Boss skipper Thomson the opportunity he needs to usurp Le Cléac'h and Banque Populaire from the top spot in the final 36 hours of the race.
At 0400 UTC it was Le Cléac'h, runner-up in the last two editions of the Vendée Globe, who had the speed advantage, making just shy of 15 knots compared to Thomson's 10. Both boats are set to arrive in Les Sables on Thursday. The tracker will update hourly once the leader gets to within 100nm of the finish.
From Mer&Media
