Over the past few weeks, life has not been easy for Sébastien
Destremau. Since Friday he has been the only competitor still racing in
the eighth Vendée Globe. After 118 days of racing, food is running low
and Sébastien has had to ration his supplies. He was slowed in a number
of calm zones. He had uncomfortable conditions slamming upwind or facing
a very heavy swell. Now with less than a week to go to the finish,
Sébastien Destremau is in a 35-knot SW’ly flow, which is pushing him
along at high speeds. Very high speeds for his venerable old boat
launched back in 1998.
The final part of the Vendée Globe has not always
been the easiest this year. After the Southern Ocean storms and the
upwind sailing off South America, the Equator is often seen as the mark
indicating that the finish is within sight. However, in this edition of
the non-stop solo round the world race, many skippers have had to take a
very long way around the Azores high pushing back their finish as they
clock up extra miles.
Others like Pieter Heerema last week have paused
to wait for the Atlantic storms to go by, while others have been slowed
to frustratingly low speeds in the Bay of Biscay where unusually light
NE’ly winds have been common this winter. But for Sébastien Destremau,
the situation is looking relatively positive for the final few days of
racing.
Currently sailing in strong winds at the latitude of Vigo in downwind
conditions, TechnoFirst-faceOcean is approaching her best performance
of the round the world voyage. This morning sailing at over 13 knots,
Destremau has finally been making very good speeds towards the finish.
Late yesterday evening, the skipper adopted a more easterly course to
head towards the Bay of Biscay after passsing to the west of Flores
(Azores) yesterday afternoon.
Now to the North of the archipelago, there
is still a heavy swell (5-7m). These conditions are expected to last
throughout the day with the wind veering to the NW this evening. During
the night Destremau will have to cross a transition zone with much
lighter winds and a shift to the SE, but this is not expected to last
long and by tomorrow afternoon, he should be back in Sw’ly winds.
It looks like downwind sailing in manageable winds until Thursday
when TechnoFirst-faceOcean is truly on the final straight towards Les
Sables d’Olonne. In lighter conditions, speeds may drop, but there is
still some uncertainty about by how much. Current routing still
indicates a finish on Friday for the final skipper in the 2016-2017
Vendée Globe.
(www.vendeeglobe.org)
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