The advantage of capes is that they allow us to fix the imagination on the map of the world tour but also to clearly point out the gaps.
So, this Sunday morning, at the helm of his Maxi Banque Populaire XI, Armel Le Cléac'h rounded the legendary Cape Horn, the southernmost point of the South American continent.
The Jackal reached the third milestone well known to world tour enthusiasts after 34 days, 16 hours, 31 minutes and 50 seconds of racing in the Arkéa Ultim Challenge, in which he occupies second place.
And the calculation of his delay on the leader, Charles Caudrelier (trimaran Edmond de Rothschild) is quickly done: 4 days, 11 hours 53 minutes and we will spare you the seconds which are not (for the moment and far from it) decisive …
A huge gap which unfortunately largely deprives the race of its sporting interest, even if the latter is far from won for Caudrelier.
On board a sailing boat engaged in a world tour, whatever its size and the number of its hulls, no one is ever safe from technical problems or collisions with an Ofni.
The leader, already well underway in his journey back across the Atlantic and expected at the finish line around February 20, is also the only one of the six sailors departing from Brest on January 7 not to have stopped at the pit to carry out a repair on his giant, flying trimaran.
And even if his lead "is only" 1800 miles, this Sunday, after having exceeded 3000 miles, he still has a solid cushion over his pursuers.
Armel Le Cléac'h, forced to turn on the indicator in Brazil during the descent of the Atlantic to repair, never managed to get back in contact, hardly spoiled by the weather and even forced to go around the New -Zealand from the north to avoid the violent throes of a storm.
“The Indian Ocean was very complicated, difficult, especially after Australia where we had to make the big tour to the north of New Zealand,”
he confirmed.
It was quite epic, tedious, challenging... The crossing of the Pacific, on the other hand, was rather classic, on the edge of a depression.
We had good averages, days covering 700 to 800 miles.
It happened quite quickly and so much the better
. ”
It feels good to find a little civilization, the earth...
Armel Le Cléac'h
No visibility, however, on the Cape Horn side, doubled at night, for Le Cléac'h, which was making its fourth passage there.
“I wasn’t really able to admire the landscape,”
regrets the winner of the 2016-2017 Vendée Globe
.
Obviously, it's not the same emotion: I would have liked to spend it during the day to enjoy it a little.
But I feel that we are leaving the South Seas, that we are leaving the sometimes difficult conditions that I had.
Unfortunately, the transition will not happen immediately because there will be bad weather again for a few more days.
But it feels good to find a little civilization, the land... I know that we are going to sail in an area where we are close to rescue, to possible logistics around our boats... It's reassuring.
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