VendeeGlobe 1st Week of Sailing

The Boats in the lead are sailing close to the Cape Verde Islands. The 1st week has seen some heroic sailing events but also some desperate ones.  

First week’s highlights by VendeeGlobeTV

Banque Populair has just gained the lead from MACIF, who had the lead for almost 6 days. The lead is however only some 20 Nm. 

The VG2012 fleet  has lost 20% of all Boats in this 1st week already. Hopefully it gets better. 

• Kito de Pavant, suffered a broken keel, 
• Marc Guillemot, collided while sleeping with a fishing boat, that damaged his boat severely,
• Sam Davies, demasted in stormy winds and rough seas, 
• Louis Burton, collided while  sleeping with a fishing boat, he had damage on Port side shroud and tried to return to base for repairs and possible a re-start just within the closing time. However  adverse wind conditions prevented him from sailing back.  

The fleet is now approaching the Doldrums and this could shake-up the order with the un-expected winds and squalls. 

The virtual sailors in VR have grown to over 300,000 registered boats; some overload problems have been suffered as well.