The Heat Is On

"The Heat is ON"!

Banque Populaire in hot pursuit of MACIF

This can be understood in two ways, the leaders are sailing just North of the Equator in high Temperatures, but ..

also Banque Populaire gained back some 200 Nm in the last two days on the Leader Macif. Macif was stopped in the Doldrums, not that active this time, but still. B.P. however is now in the Doldrums and may see his gain stopped or reduced as Macif may speed up again. 

Behind them, Paprec has gained a  lot almost 290Nm on Alex, who lost speed in the lower winds at the Brazilian coast. Alex is now passed Recife and will speed up and hopes for a quicker passage of the Doldrums to catch Paprec. 

The group behind in the southern Atlantic is struggling with a big High that does not allow boatsspeed over 10kts. 

LiveSkipper, virtual boats have finished there Sail the Globe sailing race already. They sailed a whole lot faster, though also in the same boat and sails. Better navigation tools and scheduling options, must have helped those skippers to optimise the sailing better.  Their classifications can be seen in the TAB  RANK above. 

Week 9 Highlights

Week 9 was a week with many events, 

Week 9 Highlights by VendeeGlobeTV

Many Boats passed Cape Horn, some in the dark, some in tumultuous seas but Jean Le Cam in early daily and close distance. He thus could make a nice video of his passing, that give us arm-chair sailors a glance a vivid as can be. 

There was the final verdict of the Jury to "DSQ" Bernard Stamm, for accepting help. Bernard, who after his repairs on the hydrogenerators, lost the function again due to an UFO (un-identified floating object) and left without power generation had to re-fuel after passing Cape Horn. He basically put himself out of the race, keeping the honor on him, before the Jury could reject his appeal. 
Tanguy de Lamotte, found his gennaker drifting alongside his boat as the langyard broke loose and had some big effort to retrieve it onboard.
Alex Thompson, sailing close to the Argentinian coast, gained a lot of miles and for some time took the 3rd spot from Jean-Pierre Dick. 
Francois Gabart however sailed a perfect strategy which extended his lead, as we speak, to over 200 Nm. He has gained a very strong position doing this.