Broken ribs, repairs and reduced leads (Vendée Globe update 14Jan21)

Romain Attanasio (Pure – Best Western Hotels and Resorts) has suspected broken ribs after a violent fall. It happened in rough seas, in gusts of 40 – 50 knots. Seemingly he fell heavily against a winch and lost consciousness for a few moments.

“I regained consciousness, I tried to breathe deeply and each time, my head was spinning,” says Attanasio. “I went inside, then the breeze passed downwind and the boat got over it. So everything suddenly calmed down and I was wondering what I had. It was quite unrealistic as a scene.”

He says, however, that he’s in good shape and mainly suffering when he manoeuvres the winch column. The race doctor has prescribed painkillers.

Charlie Dalin (Apivia) is a mere 20 miles ahead of Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée 2), while third placed Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq IV) is inshore.

The leading trio are progressing all the time into slightly stronger wind which is allowing them to stretch slowly but steadily ahead of the rest of the group. In fourth Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut) is not matching the leaders’ pace with his truncated foil.

Yannick Bestaven says “It’s all go now to get back to Les Sables d’Olonne, we’ll see what happens for this last part. The final chapter of the race is going to be interesting: there are several of us who could win, and it’s something we’ve never seen before in the Vendée Globe.”

Isabelle Joschke is out of danger and making about 8 to 9 knots under reduced sail since she retired from the race with damage to her keel canting system.

She’s evaluating which port to head for.

“The port could be Itajai, Rio de Janeiro or Salvador de Bahia. The goal is for her to move north as quickly as possible to find a flow of easterly trade winds in latitude 25-26 south. We are in the process of setting up arrival solutions to have a team ready to welcome Isa. Beyond that, the repair of the boat in situ so that it returns to France by sea or whether we load the IMOCA MACSF on to a cargo ship has not yet been decided,” says her team.

Hear from skippers around the fleet

Pip Hare has used a kevlar garter and lamination to solve her leak

“It was quite a big bit of work,” she says.

Although she knew it was coming, her temporary rudder repair failed leading to about 100 litres of water in the back of the boat and a night of bailing.

“I had to change tack to the North of the Falklands and do a repair,” she says.

“Stopping racing is a bitter pill to swallow but I still have over 6,000 miles to sail. I need to come back fighting.” (08.44 14Jan21)

Miranda Merron is enjoying the view

Merron has been preparing her boat meticulously for the arrival of strong winds in the North and North West.

Her attention is monopolized by the boat’s performance, but Merron admits she spends a lot of time on ocean contemplation.

“I like watching the sea,” she says.

“The sea around here is never the same, sometimes a deep blue in the sun, sometimes a dreary grey confusing with the sky.” (09.55 14Jan21)

Watch yesterday’s round-up of all the action

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