Very tough conditions onboard!

One might have hoped that leaving the Southern Ocean behind would bring some relief, but that’s far from the reality. In a short message to his team this morning, Boris said, “Didn’t sleep yet, tough conditions, slamming and tacking,” and shared a few selfies that captured his exhaustion, his face drenched in sweat after a gruelling tack. The challenges remain relentless as Boris pushes forward with unwavering determination.

The Battle for the Top 5!

The main group – fifth to tenth – are fighting upwind in a corridor of breeze  between a  low pressure to their west and high pressure to their east, all the time still constricted by the exclusion zone to their right. In 25knots and sometimes more, the boats are slamming hard upwind, a big test for the tired boats and equipment. It has been an unpleasant way to bring in 2025 and they are getting no relief in the near future. All the time they are conscious that this is a compact group that they need to fight hard for any little gains and not be left behind. Paul Meilhat (Biotherm) is bossing the group in fifth and has done very well to build a small margin, getting away from the established ‘twins’ Jérémie Beyou (Charal) and Nico Lunven (HOLCIM PRB). In eighth Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) is holding at bay Boris Herrmann (Malizia Seaexplorer).

Beyou is concerned about the constant stress on the boats at this stage in the race: 

“The conditions are difficult, I have 28 knots of wind upwind, and the sea is very short. It shakes us a lot, we are looking for our way between this stormy depression that is coming to our West and this anticyclone that is to our East. Between the two there is a flow from the North, between 25 and 30 knots, but with a short and choppy sea. I am two reefs and J3, on starboard tack it was very complicated. When we are in the flow, the wind is more or less in line with the models, on the other hand in stormy depressions like that, it is a bit crazy, there are big storms that I try to avoid! I think that Malizia, Vulnerable and Holcim are doing a bit like me, we try to avoid the stormy zone by staying South and the zone of light wind behind the front. Biotherm went right into it, it seems a bit daring to me! And Justine is on the limit too! But finding a way through it's not easy, we're barely making progress, the weather conditions are really not favorable.”

Icebergs in sight! 

For the first time since 2008, three competitors in the Vendée Globe have crossed the path of icebergs. Vigilance is required in the middle of the Pacific to avoid these dangers, which are as frightening as they are fascinating. 

Two icebergs have been detected outside of the ice exclusion zone by race management yesterday morning, with Benjamin Ferré and Guirec Soudée warned to keep and eye on their position and expected drifting

Read more about here and have a look at the videos here: https://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/article/ice-detected-and-warnings-issued