French sailor Armel Le Cleac'h has almost doubled his Vendee Globe lead on arch-rival Alex Thomson overnight after finding breeze to the west of the Cape Verde islands.
After several days of painful progress through the Doldrums that allowed Thomson to close the gap to under 100 nautical miles, Le Cleac'h was this morning 180nm ahead of the British sailor. In fact in the 30 minutes leading up to the 0400 UTC report the speedo on Banque Populaire VIII was up to 17 knots while Thomson's Hugo Boss was only making 11. The new buffer will be welcomed by Le Cleac'h, who yesterday spoke of his frustration that an unlucky Doldrums crossing had allowed Thomson back into the game.
Jeremie Beyou, on the other hand, has barely felt the effect of the Doldrums after he passed the Equator yesterday at 1329 UTC. With the Doldrums dissipating, Beyou's Maitre CoQ was this morning making a steady 10 knots north, 700nm behind Le Cleac'h. Eric Bellion was today just 150 miles from Cape Horn, with Conrad Colman a further 100 miles behind.
Top ten ranking:
1. Armel Le Cleac'h, Banque Populaire VIII, 2059 nm to finish
2. Alex Thomson, Hugo Boss, 252 nm to leader
3. Jeremie Beyou, Maitre CoQ, 822
4. Jean-Pierre Dick, StMichel - Virbac, 1262
5. Jean Le Cam, Finistere Mer Vent, 1417
6. Yann Elies, Queguiner - Leucemie Espoir, 1429
7. Louis Burton, Bureau Vallee, 2743
8. Nandor Fa, Spirit of Hungary, 4144
9. Eric Bellion, COMMEUNSEULHOMME, 4844
10. Conrad Colman, Foresight Natural Energy, 3964