On the morning of this 39th day of racing, Yannick Bestaven (Maître CoQ IV) took the lead in the Vendée Globe. By succeeding Thomas Rettant (LinkedOut), the Rochelais becomes the 8th leader of this Vendée Globe which, this afternoon, experienced the compensation awarded by the race jury to the baffled solo sailors to assist Kevin Escoffier on November 30.

While Jérémie Beyou and Romain Attanasio are due to cross the finish line tomorrow, Isabelle Joschke (out of the race) left the port of Salvador de Bahia to reach Les Sables d’Olonne. In the rest of the fleet, a match between six skippers, who rounded the high pressure, promises to be particularly breathless. After 89 days at sea, the voyage up the Atlantic has not finished revealing all its secrets.

For the first time in the history of the Vendée Globe, we saw eight competitors follow one another on the pontoons of Les Sables d’Olonne in the space of 23 hours and 44 minutes. 23 hours and 44 minutes of joy and emotion, as intense as this planetary regatta which will have been played through contact from start to finish. It was not until the arrival of Jean Le Cam on Thursday evening to put a final order in the hierarchy of this crazy race.

With five days to go, the race scenario is still uncertain. Still, Charlie Dalin, Louis Burton and Boris Herrmann seem to have taken a slight advantage which could increase over the weekend.