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.

“It is urgent to wait”, this oxymoron formulated today by Jacques Caraës, the Clerk of the Course of the Vendée Globe, is struggling to extinguish the excitement that has gripped the public and the teams in the face of the incredible scenario of this end of a solo round the world trip, without stopovers and without assistance.

At the head of the fleet, two strategies stand out for making the most of a flow from the South-West. One to the West (Louis Burton – Charlie Dalin – Boris Herrmann), the other to the North in the wake of Yannick Bestaven and Damien Seguin.