Vendée Globe: Finish ETA 14-16 January, Ruyant loses headsail, icebergs sighted

The team behind the Vendée Globe has issued a statement to say the first competitors are predicted to return to shore between 14 and 16 January. But, unexpected challenges along the route continue to thwart competitors, like unexpected squalls . . . and icebergs.

Thomas Ruyant loses headsail

Thomas Ruyant has been caught in an extremely violent squall with winds exceeding 55 knots. The squall was so strong and sudden, Ruyant’s IMOCA Vulnerable was knocked flat.

The incident occurred Thursday afternoon (3 Jan 2025), off the coast of Montevideo (Uruguay).

The Koch-Finot Conq design righted itself promptly, but Ruyant’s headsail is shredded and so now unusable.

“The J2 is in the hold… it’s destroyed,” Ruyant says. “It’s completely torn off along the luff sleeve. There are still a few m2 in tatters, just under the headboard, a little furled up there.

“I’ve never had anything like it. There were about 20 knots then the wind got up all of a sudden. I didn’t see it coming. It went into tornado mode. It lasted two hours, with 45 to 60 knots.”

Thomas Ruyant courtesy of Pierre Bouras

Ruyant had been sailing with his J2 for several days. The J2 is a working headsail of approximately 100 m2 fixed to a structural. This incident comes on top of damage suffered a few days ago to the first reef of the mainsail, which Ruyant can no longer set despite numerous repair attempts.

The skipper from Dunkirk is currently fourth in the provisional ranking, a live tracker is available online. Yesterday, Vendée Globe: Defending champion Bestaven announced his withdrawal from the race, citing a major breakdown to the steering system of his IMOCA.

Icebergs on Vendée Globe

To add to the challenges faced by skippers, icebergs have been seen on course for the first time since 2008.

Alerts have been sent to all the sailors currently sailing along the ice zone, right in the middle of the Pacific. The position and track of each iceberg were transmitted to the skippers after the icebergs were confirmed by CLS – the organisation retained by the Vendée Globe to monitor ice. It uses satellites (and teams of experts) to monitor the ice. In recent days, the isolated ice has been seen north of the Antarctic Exclusion Zone on the Vendée Globe course.

Between Wednesday evening and early Thursday three skippers reported seeing the icebergs.

“Impressive, majestic, they bring a dose of magic to the race… but also a big dose of stress,” says Antoine Cornic. “Imagining seeing one of these frozen giants on the horizon is both fascinating and a little scary. Because, let’s be honest, as beautiful as it is from afar, we don’t really want to get too close to them.”

For Conrad Colman (MS Amlin), Sébastien Marsset (Foussier) and Éric Bellion (Stand as One) seeing ice up “very close” is no exaggeration.

Marsset took avoiding action.

“My radar alarm went off and I had an echo four miles ahead,” says Marsset.

“I stuck my head out, and straight away I saw the iceberg. There it was all hands on deck because I was at 17 knots under small gennaker.

“So you have to furl to avoid the iceberg. I luff up which temporarily makes me aim at it even more, I furl and I find myself 2.5 miles from the iceberg. I try to luff but without accelerating too much, I end up taking a second reef to really slow down, and I wait a long time. Because frankly, it knocks the wind out of me, I was heading straight for it. So this iceberg had ultimately not drifted towards the North at all, but due East, so I was at the same latitude as it, and I found myself facing it.”

Guirec Soudée (Freelance.com) says he spent hours keeping vigil.

“I slowed down the pace, I was doing 18-20 knots with peaks above, so I said hophophophop. I have already hit ice at 4-5 knots with a steel boat, it was already not very pleasant, so with a carbon boat I prefer not to think about it. It spices up the race a little and it is still a little stressful, I am on my radar, every 20 minutes I go outside, we can see the horizon well so that is cool.”

Éric Bellion says he admires pioneers who, on the first round-the-world trips, took a good dose of courage and surely a bit of recklessness, for going into iceberg infested waters. He says it’s “scary”.

“I remind you that my hull is 3.6 mm thick, I can’t afford to hit that. Icebergs are beautiful with expedition boats equipped with steel hulls but not with our carbon racing boats.”

In mid-December 2024, a devastated Pip Hare abandoned her Vendée Globe after her mast broke in two.

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