SAILING: Leading the Vendée Globe, Armel Le Cléac’h remains ahead of Alex Thomson. At 9am this morning, the Breton has a 74 mile lead over the Welshman. Third, still Beyou sailing 852 miles from Le Cléac’h.
Two days from the finish, the two contenders for victory in the Vendée Globe, the Frenchman Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire) and the Welshman Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) , were still neck-and-neck , with a thin lead of 74 miles for the Frenchman.
They are only about 550 miles from the finish. Le Cléac’h has not let go of the lead of the race after 45 days, pressed by Thomson, who was 74.88 miles behind the Frenchman. The arrival of the Vendée Globe winner is scheduled for Thursday before 4 pm at Les Sables d’Olonne, in the Vendée.
The Briton has strongly reduced the gap between Sunday and Monday setting a new distance record by a solo skipper in 24 hours in a monohull . He managed to cover 536.81 nautical miles, more than 994 kilometers at an average speed of 22.36 knots, between 8 pm Sunday and 8 am Monday.
