Another incongruity in this Vendée Globe which definitely defies reason! After 93 days at sea, Stéphane Le Diraison (Time for Oceans, 17th) and Alan Roura (La Fabrique, 18th) are on board, less than 600 miles from the finish.

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.

The closer to the finish, the more uncertain the outcome of the race. Of course, Louis Burton could do well, but you have to take too many tweezers to already believe it.

This morning, after weeks of valiantly battling serious damage, Sébastien Destremau threw in the towel. Merci’s skipper has been heading since this morning to the port of Dunedin, in the South Island of New Zealand, or to Christchurch, which is easier to access and where he will find the equipment to repair.