Behind the first five Cape Horners (Bestaven, Dalin, Rettant, Seguin and Dutreux) of this 9th Vendée Globe, 6 IMOCAs grouped together in 150 miles are preparing to finish off the South Seas. At 3:52 pm, Benjamin Dutreux opened the ball for the evening and night passages in front of the lighthouse at the end of the world… in rough conditions.

They were whispering. Here they are giving voice again. It is not yet a real howl, but a reminder to the sailors of the Vendée Globe to tell them: "you are still here, in the Deep South".

At the head of the race, the battle rages between Yannick Bestaven (Maître CoQ IV), leader of the Northern Way, contested by the revolutionary of the Ice Zone, Charlie Dalin (Apivia). The two men are less separated by the miles than by the drawing of the trajectories in which they have ventured.

The seat of the leader, Yannick Bestaven, is not a throne, but rather a rocking chair. All the attention today is on the advance of the skipper of Master CoQ IV along the ice barrier, a virtual line imposed by the Race Direction to limit the encounter of IMOCA with icebergs and growlers.

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.