IMOCA Open 60 - Vendée Globe - Day 25 - Alan Roura SUI

At the edge of a low pressure system, the leading boats of the Vendée fleet are sailing eastward at good speeds. The fastest this morning UTC (20kn) was the first-placed Charlie Dalin FRA ('Apivia', Foiler), 230nm ahead of Louis Burton FRA ('Bureau La Vallée', Foiler) rank 2. Another 60nm behid followed Thomas Ruyant FRA ('LinkedOut', Foiler) still in 3rd. Sébastien Simon FRA ('Arkea-Paprec', Foiler) sailing on the 4th position, collided with flotsam yesterday damaging his Open60 considerably. In addition to defected foil, the boat is leaking. Heading north in a calmer zone, he intends to examine, whether repairs to continue would be possible. With a 455nm backlog on rank 4 is now Damien Séguin FRA ('Groupe Apicil', Non-Foiler), as first of a persuer group sailing closely together. Boris Herrmann GER ('SeaExplorer, Foiler) in 5th follows 20nm behind Séguin. The women's duel was also affected by a collision with flotsam: Samantha Davis GBR ('Initiatives Coeur', Foiler) is also heading north to verify how much her boat has been damaged. Isabelle Joschke FRA/GER has now moved up to 10th place with 582nm deficit. Alan Roura SUI was 1555nm in arrear this morning. He will move up to 16th place today. Alex Thomson GBR ('Hugo Boss'), sailing in front of him, is on his way to Cape Town. ----- The race tracker and the reports.