The fleet hit its first real test on Monday morning as forecast winds materialized with genuine teeth. Departure lightness gave way to grinding work, with three of the leading IMOCA skippers reporting the same message: harder racing ahead, but manageable.
Sam Goodchild sits at the front in MACIF Santé Prévoyance, nursing four hours of sleep and bracing for what he suspects will rank among the toughest 24 hours of the entire Vendée Arctique campaign. He’s hard on the wind between 15 and 18 knots, watching the sea build around him. A tack looms. After that comes the real push, though he’s acutely aware the weather isn’t playing along with his hopes. “It’s fine conditions on paper,” he said, “but we’re not profiting much from them.” The boat’s working hard in the chop. Goodchild’s prepared for worse. He’s also ruthlessly focused on extending his lead over Corentin Horeau, the nearest challenger aboard MACSF.
Horeau has been scrambling since yesterday. His escape off the start felt sharp, stringing along the Île d’Yeu, then shifting to close-hauled work where Goodchild built separation. The night ran quick and aggressive, with boat speed dancing between 22 and 26 knots and touching 27. Monday morning brought a shift starboard, lighter conditions than the forecast suggested, and the knotty question of when to commit to the Ireland leg. Horeau knows the next stretch won’t be gentler. Three to three-and-a-half metres of sea and 25 to 30 knots are coming. He sees the whole arc differently: not suffering, but earning information. “We’ll learn plenty from this,” he said, treating early hardship as education rather than ordeal.
Manu Cousin reported the first technical complication but offered no detail on severity. Nico d’Estais was elsewhere in the fleet, managing the intensity of sustained effort that separates the first week from the sprint phase.
What’s clear is that none of them are coasting. The Vendée Arctique’s early rhythm is already brutal, with harder days promised before the fleet sprawls across the Atlantic. For Goodchild, holding his line matters most. For Horeau, chasing means learning.
