Vendee Globe Check-In–South Atlantic Puzzle: The Vendee Globe has broken into a leading group of five boats (headed still by King Jean Le Cam on Bonduelle), all within 200 miles of each other, a chasing group of eight boats that is anywhere from 335-538 miles behind Le Cam, and everyone else. Mike Golding, in fifth, is the only Anglo-Saxon presence up front and just barely managing to hang onto the leaders as they wend their way toward the Roaring Forties through a minefield of lows, highs and fronts. Daily report here. Position report here. The most interesting thing going on is the big flyer Alex Thomson, 335 miles back, is taking by heading southwest in an attempt to find new breeze first (see chart below). If he has guessed right, he could regain touch with the leaders. If not, it’ll be a long chase across the Southern Ocean. We’ll see. In the meantime, check out the Vendee Globe website video page for some good clips of life onboard. In particular, cue up Roland Jourdain’s 11/21 video to see a sailor loving life and sailing fast in the South Atlantic. And then contrast it to this brutal clip from Nick Moloney, depressed in the Doldrums. He definitely doesn’t look like a guy who is having fun…



Thomson is the white dot heading the wrong way…