It’s the day of reckoning for Jeremie Beyou on Delta Dore, who arrived at the town of Recife on the Brazilian coast early this morning. Only now will Beyou be able to determine whether the damage to his rig is repairable, or whether his Vendée Globe is set to end in South America? Delta Dore has suffered damage to two spreaders on the starboard side.

For the leaders, it’s more of the same on the direct route south, with small gains and losses to be fought for. Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty) has again extended overnight — after second-placed Seb Josse crept to 10.1 miles of the leader’s transom yesterday evening, Peyron pushed overnight to rebuild his lead to over 15 miles. After yesterday’s reshuffle, the previous order has also been restored, with Jean Pierre Dick reclaiming third and Mike Golding moving back up to sixth.

Ecover (Mike Golding, GBR) was one of the fastest boats on the course overnight, covering more than 110 miles to overtake Yann Elies, who had crept into sixth yesterday evening. Jean-Pierre Dick is also showing great pace to assert Paprec-Virbac 2’s position in third place, which was briefly held by Armel l’Cleac’h on Brit Air yesterday.

The boat showing the greatest VMG is currently still Marc Guillemot on Safran, who has extended his lead over Brian Thompson on Bahrain Team Pindar to 40 miles overnight. Sailing for speed, Safran is currently on the most westerly heading of any boat on the track, while — 30 miles to the west — Thompson is heading higher by 20 degrees.

Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environment) has also overhauled Jean Le Cam (VM Materiaux), the most easterly boat of the leading group.

Swiss skipper Bernard Stamm, (Cheminées Poujoulat) crossed the Equator early yesterday evening, with Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch) due to be next into the South.

Image: © JEREMIE BEYOU / DELTA DORE