‘Everest of the Seas’ races through Aussie waters

They call it “the Everest of the Seas”

The Sydney to Hobart Yacht race is famous for its rough conditions, but even the wildest conditions in Bass Strait are basically just an average day for competitors in the Vendée Globe – the solo, non-stop, round-the-world yacht race in which the leaders are currently screaming across the waters south of Australia. 

This is the tenth running of the (roughly) three-month epic, which was first conducted in 1989. This year’s fleet of 40 left the French Atlantic port of Les Sables-d’Olonne on November 10, with thirty-eight still in the race as of this Thursday, December 12.

The map below shows the current position of the fleet, including the leader, Frenchman Charlie Dalin.

Image: The Tour de France has the yellow jersey so the Vendée Globe tracking map obviously uses a yellow sail to show the leader’s position. Source: Vendée Globe.

Competitors must stay north of the “Antarctic Exclusion Zone” – the area of grey shading on the map – primarily to avoid icebergs.

Image: The fleet passes underneath the three Southern Ocean capes – Good Hope, Leeuwin, and Horn. Source: Vendée Globe.

But they must also stay relatively far south to take advantage of consistently strong westerly winds as they pull almost a complete lap of Antarctica.

Image: The Southern Ocean is not exactly a pond.

As the video shows, those westerlies have been howling in the heart of the Southern Ocean this week, driven by a huge low centred south of Tasmania, which has enabled the leaders to make super quick time.

One point worth noting is the current negative phase of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM). That means the band of westerlies circling the globe in the Southern Ocean has shifted a little further north towards Australia.

Image: The phases of the SAM for 2024 to date. Source: BoM.

The Vendée Globe leaders have not tracked quite far enough north to duck into Hobart for a hot pie or some fish and chips – and anyway, they’re not allowed to stop – but it must be tempting.

You can follow the race progress here.