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| - Thomas Ruyant is the new leader of the solo round-the-world Vendee Globe race on Tuesday after Charlie Dalin, who has been in front since November 23, set about repairing damage to the port foil of his boat Apivia. "Since 1800hrs UTC yesterday, Charlie Dalin's race has been on hold," his team said in a statement. "After hearing a loud noise, the boat that was leading the fleet slowed right down. "He carried out an appraisal during the night and saw that the port foil was damaged, but that there was no ingress of water." Dalin, who held a 300 nautical mile lead a week ago, is now back in third after being overhauled by Ruyant in LinkedOut who was 19nm ahead of Yannick Bestaven's Maitre Coq IV at 1100GMT Tuesday. The fleet is sailing east in the southern reaches of the Indian Ocean, approaching Tasmania, and hugging the Antarctic Exclusion Zone, nearly halfway through the gruelling race. Dalin, 36, was travelling at under 6 knots at 1100GMT and trailed Ruyant by 106nm. However, he remains hopeful of getting back into the race quickly. "The conditions expected in the area on Tuesday seem favourable to attempt a repair over the next few hours," said Dalin's team. "Charlie has also gybed this morning to start the procedure and is currently doing his best to resume his Vendee Globe as quickly as possible." The two foils, port and starboard, are large lateral appendages that allow the hull to rise above the water so that the boat can travel at high speed. They are characteristics of the latest generation of Vendee Globe monohulls. The team said the damage did not seem to be linked to an impact with an unidentified floating object. smr/dga/bsp/gj
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