A Mercury prize winner, a host of fresh collaborations and a posthumous release of a much-lauded live performance are all among the year’s standouts

Cape of Good Hope Passage Time

The 24 hour solo monohull record had already been broken twice on this tenth edition of the Vendée Globe but last night it fell successively to an onslaught of attacks as the leaders of the solo non stop race round the world enjoyed perfect conditions for sustained high speed. Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE), Nicolas Lunven (Holcim – PRB), Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance), Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil), Jérémie Beyou (Charal) and Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA) all pushed the mark higher and higher. But, appropriately it was Richomme who held the record set five days ago, who trumped the fast moving, hard driving peloton with a new mark of 579.86 miles devoured in flat water and 17-20kts winds between 0130hrs UTC yesterday and the same time early this morning.