Vendee
Globe - A ‘Fantastic’ Rounding Of
Cape Horn For Golding
“It’s
nice to have the cape behind me” said an
exuberant Mike Golding (Ecover) today, just over
100 miles from the top spot, right up with the
leading duo tacking their way up the South American
coast. In the early hours of this morning, Mike
became the first Anglo-Saxon to round the cape,
making the fastest Southern Ocean passage in the
Vendée Globe between Cape of Good Hope
and Cape Horn of 31 days 9 hours.
“It’s
taking a while to get free of the area though
in these messy winds. The situation ahead looks
very tricky. I’m hoping for reaching conditions
further up the track, though there will be some
light winds that will be impossible to escape.
Obviously I’d prefer to be first but I’m
happy with my position. It’s been a great
recovery for me. The cape was fantastic. It was
a beautiful clear day with a sea breeze from the
east. At around 60 miles from land I could clearly
see the mountains. I don’t know if that
was because of a refraction of the light. I really
enjoyed the late evening at the Cape. I was about
3 miles off at around midnight GMT. I opened a
rather large bottle of champagne and had a little
drop or two! I haven’t kept a count on how
many times I’ve passed the cape but I think
it must be 7 or 8 times. I remember that each
time I’ve been surprised by the weather.
I only have one recollection of a time when we
had really strong winds. I was racing crewed and
we had 55 to 60 knots of easterly, which is very
different from this time around. It’s generally
been quite kind. It is clearly a big relief to
have left the Southern Ocean. The icebergs put
a different perspective on things. Any three of
us (Golding/Le Cam/ Riou) stand a chance of winning
now. Any of us can pull away little by little.
I firmly believe that anything is possible...”
“Things
are going well” chorused a pleasantly chirpy
Jean Le Cam today. “The Atlantic is impeccable.
I saw a beautiful sunset last night, highlighted
by a sighting of dolphins. I didn’t think
they existed any more! There are light winds but
I’m sleeping better now that we’re
upwind. I’ve been able to cut the radar
and it’s another atmosphere altogether.
It’s complicated. There’s a whole
mish-mash of weather systems ahead of us and we’re
midway between a depression and an anticyclone
at the moment.” Asked whether the escape
from the cloud cover Southern Ocean meant the
re-entry into a good light Jean retorted “It’s
the return to the light full stop! The temperature
is rising gently and it’s luxurious not
to be passing continually from one depression
to another. It meant wearing working myself and
the boat at 90%. The boat is just as happy as
I am to be free of that!”
Second
placed Vincent Riou (PRB) was too tired to express
his enthusiasm of escaping the South but his words
said it all. “The Indian is a rotten part
of the world, but that’s never been a secret.
The Pacific in comparison was relatively calm
with some beating at the start and then some downwind.
The passage of the Horn was pretty sporty, contrary
to the pictures. It was a difficult night with
winds going from 0 to 35 knots all night in every
direction. We’re upwind now on a very easterly
course, due to go onto a more direct course in
a few hours’ time. We’re really up
and racing again now with some suspense in line
for this final month...”
While
the leaders slow up as they tack up the eastern
coast of South America, some of those behind will
have a chance to make up a bit of ground, Jean
Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec) set to make particularly
good speed with a favourable north north-westerly
wind on the beam.
Just
over 900 miles behind the latter, Australian Nick
Moloney (Skandia) was feeling understandably low
today, still picking his way through the Pacific
as the leaders round the celebrated Cape. “It’s
obviously frustrating to see the leaders already
passing Cape Horn. The boat is in good shape though
and I’m looking forward to getting out of
the Southern Ocean. I’m continually thinking
of the Cape but it’s difficult to focus
on it until the weather situation becomes more
accurate on the rounding the nearer we get. At
least I’ve sorted out the various problems
with the mast wand but I do have a frustrating
leak in the solent boot which means that every
time the waves surge over the bow, quite a lot
of water comes into the boat. The breeze is moderating
now. I’ve got very, very clear skies and
lots of stars, which is nice. The wind did go
up to 28 knots last night but it’s down
to 18 knots now. It was quite squally yesterday.
I’m happy to be going to the South/East
now. My biggest headache of late has been the
joining of two low pressure systems that blocked
my path yesterday. Today I’m riding along
in an extension of a system spinning from the
north-west. It’s very frustrating and creating
havoc. I’m on a heading of 125 degrees right
now not wanting to go much further south. I was
intending to go further south before but there
was absolutely no wind. After things have settled
down a bit tomorrow things should be better.”
With
every mile he covers raising money for the worthy
charity ‘sailforcancer’ Nick will
doubtless take courage from that fact and thanks
to his very northerly position, the Australian
skipper will avoid a gale warning at 960 mb and
deepening for his closest pursuers in under 72
hours’ time. Bruce Schwab (Ocean Planet)
and Joé Seeten (Arcelor Dunkerque) are
likely to be the worst affected as a nearby cold
front becomes active on Thursday evening.
In
a fierce duel with Conrad Humphreys (Hellomoto)
for the past few days, Bruce Schwab’s (Ocean
Planet) position isn’t looking too hot,
while Conrad’s is decidedly cool, having
spotted further icebergs to the east of Campbell
Island, one the size of ‘Wembley Stadium’.
The former is forecast to have 20 knots of westerly
and 35 knots of south-westerly with a new low
pressure system kicking in.
Towards
the tail end of the fleet the situation looks
rather complicated with a mixture of headwinds
and high pressure, added to which is the stress
of the upcoming risk of icebergs... Backrunner
Karen Leibovici (Benefic) is currently a whole
Pacific Ocean behind (5449.1 miles).
Quotes
from the Boats:
Benoît Parnaudeau (Max Havelaar Best Western):
“I can’t calm myself down. I’m
stressed. I’m relatively south closing in
on a zone where everyone has seen ice. Only Jean
was further south than me here. I had no choice
other than to come down south and was quite happy
to have avoided the calms. The radar is on. I
haven’t slept much and fortunately the visibility
is good and there is barely a night. I’ve
got 25 knots of wind, under 2 reefed main and
solent making 11/12 knots. It’s 10 degrees
outside so it isn’t very cold. You just
have to be careful.
Conrad
Humphreys (Hellomoto): “I’m just setting
my sights now on rounding Cape Horn, and hope
to overtake Ocean Planet as until now I’ve
had to sail more miles on the track than Bruce
and he’s had a faster wind angle than me
as I’ve been forced to head NE to avoid
ice, but we’ve pretty much converged and
so I’ll pull out the miles on him now. It’s
a brilliant day out here, warmer now with the
sea temperature up to 10 degrees and 15 knots
of breeze. I feel very privileged to be sailing
here, and the weather is looking good for the
next few days with a solid 20 knots from the West.
I’ll be heading south more with the next
low pressure system arriving, and soon there’ll
be 35 – 40 knots from the SW when the low
rolls underneath us. I try to keep within a corridor
between 51 and 53 degrees South as the low pressure
systems seem to form higher up as well. Am I glad,
though, that I’ve passed the International
Dateline – we’re back in the Western
Hemisphere and every mile does seem like a mile
in the right direction now…”
Source : Vendée Globe 2004
www.vendeeglobe.org
