Vendee
Globe - Conrad Humphreys Performs Harrowing Acrobatics
80 Ft Aloft
The top trio have left the Falklands in their
wake and are making good averages reaching through
the grey in 25/35 knots of West North Westerly
winds. Le Cam/Riou/Golding have slowed slightly
this afternoon as the wind backs but later tonight
and tomorrow morning the wind will pick up again
to 30/40 knots. With this in view it looks like
Vincent Riou may be the best placed, Jean Le Cam
further east as he had no other option yesterday
when he was trying to track down wind. The experience
of Mike against the determination and skill of
Vincent, and the weather prowess of Jean are all
considerable forces to be reckoned with. Sébastien
Josse will be the first of the chasing pack to
join the trio in the Atlantic tonight and he looks
set to have a fairly calm passage of Cape Horn.
A very different scenario for Conrad Humphreys,
flicked around his cap shroud 20 times, 80 foot
up, the boat heeled right over...
Third
placed Mike Golding (Ecover) is currently 44.4
miles behind Vincent Riou and 85.2 miles from
the leader Jean Le Cam. “It doesn’t
make me more excited. It gets me closer,”
said Mike somewhat irritably of his nonetheless
encouraging progress overnight. This is highly
understandable, just 85 miles between the top
trio the pressure is probably greater than it
has ever been. “I don’t think it makes
you feel any different [being closer to the opposition].
I’m tired, I’ve done a lot of sail
changes, I haven’t had any sleep for 24
hours, and it’s as enjoyable as it can be…
given those circumstances. I’ve just been
finding it rather defeating. Every time I’ve
made a change it’s gone the other way. If
I see a gain on this sked, they’ve had a
much worse night than me, which I somewhat doubt.”
Judging
from the contact we’ve had with Jean and
Vincent today, it seems that Mike is far from
alone in his frustration. Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle)
spoke of a vortex (mini tornado) inside the depression
last night, doubtless making the winds particularly
shifty and sea conditions very difficult. “I
fell into a wind hole last night, tacking in a
very light North-Easterly wind in impossible seas.
Today it is much better, the skies are still grey
but the conditions are pretty pleasant with more
organised seas, free of last night’s currents
and fog. At around 0100 / 0200 GMT this morning
a South-Westerly airflow kicked in and I’ve
been reaching since then, which has given me the
chance to study the weather a bit closer. The
focus at the moment is trying not to fall into
a windless zone. I couldn’t care less about
how long it takes to get to the finish, I just
want to be first” he said determinedly,
surprisingly on form today cracking jokes.
In
contrast Vincent Riou (PRB) found the night ok
but is having more difficulty now. “Reaching
is tough for me. I lack potential on this point
of sail. Last night though, I was the first to
leave the front with its shifty winds and squalls.
I had to make a number of sail changes. I had
20 knots last night and now I’ve got 17.
I don’t think it’ll do me any good
being West of Jean. My boat’s slower so
I really have to focus on shifting the movable
ballast whenever I change tack. I’m trying
to get the boat moving forward but it’s
not really working and the other two are going
faster. Taking any options right now is not really
a possibility – it’s too high risk.”
Tactics
up front are clearly very tight just now as the
leaders head north with the wind forward of the
beam. Sleep is going to be paramount for remaining
on the ball, but with such intensity in the battle
towards the equator, the timing of this particular
luxury is far from easy.
Heading
the chasing pack, Sébastien Josse on VMI
is hoping to round Cape Horn tonight, Dominique
Wavre, around 350 miles behind him, absolutely
buzzing with energy as he powers through the squalls,
and swell, playing around with his ballast, a
couple of days from the Horn. “I’ve
enjoyed the Southern Ocean and am already forgetting
the stress of it.”
This
is far from true aboard Skandia and Hellomoto.
Australian skipper Nick Moloney summed up the
situation for both of them earlier. “I’ve
had more than enough of this place, I do just
want to get out of here and start heading up the
Atlantic. It wears you out. Days like yesterday
are long and tiring, I’m just worn out.
I’ll be happy chap when we are in tropics.”
Unfortunately it’s not over yet either,
big, big winds forecast from lunch time tomorrow
for Nick and Joé Seeten.
Conrad
Humphreys (Hellomoto) has really been put to the
test today too. “Trying to describe the
ordeal I went through, 80 feet up the rig of Hellomoto
this morning, will hopefully go some way to relieving
the pain and frustration I’m still suffering”,
wrote Conrad earlier. “If fear is supposed
to help focus the mind, then at 0600 local time
my situation suddenly became critically clear.
I was pretty damn stuck and I needed a clear head
to work out exactly what I had to do to get down
safely onto the deck.” (See journal below).
American
sailor Bruce Schwab (Ocean Planet) admitted that
he’s been being very careful, afraid of
just such an eventuality. “Everything is
ok right now, the definition of ok being ‘holding’!
I keep a rigorous check on everything. It’s
hard to avoid thinking about the Horn. It’s
down to the roll of a dice as to whether there
will be a storm there or not. It’s like
running across the freeway (motorway Eng.) just
hoping you won’t get hit by a truck !”
Heading
the tail of the fleet Benoît Parnaudeau
(Max Havelaar/Best Western) reckons he’s
clear of the high risk ice zone now but is still
very south. The visibility is good and even though
the radar is still on, he was counting on offering
himself the luxury of 50 minutes of pure uninterrupted
sleep (enough to complete his personal sleep cycle).
Anne
Liardet on Roxy is unfortunately in little wind
upwind, Raphael Dinelli (Akena Verandas) and Karen
Leibovici (Benefic) also blocked in the same conditions
east of Tasmania.
Quotes
from the Boats:
Bruce Schwab (Ocean Planet): “I’m
ok. I’ve just made a sail change. The wind
has gone up from the South/ South West on the
back of the low. It’s pretty fast so I’ve
just gone from my yankee jib to my working jib
and I’ve gone from 1 to 2 reefs. I feel
a little under-powered but when the squalls hit
there is a lot of wind in them in the middle of
this front. In 24 hours’ time I hope to
be the Western side of the front where I think
it’ll be ok as all the wind will come from
one direction and there won’t be any cross
seas. Poor Nick (Moloney) looks like he’s
set for yet another storm on the other side –
he is really having some bad luck. My chocolate
supplies are running dangerously low so now that
I am on a promise of chocolate cake at the finish
I think I’ll be able to overtake Jean (laughs)!
My attitude is always linked to the boat so when
that is in good shape I’m alright too. The
rudder boot isn’t leaking at the moment,
I have no rig problems and the radar is ok. I’ve
been lucky but some of that has to do with where
you’re placing yourself too.”
Nick
Moloney (Skandia): "I’ve had 18 to
22 knots with wind direction from 300, and now
its 315 to 325...sky is perfectly clear, and the
moon is just rising...seastate moderate, and has
become more uniform, quite a nice sight. It has
been cold, last night was freezing and tonight
just before the sun went down I had about a 45
minute nap just inside the companionway on the
bean bag with the sunshine on my head, it was
quite warm (obviously with 4 layers of Musto kit
on!). Full thermals, mid-layer the whole lot...when
you are not shivering here it is a real treat.
And when you are wet here you freeze. At the moment
I’m expecting breeze to increase in the
evening to 30 knots, and eventually go a bit further
north and increase further. New model shows high
pressure in the north is pushing south, showing
not much wind to the north of me and restricts
the flow of the NW breeze around the top of the
depression, which it shows further north but not
as aggressive as it looked yesterday. Right now
I’m managing due to sail due east which
I’m happy about.
Benoît
Parnaudeau (Max Havelaar/Best Western): “Things
are going well, I think I’ve crossed the
minefield! Frankly, I don’t believe there
are any more icebergs! I think this corresponds
fairly well with what they had up front. I haven’t
seen any for 12 hours! In fact I’ve been
following the shortest route between the Macquarie
Islands and the first Pacific gateway. It will
clearly remain a very important time for me all
that. The stress really comes prior to entering
into the ice zone though and you don’t know
if you should go there or not… you have
to fight against your fears. I’m still having
trouble sleeping. I flipped out a number of times.
I realised though that when there are a lot of
birds, there were a lot of icebergs. There was
even one time when it really smelt of bird droppings!
I’m off again now. I’ve really been
battling for the past five days. »
Source : Vendée Globe 2004
www.vendeeglobe.org
