Vendee
Globe - Humphreys Stalling Hard In Calms At The
Horn
The
top trio (Riou/Le Cam/Golding) are currently sailing
in fairly established South-Easterly trade winds.
They are 180 miles South of the equator in Easterly
winds and around a day’s sailing from what
looks like a fairly uncomplicated passage of the
Doldrums, “the potential of bunching the
other side” according to Mike Golding (Ecover).
From equator to equator the leading duo have a
speed differential of just 0.06 knots, Le Cam
(Bonduelle) losing out just 95 miles to Riou (PRB)
in the Southern Ocean. Just 237 miles behind the
front of the pack, English skipper Mike Golding
is clearly still hoping to shatter the statistics...
Chasing the head of the fleet Sébastien
Josse (VMI) and Dominique Wavre (Temenos) are
suffering a rather squally system though the wind
already becoming more stable in the coming hours.
Jean Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec) is still racing
under full mainsail after repairing his boom yesterday.
His repairs survived 55 knots last night and he
is making good progress up the Southern Atlantic
with a front. Seemingly undamaged Skandia (Nick
Moloney) has survived a collision with a substantial
object and is in fairly sustained South-Westerlies
which are set to ease round to the West, Joé
Seeten (Arcelor Dunkerque) now North East of the
Falklands. Conrad Humphreys (Hellomoto) is still
90 miles from Cape Horn, stalling at a 3.5 knot
averages over the past 4 hours, south of a depression
in residual seas, progress hampered by very light
winds. Bruce Schwab 5Ocean Planet) has also been
slowed on the approach to the legendary cape though
he has made up 20 miles on the English skipper,
while the tail of the fleet are set for a good
blow in established seas, seas which though heavy,
won’t be dangerous.
A
relaxed sounding Vincent Riou has stretched out
his lead to 113.2 miles over Jean Le Cam today,
apparently happy with his game plan. “We’re
moving along steadily. It’s grey and I’ve
got 18 knots of wind on the beam. It’s too
hot – 45 degrees down below and the nights
are too long and make trimming more difficult.
On deck it’s a little wet but at least it’s
fresh. I’ve got some work on as conditions
are very shifty. We’re not overdosing on
sleep with the odd sail change. The trades are
quite gentle and it looks like there’s a
depression in the Doldrums, which may enable us
to go straight through unimpeded. I’m getting
satellite photos with the weather every 3 hours,
with European and American grib files twice a
day. I haven’t done any reading for 3 or
4 weeks and spend any spare time sleeping or resting.
The Doldrums don’t look that vicious but
you never know...My course looks a bit shorter
than Jean’s though I’d prefer a straight
rather than a zig-zag trajectory. I see no reason
why our trajectories should change and at this
rate I should feel the first effects of the Doldrums
tomorrow morning.”
Jean
Le Cam was in particularly jovial mood today,
a real party atmosphere aboard Bonduelle with
the “virtual” crew growing day by
day...Jean giving all his sails and steering gear
different names. “We all had a coordination
meeting at 1930 hours last night. I discussed
the need for communication and we all came out
of the meeting much more motivated, hence the
increased speed overnight. There is no time like
the present to fire up. I slept like a baby last
night” Jean said with a chuckle, the truth
a mystery to everyone but himself. “I’m
not going to take any risks through the Doldrums,
I’m simply going to play the percentages.
I should make a little ground on PRB but my real
gains will be made after the Doldrums as the system
isn’t going to benefit the frontrunner.
I reckon PRB will be down to just 30 miles ahead,
racing at the same speed and I’ll be back
with him in 4-5 days’ time.
123.8
miles behind Le Cam, Mike Golding was focusing
on the positive aspects of his course, head down
making the best speed he can in less wind. “I’m
very well. I’ve got a little more speed
than yesterday with steadier conditions, not far
from the Doldrums. I’m not steering a lot
at the moment. I’m still trying to recover
from my exploits up the mast and I’m preparing
for the North Atlantic. It looks like there will
be a considerable amount of sail changes there
but my pilot is working well. I am south and west
of the other boats, which means that I am more
headed with less breeze. That will change. It
looks like Vincent has found a slot in the Doldrums
this morning. I have been more transparent in
my strategy than him and it’s only really
today that Vincent has followed suit. There does
seem to be a nice slot opening up in the Doldrums
and I think there will be bunching on the other
side. The Convergence Zone doesn’t look
too bad. The models don’t forecast exactly
what will go on so we can only work on the information
we have. PRB is doing very well. He tactically
very strong and consolidating on his position
but I think Bonduelle has the edge on him upwind.
The North Atlantic is predominantly upwind so
that augers well for Jean. It was always impossible
to know exactly what the level of competition
would be like. I knew there were some serious
contenders but frankly I’m surprised the
boats are holding up so well, even if they are
getting tired now. The attrition level is as I’d
expected though...”
Jean
Pierre Dick on Virbac Paprec is currently 500
miles ahead of Nick Moloney on Skandia, thrilled
to be sailing under full main again after breaking
his boom on the 7th January when he was 1000 miles
off Cape Horn. He was really able to put his repairs
to the test last night, pushed by up to 55 knots
of wind, north of the Falklands last night. The
Australian skipper has other concerns, his much
needed sleep rudely interrupted last night when
he came to a jarring halt at around 0215 GMT this
morning whilst averaging 14 or 15 knots. “I
had a high speed collision with something really
hard during the night, definitely not a fish,
more like a log, but something very big. I was
on deck taking a reef, as I had between 25 and
38 knots of wind, and we slammed in while I was
in the cockpit. It was like running aground, the
bow went completely underwater, just a horrendous
crash. The only thing I could inspect was the
rudders and they were fine, but I’m sure
it hit them nonetheless. Now the breeze is quite
lifted, so my course is sometimes west of north,
getting drawn in to the coast, which sets me up
ok for this depression.”
Two
places back poor old Conrad Humphreys is wallowing
in calms, now still 90 miles from Cape Horn, surrounded
by Chilean fisherman, a giant flock of albatross
and a 60 foot whale, frustrated to see Joé
Seeten getting away up the Southern Atlantic North
East of the Falklands. The English skipper has
made just 12 miles in the past 4 hours. “It’s
like going from one extreme to the other, every
storm is followed by a calm, I’m in one
very big calm at the moment and don’t seem
to be able to find an escape route for 12 or even
24 hours. I’m 100 miles from Cape Horn (1000
GMT), and on current progress it’s 100 hours
away! The wind is driving me inshore at the moment
and in 12 hours it’s going to be completely
different so I can’t be specific as to my
ETA. I’m doing 3 knots in light headwinds,
I’m not even on course, so until the wind
fills in, as long as I’m on course, I could
be there in 10 hours…”
Completing
the top ten in this fifth edition of the Vendée
Globe, American Bruce Schwab has been thriving
on the roller coaster ride to the Horn, slowed
less severely by calms 230 miles from deliverance
into the Southern Atlantic...
Quotes
from the Boats:
Bruce
Schwab (Ocean Planet): “The last few days
of running towards Cape Horn have been among the
very best of the trip so far. There was plenty
of wind, and we were able to "select"
how much we wanted by careful positioning with
a big weather pattern as it went by. We also had
huge waves, the kind that Ocean Planet and I like
that are formed by a steady breeze. These giant
"tradewind" swells are great for surfing
but don't break too much. These waves when they
have time to build, I like to think of them as
older, wiser, and with much less of an attitude
than the waves around small intense storms. The
sea has many powerful faces, and some are friendlier
than others. Some of these old fellows were a
good 30 feet high and quite the roller coaster
ride if you can catch them.”
Nick
Moloney (Skandia): “My collision felt like
we skipped over some rocks. Very heavy impact.
Really slowed the boat up, when it gets daylight
I’ll take a better look. The worst bit was
that you suddenly become overpowered, the boat
nose-dives, and you don’t know what to release
first. You are knocked off your feet, its all
a bit of a *. I’m now sleeping with my feet
forward again.”
Conrad
Humphreys (Hellomoto): “No doubt Bruce on
Ocean Planet will be on the horizon in a short
while and I’m very frustrated to see Joe
Seeten get away in the South Westerlies. It makes
it all the more difficult to catch him now he’s
over 500m ahead, but there’s a long way
to go and a lot can happen. My priority is to
get out of this place, as much as I wanted to
see the Cape this time round I didn’t expect
to be sat here for so long!”
Jean
Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec): “I’m
really happy to have hoisted my mainsail again.
I had 55 knots during the night and I dropped
the sail a little so as not to put the boom under
too much pressure. Last night was crazy. The wind
rose quite brutally with 50 to 55 knots of wind
in a front. Only 20 to 30 knots were forecast
on the files. The wind went up with considerable
force. I was under 2 reefs and mainsail in very
big surf. There’s still a lot of wind forecast.
Upwind I am forced to put in a reef but downwind
I should be able to use a bigger sail area. The
repairs were laborious and took a lot of patience.
Thank you very much to my shore crew. The energy
levels aboard are higher now that we’re
out of the Southern Ocean. I can use my desalinator
again, helm less and concentrate more on my tactics.
It’s difficult to get used to having the
mainsail again. The boat is more stable and balanced,
the boat is quicker and it’s the skipper
that is breaking now. I’m surprised to hear
that I was clocked at 17 knots of instantaneous
speed even without a mainsail...that’s like
riding a motorbike at top speed without your hands
on the handlebars!”
Joé
Seeten (Arcelor Dunkerque): “It’s
certainly a bit of a deliverance to have passed
the Horn. My contract with my wife is fulfilled.
If I didn’t see the Horn, I would have had
to return, but as I’ve seen it I mustn’t
come back in the near future! It’s true
that it removes a certain pressure from the shoulders
to have passed this place. It was pretty sporty
as 10 hours prior to the rounding I was under
4 reefs! I took my foot off the accelerator and
played the safety card. You also need a bit of
luck and it was a good passage. In the south I
had a good 35 knot average with a relatively active
Pacific and Indian. I found that I spent too much
time below in the Pacific. The end of the Indian
was very penalising with a depression that followed
me between Australia and New Zealand. In a few
hours’ time I’m going to pass the
50’s and then I’ll be back in the
40’s, into more hospitable climes. For the
moment I am off the Falklands and still in the
squalls, the wind going from 7/8 knots to 25 knots.”
Karen
Leibovici (Benefic): “It’s relatively
pleasant at the moment even it’s sometimes
a little sporty and physical. It gives you a foretaste
of what the other boats have enjoyed that surf
better! Just before nightfall there was between
35 and 50 knots of wind. It was white everywhere!
For an hour and a half the skies cleared and I
could see a few stars, then everything became
grey and I think it’ll stay like that for
a moment, the road is still a long one...But I
absolutely have to see Cape Horn! I expect to
be there in around 10 days but I’m not really
looking at it much. The boat goes well as soon
as there is rough weather. I stay in the companionway
for the majority of the time, 50 centimetres from
the helm, ready to jump if the pilot lets go!
There is so much sea covering the deck that you
can’t stay soaked outside constantly. I’m
under three reefs and solent and making good progress,
making sure the boat doesn’t slide over
on its ear when it drops down off the wave.”
Raphaël
Dinelli (Akena Verandas): “It’s been
a quieter day today. I’ve still got 20 knots
of due Westerly. I began my evening with a gybe
and I’m preparing to gybe again at dusk
as there is a depression on the way. The skies
are beginning to change and the wind should shift
round to North-West as it builds under the front.
I’m in the process of losing my solar panels
one by one so I’m going to have to control
the power differently. I’m not worried though
as I have enough diesel to move along at a decent
pace. I’m looking forward to getting wind
as I’ve only got an average of 20 knots.
Sometimes it drops to 16 knots and it’s
difficult to keep up good averages even when I’m
fully downwind.”
Benoît
Parnaudeau (Max Havelaar Best Western): “We
had the passage of a depression centre last night
so it´s like Normandy, Northern France,
with little wind passing from NW to W, passing
by the East and then the South. What is really
impressive is the speed at which these phenomena
move! Thanks for your encouragement (clouds!).
Of course I can feel you pushing me from behind
towards the Horn. Patience, we´re concentrating
on what we have to do and what we know how to
do.”
Source : Vendée Globe 2004
www.vendeeglobe.org
