Vendee
Globe - And then there were 17...
Having
slowed slightly up front Vincent Riou (PRB) continues
to run the show with a lead of 59.9 miles over
his hottest pursuer, Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle),
the latter having gained in northing during the
day to get higher than the Riou. The weather forecast
for the coming days seems to favour speed, the
depressions organising themselves into fairly
regular trains running every 24 to 36 hours synonymous
with the Indian Ocean. The situation is looking
clear as far as Cape Leeuwin (south-western tip
of Australia). The only hiccup is a depression
heading to the south-east from Madagascar which
will prove ‘interesting’ for the trio
of Roland Jourdain (Sill et Veolia), Sébastien
Josse (VMI) and Mike Golding (Ecover), tonight,
with a possible 45 to 50 knots of wind. Overnight
this particular trio have made up considerable
ground on the lead duo. The whole fleet is going
to shift onto a ‘luxurious’ westerly
wind corridor establishing itself over the roaring
40’s. Vigilance is the order of the day
as they watch out for depressions coming up on
them from behind and then time their shift north
into favourable winds in relation to the centres.
Still in Simonstown this afternoon, English sailor
Conrad Humphreys may be able to head back out
into the race at around midnight tonight. Compatriot
Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) arrived safely in Cape
Town this morning having been forced to retire
two days ago and Austrian sailor Norbert Sedlacek
(Brother) has just informed Race Management that
he too is retiring following serious keel damage.
Better news for the French contingent with Joé
Seeten making amazing “on the hoof”
repairs in the early hours to replace his starboard
rudder broken clean off last night, mid Indian
Ocean.
Vincent
Riou (PRB) sounds like a man who is completely
in phase with the south and himself: “I’m
reaching and the boat’s slamming annoyingly
making 14/22 knots of boat speed. We’re
already beginning to be under the influence of
a depression, the full effects of which we should
experience this evening. We’re in the traditional
atmosphere of this zone. This system will then
stay with us for a few days and immediately north
there is a fair bit of wind. The sea state is
what is making things tricky, but in terms of
wind, these conditions are much more restful for
the nerves and so it is much less stressful. The
water is now at 9 degrees and we’re heading
for new horizons, which is psychologically better.
I don’t feel like the next southern gateway
is a constraint because we’ve all got to
do it and I wouldn’t want to go any further
south anyway. The key now is to find the right
pace and settle into it, safe in these fine machines
under autopilot, preparing yourself for any eventuality
and anticipating your moves. The hardest thing
is to be vigilant for 3 months. You have to apply
yourself as it’s human nature to be lazy
and you have “sail by ear”, listening
to the boat and any distortion in the familiar
sounds which indicate a problem”.
Conrad
Humphreys’ fantastic achievement in replacing
his starboard rudder yesterday has been mirrored
by Joé Seeten (Arcelor Dunkerque) in the
early hours of this morning after 6 hours of work.
Incredibly Joé Seeten revealed at today´s
radio session that he has replaced his broken
starboard rudder, at sea, stopping the boat for
just 20 minutes in the 2 m waves, in 28 knots
and later 22 knots of wind, otherwise making 6
knots mid-repairs. Apparently Joé thinks
he must have hit something in the water and the
impact was so violent that the rudder blade came
right off cleanly without cracking the surrounding
support. He has replaced the broken starboard
rudder with his sole emergency rudder.
Second
in the main bulk of the fleet (7th overall) Jean
Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec) is surprised at how
easy it is to change your habits and become environmentally
friendly. He is still trying to repair his spare
generator after his engine gave up the ghost completely.
As a result he is deprived of electric other than
that provided by his solar panels, thus rationing
the use of things like his automatic pilot, his
radar, information on the weather, the air and
water temperature, heating and so on, “feeling
his way in the dark’ almost and almost enjoying
not being ‘polluted’ by all the various
readings and information. “I’m at
48 degrees south. I wanted to helm a bit last
night but the cold is cataclysmic, especially
with water permanently covering the deck, even
in a hat and gloves. I try to helm for at least
4/5 hours as when you’re broad reaching
you can’t attach the helm. At the moment,
rather than using up lots of energy putting the
radar on, I quickly turn on the main control panel
just a couple of times a night to check the wind
as well as the temperature of the water, especially
since Mike (Golding) spotted an iceberg yesterday.“I’m
soon going to gybe for the Kerguelen Islands so
I won’t be going south for much longer.
Mentally I’m fine about my electric problem
now. It’s amazing how much energy you waste
on a boat and interesting how little you need
to survive. There isn’t much sun for the
solar panels. It’s a uniform grey with some
squalls and the wind is around 30/35 knots rising
to 40 at times. There are a lot of pretty little
black birds and an albatross.”
Jean
Pierre said he found it stimulating to be sailing
near Dominic (Wavre) Temenos, the latter giving
him a call a couple of days ago to give him his
support. Around 20 miles ahead in 6th place, Dominic
was keen to point out that conditions just a little
further along the racetrack were brighter with
some rays of sun escaping. He is well known for
his love of high speed sailing in big conditions
and is obviously having an absolute ball going
downwind. “I’m in difficult abrupt,
crossed seas. It’s fast and it’s to
get the right sail configuration to stop you from
burying in. It’s slamming and it’s
tiring but the scene is spectacular with the waves
coming in from every direction. The water is a
temperature of 3 degrees and the air 5 so I try
to make any trips up on deck as short as possible.
I only need to run the engine for 1/1.5 hours
to get enough heat. I’m making south-easterly
on starboard tack as I can’t do anything
else, but I’ll gybe soon. I’ve managed
to patch up the leak I had in the cockpit but
with the current conditions it fills right up
sometimes and can’t drain away quick enough.
I’ve also made repairs to my mainsail halyard
and the only little worry is that I couldn’t
receive my weather info this morning – I
think there’s some problem with the synchronisation.”
Thirteenth
placed Anne Liardet (Roxy) entered the Indian
Ocean today while fourteeth placed Benoît
Parnaudeau (Max Havelaar Best Western) is set
to pass the same symbolic longitude of the Cape
of Good Hope this evening. Having just feasted
on camembert and pasta Benoît was in find
spirits making 13 knots of boat speed.
With
his sights set initially on getting back with
this pair, Conrad Humphreys (Hellomoto) has re-threaded
his halyard gennaker and bandaged up the cap shroud.
After modifying the head of his mainsail to stop
the chafe re-occuring, the English sailor hopes
to return to the race at around midnight tonight.
Meantime, compatriot Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss)
has made it safely into Cape Town with Austrian
Norbert Sedlacek to follow suit having sadly just
announced his retirement from this Vendée
Globe 2004.
Quotes
from the Boats:
Conrad Humphreys (Hellomoto): “Last night
we had 50 knots across the bay and I was in the
water again to put a 3rd line out to secure Hellomoto.
I spent 5hrs up the rig this morning and bandaged
the cap shroud, re-threaded the gennaker halyard
in the mast, so now I'm fixing the mainsail headboard
and could even leave 12hrs earlier than expected,
maybe midnight tonight.”
Mike
Golding (Ecover): “It is a real tricky situation,
there are so many pros and cons. At the moment
I am just sailing my best speed and semi-ignoring
the island. I know there is a shift coming the
question is how big the shift is. If it is not
that big I could go to the south, but if it is
what is expected - which I think it will be -
it will hook me up and over to the north. So at
the moment I am just waiting for the next weather
files. In fairness I have had three weather files
in a row all saying much the same thing so the
opportunity for me to get around the bottom of
island is slowly slipping away.”
Source : Vendée Globe 2004
www.vendeeglobe.org
