Vendee
Globe - A Different Race
One
of the revelations of this edition of the Vendée
Globe because of his ability to stand his own
in an old boat from 1998 against the best skippers,
Sébastien Josse (VMI) unfortunately hit
a growler last Thursday. His chances of victory
have been sharply reduced. The youngest competitor
in the event, whose jib boom is broken, must do
without his fore sails downwind. In addition to
that, he has a problem with the rudder that he
hopes to solve tomorrow, when the weather eases
off.
For
Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec), the race changed
quite a while back, when he began to have power
problems, as he entered the Indian Ocean. Tomorrow,
it will be Jean-Pierre’s turn to enter the
iceberg danger zone, but he will be facing that
without any radar, because of the lack of power
on board. Consequently, the sailor from Nice is
going to have to keep further to the north than
his opponents to limit as much as possible the
risk of an encounter with an iceberg.
Like
them, three other competitors still in the race
are having to sail below their normal potential.
With a broken jib boom and a weakened mast head,
Marc Thiercelin (ProForm) had to face up to reality
and change his way of looking at the race. The
same is true of Patrice Carpentier (VM Matériaux),
who tried to repair all by himself at sea his
broken boom. Just in front of Patrice, Joé
Seeten (Arcelor Dunkerque) spent more than an
hour yesterday evening at the top of his mast
trying to release his solent, which had exploded
in last night’s gale, as gusts reached 60
knots.
Managing
your gains
Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle) made an investment he
said, by heading south for a few days. Since Christmas,
the Vendée Globe race leader has been reaping
the benefits. Just over a week away from Cape
Horn, his 153.7 mile lead Vincent Riou in second
place has enabled him to manage his affairs in
a quite relaxed manner. However, Vincent Riou
(PRB) and Mike Golding (Ecover) remain serious
threats, as there is still over a month to go
before the finish in Les Sables d’Olonne.
More determined than ever, Vincent Riou was the
fastest in the fleet over the past few hours.
Quote
Mike Golding (Ecover): “We haven’t
seen any ice for 24 hours, so it’s easier
to concentrate on making the boat go fast. It
looks difficult ahead, quite changeable. Initially
a low pressure, then another and maybe one from
the north west coming in, which will put me back
upwind for a day or two. It’s now quite
rough, although the wind is not so strong. We’ve
got between 18 and 30 knots of wind, so quite
big changes in wind speed and 30° shifts in
direction. It’s difficult to find the right
combination. It’s very tricky.”
Source : Vendée Globe 2004
www.vendeeglobe.org
