Vendee
Globe - Marc Thiercelin’s Incertitude...
Nearly
200 miles ahead of his closest pursuer mid Pacific
on this, the 52nd day of racing, Jean Le Cam has
been leading the Vendée Globe fleet for
the past 8 days. He and second placed Vincent
Riou both now give an ETA for the Cape Horn of
the morning of January 3 while just 31.9 behind
Riou, Mike Golding estimates 5th/6th January.
The leaders have around 18/20 knots of speed while
behind the chasing trio of Josse/Wavre/Dick already
have 33 knots of wind mid ice field, with forecast
of an established 45 within the next 48 hours,
gusting to 50 knots. Nick Moloney may also get
whisked up by this same system. With no word from
Patrice Carpentier today we can but assume that
his repairs are going to plan in Southern Tasmania
while the situation for Marc Thiercelin looks
far from clear-cut. He has decided to head for
the Bay of Akaroa, near Christchurch, New Zealand
where he knows a good boatyard. Behind them, with
the second best average of the fleet, Conrad Humphreys
has been picking off his fellow competitors one
by one, or even two by two now. At the 15h00 GMT
ranking he had gone up into 11th place, having
passed both Benoît Parnaudeau and the moored
Carpentier. Next in his sights is American skipper
Bruce Schwab just over 350 miles ahead...
After
52 days of racing a sense of humour is paramount
amongst the Vendée Globe fleet today. Jean
Le Cam (Bonduelle) has been playing his propaganda
card to best effect for several days now, giving
a different version of the situation mid-Pacific
to virtually every journalist(!) Trying to strain
out the truth it would seem that he is always
under the impression that he never has the right
sail area up – “either I’ve
got too much or not enough. The winds are very
shifty.” In another interview he was in
hysterics speaking of falling asleep without the
alarm on to warn him of any dramatic wind changes.
The wind rose sharply and before he knew it, the
boat had broached right over.
Slipping
further and further back from Jean Le Cam on a
more northerly course, Vincent Riou (PRB) is nonetheless
comfortable with his situation, playing what he
considers as his wise card, despite his youth.
“The wind is very shifty. There isn’t
a lot of air, 18/20 knots perhaps. I had a few
squalls and that enabled me to luff up. The sailing
conditions are still excellent. I have no thoughts
for the rest of the fleet. I made the decision
to take this course several days ago and I’m
sticking with it. This strategy has been totally
determined by the presence of icebergs. Without
them I would never have let Jean go. Bonduelle
is better placed at present as he will hang onto
the pressure for longer. The big depression that
is coming in behind will only be of concern when
we arrive at Cape Horn, next Monday morning perhaps.”
With
Bonduelle stretching out ahead and Ecover closing
in behind, PRB is really being pressured. Mike
has now closed down to within 31.9 miles of Vincent.
4th placed Sébastien Josse (VMI) has meantime
dropped back to nearly 1000 miles from the frontrunner.
Clearly
starting to bear the brunt of the storm, with
a fairly rare 948 mb forecast in the next 48 hours,
Dominique Wavre is making the best instantaneous
speed of the fleet making 20 knots boat speed,
and 4 hourly averages of 17.7 knots. Jean Pierre
Dick (Virbac Paprec) is also caught up in the
same system. “The gales are coming. I have
a little over 30 knots of wind and I have positioned
myself so as not to get any more, except in the
gusts where the wind could reach 50 knots. I don’t
want to go too far south because of the icebergs.
As a result I am killing two birds with one stone
by staying north. I hope that my helming worries
are behind me. For now, my repairs are holding.
I’m trying to keep the boat on a balanced
point of sail with the right amount of sail area.
Fortunately Virbac-Paprec is very sound and the
Pacific looks more manageable than the Indian.
My generator is still out of order and I’m
trying not to use up too much energy. I can pick
up my weather files and use the desalinator. It
would be great if I could repair it though…”
In
8th position still, Marc Thiercelin (Pro Form)
is intending to make the Bay of Akaroa near Christchurch,
New Zealand tomorrow night, an estimated 36 hours
of sea ahead of him at around 11h30 GMT today.
“I’ve just lived 48 terrible hours.
I was caught up in a depression centre, without
wind in enormous seas. I didn’t know how
to get the boat through it. I must have gybed
50 times in 10 metre waves and I was watching
my boat being destroyed in front of me. I broke
my mainsail battens as well as three traveller
cars. The depression has just gone past me and
I have 40 knots! I am three hours from Stewart
Island but I am going to try to reach the Bay
of Akaroa near Christchurch, to the east of New
Zealand’s South Island. My first concern
will be to moor the boat and take the time to
rest and make a good analysis of what needs to
be repaired and how. I’m going to need to
scale the mast to check out the mainsail traveller
cars and make a precise diagnosis of the mast
head. According to the extent of the damage, and
whether or not I am capable of making repairs,
I will call in outside assistance if need be.
I know that I will then be out of the race, but
I like to finish what I’ve started. As a
result I will complete the course and bring my
boat back to Les Sables d’Olonne alone.
My stopover in New Zealand will be long, especially
if I reconstruct my bowsprit, as that will take
at least 5 days of work (time to for the carbon
to cure properly)”.
With
the second best 24 hour mileage in the fleet,
gradually picking off his victims, Conrad Humphreys
(Hellomoto) has been hooked into the south high
pressure system off the Australian Bight, first
snatching 12th place from Benoît Parnaudeau,
and now 11th place from Patrice Carpentier. Fed
by a following system he is able to rack up some
great averages, reaching in some stable 25 - 30
knot winds. “I will have to get as far as
54 degrees south to get round the mess in the
Tasman Sea and then use this system tactically
to get north a bit before the SW wind hits and
I reach the ice floe.”
Karen
Leibovici (Benefic) is the only competitor left
to pass Cape Leeuwin today. She is around 250
miles from the western tip of Australia.
Quotes
from the Boats:
Nick Moloney (Skandia): “Not sure if I’m
going to make it or not, got great speed at the
moment 12 to 15 knots, just not sure its going
to last. I’d really like to be able to stay
in the same system as JP [Virbac] if I can, but
he’s off now...” Conrad Humphreys
(Hellomoto): “All’s well on board,
we’re ‘submarining’ in 32 knots
with 3 reefs and the staysail up. The last two
days have been really good and I have a game plan
for the next few days. I’m hooked into this
high pressure system sitting off the Australian
Bight in winds being fuelled by the system moving
in from behind to generate stable 25 – 30
knot winds and great steady reaching conditions,
which this boat likes a lot. I’m sailing
fairly fast, not completely pedal down, but maintaining
good averages. I’ve been watching leaders
and regularly keeping tabs with them. In fact
over the last week or so on average I’m
making good progress against them. Watching the
GPS every time you go to sleep and finding that
you’ve made a 50m jump when you wake up
is very satisfying.”
Mike Golding (Ecover): “I don’t think
the risk is any different here from anywhere else.
We are a long way from land, but the risk of an
incident is precisely the same if we were 20 miles
off the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn. Anyway
hopefully now things are better. The boats are
less prone to staying upside down. I feel this
boat could survive pretty much anything. The biggest
fear without question is ice. It does grind you
down. You spend four years wanting to get down
here and after two weeks of it you spend the rest
of the time wanting to get out of it. That is
the sum of it. Right now I just want to get out
of it! I’ve had enough of it. It is just
filled with threat… It is like ‘what
is going to happen next?’ It is a pretty
wild place. I have just been out on deck and the
moon is out and there is a patch of clear sky
and some stars which I have to say is like a breath
of fresh air because it is so oppressively overcast
here 95% of the time. So when the sun comes out,
or the moon or when you see clear sky it feels
like the weight is lifted off your shoulders frankly.
I’ve made the odd sail change, swapping
to the Solent, reef in reef out. I’ve tried
that a couple of times, thinking it was settling
but it just hasn’t.”
Source : Vendée Globe 2004
www.vendeeglobe.org
