Vendée Globe

Journey times for Dominique Wavre
Equator : 11 days 18 hours 28 minutes (19/11 at 0530 GMT)
Good Hope : 27 days 23 hours 43 minutes (5/12 at 1045 GMT)
Cape Leeuwin : 40 days 10 hours 08 minutes (17/12 at 2110 GMT)
Cape Horn : 61 days 18 hours 28 minutes (8/01 at 0530 GMT)
Equator : 77 days 7 hours 28 minutes (23/01 at 1830 GMT)
Finish : 92 days 17 hours 13 minutes and 20 secondes (08/02 at 0515 GMT)

Portrait

At the age of 49, Dominique Wavre is one of the most experienced single-handed yachtsmen. After four Whitbreads (the crewed race around the world with stopovers) and one Vendée Globe, the Swiss skipper decided to take part in this Vendée Globe to complete his sixth circumnavigation. Just as at ease with a crew as sailing solo, Dominique Wavre has taken part four times in the Figaro single-handed event – winning second place in 1990. In spite of scraping together a budget at the last moment, Dominique and his team managed to get some serious work done on the 60-foot monohull, aboard which he finished in fifth place in the 2000-01 Vendée Globe.

How the race went...

Les Sables/Equator
Soon left behind by the leading group, Dominique Wavre took the lead of the second group in seventh place. After four days of racing, the skipper of Temenos was already 113 miles astern of the leader. During this first week of racing, which got off to a cracking start, Dominique was unable to avoid capsizing in the middle of the night under spinnaker in a 38-knot wind. The time he lost getting his boat back on course knocked him back to 10th place by the time he passed the Cape Verde Islands. Wavre crossed the Equator on 19th November in 8th place, after a fairly tricky passage through the Doldrums, where he adopted a little bird called Alfred.

Equator/Cape of Good Hope
Like the others in the second group, the Swiss skipper was becalmed for several days in the St. Helena high, while the leaders were hot-footing it to the southern seas. On 4th December, Temenos also entered the Roaring Forties. Two days later, Dominique covered 350 miles in one day taking back sixth place from Jean-Pierre Dick.

Good Hope/Cape Leeuwin
Right in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Dominique Wavre spotted his first iceberg at 49°36 S. «I saw a shadow on the water, but with 4 metre high waves, it was difficult to see what it was exactly.» After climbing up to his first spreaders, the skipper could make out on the horizon «a white mass with a pointed side and a rounded side five miles to the south.» Mike Golding had also seen it two days earlier.
On 14th December, Dominique Wavre, Nick Moloney and Jean-Pierre Dick went through their worst storm in this Vendée Globe with winds exceeding 60 knots and destructive seas. «It really got up in the night, 40, 50, then 60 knots. I lowered the canvas to a minimum. The wind was roaring and the seas coming in every direction, making the boat roll around. The conditions were impossible, and I hardly got a wink of sleep. The boat continued to make headway in spite of slamming into the waves.»
Dominique passed the south western tip of Australia on 16th December in sixth place, putting Cape Leeuwin behind him the next day.

Leeuwin/Cape Horn
In fifth place following the retirement of Roland Jourdain, Dominique Wavre felt rather alone to the south of Tasmania. On 21st December, he was 794 miles astern of Mike Golding, in fourth place, and 562 miles ahead of Jean-Pierre Dick, in sixth place. Wavre was that much more alone, as he had to cross a ridge of high pressure, which really slowed him down for several days.
On Boxing Day, Dominique spotted a 100-m high iceberg. On 27th December, he was once again becalmed in the fifties. He lost 500 miles in just five days… widening the gap to a maximum of 1605 miles from the leader on New Year’s Eve. That day also meant yet another battering with winds in excess of 60 knots. «I had a week under a high giving me inland water conditions, and then all of a sudden a real battering. I would have preferred something in between. It’s either black or white. There’s no middle ground here.»
On New Year’s Day, he was 600 miles astern of Sébastien Josse in fourth place.
On the eighth, he rounded the Horn for the sixth time in his sailing career. He was now in fifth place 5 days and 1h15’ behind Jean Le Cam.

Cape Horn/Les Sables
The climb back up the Atlantic looked more and more like a high speed chase, as he tried to catch Sébastien Josse, whose boat was no longer capable of giving 100% after hitting an iceberg. A week after the Horn, Dominique met up with Sébastien in a high-pressure area off Argentina. The two yachtsmen began their jolly two step, sailing within sight of each other for a whole afternoon.
On 16th January, Dominique Wavre grabbed fourth place for the first time since the start. The next day, the Swiss skipper tried in vain to repair his leaking ballast pipes. «For the moment, it’s a bit like something out of a cartoon. When the ballast is full, it leaks out into the boat, so I pump on one side [editor’s note, to avoid the water filling up the boat] and then I fill up the other side again" [editor’s note, in order to fill up the ballast, which is gradually emptying itself].»
On 19th January, Wavre had some more damage, which could have ended very badly. The starboard running backstay snapped, but Dominique was just able to avoid losing his mast. He did the repairs and noticed the running backstay on the other side was showing the same signs of wear. After that, he was unable to put his mast under too much strain. According to the weather conditions, which were favourable to one or the other, Dominique and Sébastien changed over in fourth place at regular intervals and were rarely more than 30 miles apart during the whole climb back up the Atlantic.

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