Vendée Globe

American skipper Bruce Schwab (Ocean Planet) had to tack pass Cape Finisterre (Spain) earlier today, as the wind headed at the last minute. This afternoon he is just 300 miles from the finish and already a huge international following are present in Les Sables d’Olonne to witness the arrival of the first American to finish the Vendée Globe. With solely the Bay of Biscay to negotiate, Bruce is likely to encounter NE’ly headwinds as he makes the final upwind slog under two reefs and staysail, waiting for the changing wind to sort itself out and hopefully lift to port. For now he is suffering up to 30 knot squalls pelting him with hail and realistically, given his current 4.6 knot average, he is looking at looping the loop of what has been a fantastic story of human endeavour on Thursday afternoon.

Passing within sight of the hills past Cape Finisterre today Bruce Schwab (Ocean Planet) has been having a rather hectic return to civilization after 107 days of solitude since the start of the race on November 7th 2004. “I crossed the shipping lanes this morning and was very fast even under 3 reefs and staysail. I was being very conservative but still managed 12 knots. I only had to call up 2 freighters so it wasn’t too bad. The main traffic was fishing boats. I’ve got some fishermen around me right now. On the radar we have about 16/17 boats. There’s a rain squall coming so it’s very crowded and busy. I was hoping I would be close enough to steal some fish but that hasn’t been the case! I had to change course a little to avoid any collisions but fortunately there was a wind shift with the squalls that enabled me to get through two groups. A number of the fishermen are in pairs and I have around 6 groups of two around me.”

In the latest contact with 9th placed Bruce at 1330 GMT, he was in very shifty conditions making an average of just 4.6 knots over a four hour period. He reported very little wind one minute, his sails flogging from side to side, the next a 30 knot squall filled with hail. “It’s hard to say what the wind is going to do. It’s a very strange zone on the corner of a low pressure system as it moves over Spain. I’m just passing the cape and though it says I should have a NE’ly wind I’ve actually got N’ly near the coast. I’m hoping for the wind to lift to port and if that is the case I can continue to the E. An arrival on Thursday afternoon would be great but it could be very slow tomorrow. I hope the wind will hold and that Mother nature won’t throw too many curves at me!”

1274 miles behind, Benoît Parnaudeau (Max Havelaar/Best Western) is currently making good but cautious headway less than 500 miles South of the island of Santa Maria (Azores). After being calmed temporarily this morning, Benoît is now edging his way through squalls, averaging over 9 knots of boat speed in around 20/25 knots of SW’ly wind. Chuckling at the pleasures of downwind sailing again, he is eeking out an extra ‘umphteenth’ of boat speed by shifting the little moveable ballast he has left, around 900 miles WSW of Agadir (Morocco).

Also battling her way through squalls and fronts, Anne Liardet (Roxy) is 464 miles behind Benoît after losing some miles on him overnight. She is now making fairly steady progress in around 7/ 8 knots of downwind enabling her to average 8 knots of boat speed under mainsail and gennaker. Roxy is right in the middle of a transition zone between the NE’ly trade winds and the Azores high, a situation not easy to get out of as she passes Mauritania.

Raphaël Dinelli (Akena Vérandas) and Karen Leibovici (Benefic) are being pushed by the NE’ly trade winds. 15 knots of wind is giving them close reaching conditions. Their next target is the latitude of the Cape Verde islands. Raphaël is around 600 miles from Fogo this morning being ‘attacked’ by some huge flying fish. He is waiting to see what cards the high pressure will deal him. Karen meantime is around 720 miles from the same volcanic island making preparations to repair her water propeller for producing power. Yesterday’s rain squalls have enabled her to collect around 30 to 35 litres of freshwater and her swollen hands and skin are now feeling decidedly soothed by yesterday’s dousing, less than 3000 miles from the finish.
Author Kate Jennings

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