Vendée Globe

Anne Liardet (Roxy) is awaiting her moment of glory. A moment when she will become the third woman, after Catherine Chabaud and Ellen Macarthur, to officially complete a Vendée Globe. Whether the Bay of Biscay will release her from its clutches for an arrival on Mothering Sunday (in the UK) or on Monday remains to be seen, but as she passes Cape Finisterre an unfavourable swell is blocking her progress, forcing her to go way off course. Aching to see her kids again, she will clearly be doing her utmost to make the finish in Les Sables d’Olonne as soon as possible after what is today her 117th day alone at sea.

Caught up in a merciless Bay of Biscay where a lounging anticyclone is providing N’ly winds, Anne Liardet is on a NW’ly heading giving her an appalling VMG. Her short term goal is to find a NNW’ly wind shift so as she can finally head eastbound. As Roxy slams through the seas her mast wands were lost to winds last night, her two Brooks automatic pilots have given up the ghost, and so too has her desalinator. Feeling that the finish is now just around the corner, Anne has determinedly decided to helm, bail and dry out the boat until she gets where she is going, tired or otherwise.

Raphaël Dinelli (Akena Verandas) has struck it rich. The SE’ly air flow generated by the big depression coming from the North Atlantic is providing him with some fine, long hours of downwind towards the Azores and maybe even Brittany. The seas are calming and after resting this morning he is rediscovering the pleasures of sailing again after an arduous night of upwind with the seas running against him.

“I have to make headway” declared Karen Leibovici (Benefic) earlier after hitting some S’ly winds and hoisting her sails back up. Apart from the messy seas and the chop, nothing can quell her desires to make good speed to the Azores. Around 1500 miles from the finish, Karen is continuing to pamper her Benefic. “I have 300 to 400 litres of water in the front sail locker and without any power for using the pump, I am bailing out big bucketfuls of sea water from the boat...”
Translation Kate Jennings

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