Vendée Globe

All of those still racing in the Vendée Globe have experienced some very bad weather over the past few days, whether we are talking about those towards the back in the Indian Ocean or those at the front in the Pacific.
 

They have all been through some extreme conditions, where there is nothing to do but ride out the storm and wait for some calmer weather. Two boats, BT and Algimouss, knocked down by giant waves with their mast in the water were seriously damaged. The top two spreaders on the port side gave way under the pressure on the Canadian boat. Aboard BT, Sébastien Josse suffered structural damage on Friday and more seriously one of his rudders cannot be used. The Frenchman, who had been up at the front since the start is heading north towards calmer seas to carry out a thorough check-up and decide on whether or not he has a future in the race.
As for Derek Hatfield heading slowly towards Tasmania, he is expected to announce his retirement shortly.
Josse is therefore no longer one of the four musketeers at the front led by Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia), closely followed by a clearly determined Roland Jourdain (Véolia Environnement) and a relentless Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux). Between these three, the gaps have hardly changed since last week and are minute in comparison to the distance run and left to sail (10,000 miles).
Behind the trio, practically halfway between New Zealand and Cape Horn, the inseparable couple of Vincent Riou (PRB) and Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) have not lost a mile to the leader. Their goal is clearly to stay snapping at the heels of the frontrunners until The Horn (which they should round on 4th January, according to Vincent) and if possible still sail with their boat at full potential in order to battle it out during the climb back up the Atlantic. In that case it will no longer be a 1-2-3, but a five-way fight between the sailors from the «Vallée des Fous» or Crazy Valley, as the French refer to Port la Forêt and the surrounding area.  

Two women in the top ten
Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2), another pace-maker from the first half of the Vendée Globe lost a lot of time getting his damaged starboard rudder functioning normally, after suffering damage south of Australia. He has managed to get it working, which has allowed him to stay in seventh place and to maintain the distance (around 1100 miles) behind Desjoyeaux, in spite of the calms (the only one to have this problem) in the south and a repair job he is not yet entirely satisfied with.
Samantha Davies, a true delight in this race with her eternal upbeat mood and her pace, which is up there with the best, in spite of the age of her boat (eight years old). Roxy is clearly a fine construction, as she is none other than the former PRB, twice winner of the Vendée Globe, and has moved closer to Jean-Pierre Dick.
Marc Guillemot (Safran), in ninth place, carried out a pit stop yesterday in Sandy Bay in the Auckland Islands to the south of New Zealand. He set off again twelve hours later having repaired the luff track on his mast to allow him to sail under full mainsail again. It would not be surprising to see Marco put his foot down again and make up for the time he lost.
In the 11h rankings this morning, Dee Caffari grabbed tenth place from her compatriot, Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar), who is spending most of his spare time repairing his boat. Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas) has joined in the British duel hoping for a place in the Top Ten too. The distance to the leader for this group has widened over the week. It is now around 2000 miles. Of the eighteen boats still racing, of which there may well be two fewer shortly, we should mention the fine progress being made by the discreet Steve White, 13th on his old boat, and also the ongoing problems facing Dinelli bringing up the rear 4624 miles from Desjoyeaux.

Further to sail
You may have been surprised to see the distance to the finish increase today. The reason is simply that they will have further to sail because of the modifications to the Ice Gates to protect competitors from encountering drifting ice. If you sail more closely to the South Pole, you reduce the distance to Cape Horn, as, let us not forget, the Earth is round. On the contrary, the further north the route, the further you have to sail. So the theoretical route was recalculated to include the two modified Pacific gates. This accounts for an additional 450 miles. That is why this week, we are not looking at thee progress made by the boats, as the distance to the finish changed at the end of the week.

Patrice Carpentier

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