Vendée Globe

The week began with Desjoyeaux rounding Cape Horn still in the lead and closely followed by Roland Jourdain. After them, we were expecting Le Cam, Riou and Le Cléac’h. Le Cam capsized, Riou resued him, but during the operation an outrigger broke and the mast later fell. Consequently, Le Cléac’h is in third place as they make their way back up the Atlantic ahead of … Samantha Davies, who has become the star of the Vendée Globe.
 

Only twelve of the thirty boats that set out are still in the race and the distance separating the frontrunners from the tail-enders is now bigger than that to the finish… As they enter the final third of the race, it is still far from over and everything is still to play for. The wind, the sea and animals are there to tell the competitors this. Jourdain, still second, is suffering after colliding with a whale and has to do a lot of work to consolidate his damaged boat. Obviously this year's Vendée is without mercy.  
 
As in 2001
Michel Desjoyeaux rounded the Horn on Monday 5th January in the middle of the night in Europe. In the lead for 20 days, the skipper of Foncia reached the infamous cape in record time, as far as the Vendée Globe is concerned (2 hours less than Le Cam in 2005) in spite of being held up at the start with technical problems and despite the extended race track, which is said to be 1200 miles longer. As in 2001, when his boat was called PRB, Michel leads the way with Roland Jourdain close on his heels. However, his great achievement was soon forgotten with another major incident in the race: Jean Le Cam's capsize, rescue and the consequences...
 
Unusual situations
Tuesday 6th January, 58th day of the race: Race HQ is informed in the middle of the night by Jean's shore team that VM Matériaux had capsized around 200 nautical miles west of Cape Horn. Shortly afterwards, a distress signal was sent out by the beacon aboard the Vendée boat confirming the gravity of the situation. Immediately a rescue operation was put in place. An oil tanker and two competitors, PRB and Brit Air changed course. At 09h50, as Jean triggered a second distress beacon, a Chilean navy plane flew over the red and white hull, which was indeed upside down with her stern under the water. The keel blade was missing its bulb. At around 11h, the oil tanker reached the spot, but could not get close to VM because of the heavy swell. Contact was established at 15h20, when Vincent Riou passed close to VM, and heard Jean and understood he was cold. With Armel arriving too, they took it in turns to keep watch circling the boat in order to recover the ill-fated skipper, when he left his boat via the escape hatch. That is what happened two hours later. Vincent was on duty. He manoeuvred into place and managed to recover Jean. During the manoeuvre, the port outrigger hit the keel on VM and broke. Miraculously, the two men managed to preserve the mast and headed off towards Cape Horn. The idea was to drop off Jean and to carry out repairs to the mast. But suddenly, the mast collapsed a few miles NE of the Horn. Without being able to use his engine for some time, PRB had to be taken in tow by a Chilean naval vessel. A boat that went to the help of a fellow competitor and then found itself unable to complete the race was a first in the Vendée. It will be up to the jury to decide what action to take. Another first: this rescue involved the sailors, who were first and second in the last race. Four years on, the two competitors from Port-la-Forêt rounded the Horn together on the same boat… We can also add that the two companies from Vendée that sponsor these boats also have a close working relationship and trade with each other. On top of that, Isabelle Autissier who came to lend a helping hand to Jean and Vincent, as they approached the coast of Chile, had previously sailed PRB boats around the world.
 
Observations
During the past week since the 11h rankings on Sunday 4th January, Michel Desjoyeaux has covered 2033 miles towards the finish at an average speed of 12 knots, which is not as fast as the crazy pace he set in the Southern Ocean. The skipper of Foncia increased his lead over Veolia Environnement in second place (going from 86 to 225 nautical miles). The lead over Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) has not changed and in addition, he will be receiving redress for going to the help of VM Matériaux. On the other hand, Sam Davies, who has just rounded the Horn has narrowed the gap considerably (by around 300 miles). She is now in fourth place ahead of Marc Guillemot, who has also been sailing quickly, in spite of being under reduced sail. The skipper of Safran is still thinking of stopping after the Horn to carry out repairs up his mast in order to be able to be under full mainsail. 700 miles further back, Brian Thompson has a half day's lead over the duo of Dee Caffari/Arnaud Boissières. Much further back, those trailing behind have one thing on their mind: reaching the Atlantic. Whatever the distance that separates them from their closest rival, we can imagine that the twelve "survivors" in this Vendée Globe are satisfied with the place they occupy in the race.
 
Patrice Carpentier

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