Vendée Globe

At the end of this eleventh week of the race after 77 days of sailing, Michel Desjoyeaux is still the clear leader aboard Foncia. He was even able to take advantage of some weather opportunities in the Equatorial area to increase his lead over Roland Jourdain, who is halfway between the leader and Armel Le Cléac’h on Brit Air in third place around 500 miles from them both.

Foncia is due to arrive in Les Sables d’Olonne a week from now and it is harder and harder to imagine what could take this second win away from Michel, unless there is a major technical problem. With the same proviso, it would appear that the podium places are now more or less decided. Only Marc Guillemot, who followed a bold routing strategy close to the coast of Brazil, can now worry Le Cléac’h, if we take into account the redress he was given (see below), but Safran’s mainsail limited to second reef will not help him achieve this goal.

The English women
The big loser this week was without a shadow of a doubt, Samantha Davies. After her remarkable performance in the Southern Ocean, the charming young English skipper of Roxy has been suffering in the South Atlantic, where the weather remains highly unpredictable. While Marc Guillemot overtook her on the inside track thanks to the breezes he found close to the shores of Brazil, her compatriots narrowed the gap from behind, as Sam’s progress was halted. From fourth place last Sunday 330 miles ahead of fifth placed Safran, Roxy not only dropped back a place over the week, but ended up some eighty miles behind Marc Guillemot. She also saw her lead over Bahrain Team Pindar and Aviva, respectively 6th and 7th, simply melt away. The big winner of the week is the other English lady, Dee Caffari, still clinging on to Brian Thompson’s coat tails. And that in spite of her shredded mainsail, which she has to keep working on and which threatens to completely delaminate. Aviva sailed by Dee, who celebrated her 36th birthday on Friday has made record progress. The Owen Clarke design was quite simply the fastest boat in the fleet over the week. She won back 437 miles from Foncia and more than 700 miles from Roxy. Dee and Brian, who are both sailing new boats, which are faster than the veteran Roxy, are now a real threat to Samantha. As they stepped up the speed, they also left the unlucky Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas) standing. Poor «Cali» dropped back a place and lost almost 500 miles to the finish in comparison to his two former companions. Should we therefore conclude that the old Vendée boats, Roxy and Akena, both around the same age, are the underdogs in the South Atlantic?

Redress granted
We should remind ourselves that three competitors have been awarded compensation by the jury, corresponding to the time lost going to the help of competitors in difficulty. Marc Guillemot and Samantha Davies, diverted by the race directors to go to the aid of Yann Eliès seriously injured aboard his Generali, were respectively granted 82 and 32 hours, while Armel Le Cléac’h, who was involved in Jean Le Cam’s rescue was awarded 11 hours. This bonus will be taken away from their race time at the finish in Les Sables d’Olonne, but we can already examine the effect on the gaps between the competitors, although we need to be cautious, as the distance equivalent to one hour of racing can be extremely variable. Let us say that Marc Guillemot and Samantha Davies are the main parties concerned, the former in relation to Armel Le Cléac’h, and the latter in relation to her two fellow British racers.

Statistics
Over the past week, Foncia covered 1513 miles towards the finish averaging 9 knots, while Aviva clocked up 1950 miles. It will have taken Michel Desjoyeaux 15 days and two hours to reach the Equator from Cape Horn, or 21 hours less than the record time set by Vincent Riou four years ago. As he crossed into the Northern Hemisphere, he had 14 days to reach the finishing line to be ahead of the time taken by the skipper of PRB in 2005, thus needing to arrive in Les Sables by late on 4th February. It therefore looks highly likely that the record will be broken…by a boat that set out almost two days after the starting gun was fired in Les Sables and which had to cover a theoretical distance that is 1100 miles longer. For the second consecutive week, the Vendée Globe has not seen any boats being forced to retire. There are still twelve boats in the race. Steve White, in ninth place, rounded Cape Horn late on Monday. The oldest competitor, the American, Rich Wilson, is due to do the same tomorrow, while at around the same time, Dinelli and Sedlacek, still together, will be passing the final Pacific Ice Gate 7000 miles behind Foncia.

Patrice Carpentier
 

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