Vendée Globe

It may have been a tough, physical first night for the 30 skippers who started the Vendée Globe in Les Sables d’Olonne yesterday but a malicious cold front is forecast to hit them during this afternoon and into tonight which will give them a severe test as they try to escape November's grim clutches in the Bay of Biscay.

While Marc Guillemot on Safran has held his lead, his decision to tack to the south while the fleet seeks to maximise their westing gives him the edge, but the leading boats show very little speed difference.

Mike Golding’s decision to follow Guillemot with two tacks last night seems to have paid off,  the British skipper on Ecover has made up ten places from last night’s rankings and is now lying 13th and sitting between Guillemot and the main pack.

Golding’s tenacity and choice has paid the dividend he needed but it is Dee Caffari on the bright yellow Aviva, sistership to Ecover, who is the top international skipper lying in seventh place just ahead of the defending Vendée Globe title holder PRB of Vincent Riou.

Strategically, Richard Silvani of Météo France has made the point several times: the biggest gains in these early stages will go to the sailor who sets up best for this front.

In the 1100h (1000GMT) rankings, Safran leads by 9.5 miles.

Behind him Roland Jourdain on Veolia Environment,  and Loick Peyron on Gitana have traded second and third in the rankings. These two are the southernmost boats of the main group, while Guillemot remains the most southerly boat of the fleet, with Golding 18,8 miles behind chasing in his wake. 

Sam Davies on Roxy, who went with the pair, has also gained a couple of places. These three are now on a slightly more northerly heading, towards the rest of the fleet, and Golding confirmed in today’s live radio vacation today that he did not see any further benefit to the south.

One of the pre-race favourites Michel Desjoyeaux, who was lying sixth this morning, has become the third skipper to turn back to shore to effect repairs after Dominic Wavre and Bernard Stamnm. Desjoyeaux has problems with his electrics after a leak in the ballast system, which left Foncia’s engine flooded.

Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss and Brian Thompson on Bahrain Team Pindar are in 12^th and 14^th places respectively. Thompson has been given a four hours penalty by the international jury for not having his shore crew off his boat before the four minutes pre-start cut off.

The skippers have had to contend with short slamming waves, of about 3-4 metres, with building breezes, peppered by sharp squalls under dark clouds, making for a frantic first 24 hours. During this morning’s radio broadcast, leader Guillemot commented that he had been too busy to notice his overall position!

Sam Davies says she is looking to find a good rhythm now, reported that she feels lucky not to have been seasick so bumpy and unsettled has it been, she got some sleep in her foul weather gear but sounded very upbeat. A split oil container has made the sole of Roxy like a skating rink, but she will wait for better weather to properly clean it up.  Seb Josse in fifth place on BT concurred, saying that you need a strong head for these conditions, and it will be a critical time to preserve the boat, sails and equipment.

Jeremie Beyou: "It's a real battle... The wind is up to 40 knots. The seas are becoming high. It's really violent with the boat leaping about.  I am under reduced sail... I may not have had enough sail up last night. This morning I've taken in three reefs and am under ORC [storm jib]. No worries on board. I managed to sleep a bit and haven't eaten much.  I'm paying attention to the boat and to myself.  It's important not to break anything."

Sam Davies: “The first night has been full-on, with too many sail changes and tacks! I tried to take advantage of a shift during the night, but tacking is SO hard and takes SO long with all this gear on board! Stacking is a nightmare, especially in 30 knots of wind and big seas! I think I lost more with my tacks than I gained from the shift!”

Mike Golding: “It’s been pretty wet and wild. I’ve been pretty busy - one of the mast cars failed, and trying to decide whether to tack on each and every shift – it’s very shifty. I’ve done one hitch and it seems to have worked out okay — now we’re all just trucking west and it seems to be building again now. I think by about 3 o’clock this afternoon we’ll have some pretty wild conditions.”

Dominque Wavre on Temenos is sailing hard to make up the miles on the rest of the fleet after rejoining the race after around five hours of repairs. He reported that the winds are building for him, the seas are and he extended his thanks to his shore team and to all who helped him make his electrical generator repair last night

Desjoyeaux said: "I had a small leak in the ballast system and underestimated its importance and the damage. This morning I started up the engine and after 40 minutes of charging, I could smell something burning.  The engine was taking a swimming lesson and didn't appreciate it. I have already done part of a round the world race with an engine which was extremely difficult to start, but if it wasn't going to work at all......

So I took the decision to turn around. I hope to reach Les Sables d'Olonne by 2200h and that the sea, which is already high, will allow me to do that, so we can get to work on the repairs."

Also down on the dock Bernard Stamm’s shore team are currently working flat out to repair the broken bowsprit on Cheminées Poujoulat – they hope to return to the racecourse around 12 noon Tuesday.

Bernard Stamm (Chéminées Poujoulat) talking about his repairs:
"It's a race against the clock, but there are things you can't hurry. For example, we're going to have to rebuild the bowsprit in its entirety and you can't change the time it takes to dry composites, whether you are racing or not.  This repair job needs to be done as seriously as everything else we have done on Cheminées Poujoulat up until now. We're going around the world and it's going to have to last. The countdown has begun. while the others are all sailing upwind, it's not a big problem, but if I could get away today, rather than tomorrow it would be better.  However, looking at what needs to be done,  I shan't be leaving Les Sables until tomorrow afternoon to try to sail the best race possible."

Ends

Infos précédentes :