Vendée Globe

Skirting the outside of the Azores high pressure system Seb Josse (BT) has held the lead that he established on this morning’s positions as he seeks to bank some of his gains from the easterly routing that has yielded him slightly better breeze.

Pursuing hard down that same flank Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux) has broken into the top 5, gaining six places since yesterday’s equivalent report. Le Cam, on the 2004 Lombard design, was still the most easterly boat of the leading group which spans more than 60 miles of lateral separation.

The chasing pack have gained miles on the lead group who unfold their strategies, those in the west, closest to the high pressure system following the contour of the isobars, while those closer to the Portuguese coast sail the more direct route, but can only gybe later.

Pursuing the all-French leading pack Britain’s Mike Golding on Ecover 3 in 11^th gained 9.4 miles on Josse between 0930hrs and 1430hrs GMT.

Unfortunate British solo skipper Alex Thomson arrived back at the start port, Les Sables d’Olonne early this morning with his damaged Hugo Boss. With his well practiced technical team standing by, his black hulled Open 60 was lifted from the water this afternoon and is being inspected by a team of experts to assess the extent of the damage to the port side of his hull. Thomson told media in Les Sables d’Olonne that he believes that the damage was caused by an impact of some kind and vowed to continue with his Vendée Globe if his boat is repairable within the remaining time before the start line closes officially at 1202 GMT one week today (Wed 19^th).

Britain’s Steve White (Toe in the Water) reported in to today’s live radio broadcast that he was dealing with several issues which had affected him since his rushed departure from Les Sables d’Olonne. White said he had suffered a small electrical fire, had blown a hose off his recently installed generator several times during the first 36 hours of the race filling his boat with a mix of diesel fumes and steam.

Spain’s Unai Bazurko (Pakea Bizkai) in 20^th reported back to his team for the first time

'These two days we have not been able to sail for the race, we have been making efforts to survive. I hope we can now start sailing and live the race' said Unai by the telephone. 'It has been really hard, we knew the difficulty of this area well and what could wait for us. Now the wind is calming down and the sailing is more bearable. I am very well and so is the boat.”

Switzerland’s Dominic Wavre (Temenos II), who restarted 10 hours after the start on Sunday,  is in 17^th place told today’s radio report that  “All well on board.  I am trying to catch up for lost time.” He thinks he has little chance to move up the fleet for now but later on there will be opportunities.

And his compatriot Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) is expected to restart this afternoon or evening, following repairs to his bowsprit and standing rigging.

Seb Josse (BT): " Now the life on board is a little bit better, it's the first time I open my third day bag of food any I had my first hot meal yesterday. All is not tidy inside but after the gybe I promise you I tidy the boat, video the boat and check the boat, but there is no big problem today. Yes, I'm happy because all the time it is good to be first but now it's not so easy to react because all the boats are behind but we have to wait for the gybe because maybe some boats can cross in front of me in a few hours. But the good thing is that I'm in the top 5 or top 3, or even in the first position, but the more important thing is that with this part of the fleet."

Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss): “ If we can repair it in the timescale, then we will continue. We have until the 19th to leave and still be in the race, so that is our cut off date, I am not really doing it (repair)without being in the race.”

 “ We have got to look at the damage, we have jus gone through this already so we understand how long it takes to fix these things, see how big it is, and decide how long it is going to take. If it is feasibly possible in the time frame then we will.”

Steve White: (Toe in the Water): On the first night the exhaust blew off the generator four times which filled the boat with diesel fumes and water, and then a pin fell into the batter box and shorted out between the live terminal and the carbon of the boat, and caused a small fire, and so filled the boat with burning epoxy, smell and had a bit of a diesel leak, and I had quite a lot of water in the boat as well, and there was an awful lot of unsecured gear flapping around so I did not really have a very good time for the first 24 hours. I am getting there slowly, but if I can fix the keyboard then I can start turning some blogs, and I am just trying to take it easy on my elbow really, I have some problems with it, and I have a hideous cold, but other than that I am quite fine really, the sun is shining and I have my new spinnaker up, and so I am quite happy really.”

“I have been living on adrenaline for weeks and so to go out through the canal with all these people is just, well, unlike anything most people will experience in their lives. It gave me the most enormous lift, and as soon as I got going, and went down stairs and saw the chaos, where things had literally been chucked down stairs, and the breeze started to build and the adrenaline wore off, and then the problems with the generator, and the fire and the adrenalin started to wear off, you suddenly start to realise how tired you are, and so I have been absolutely exhausted for the first 48 hours, and every now and then I stick my head out of the hatch and there is no one around and I am sailing around the world on my own……well the first bit anyway”

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