Vendée Globe

Sounding slightly flat, fatigued but objective, Loïck Peyron admitted he was hoisting a genoa and sailing into a better breeze this lunchtime, hoping that this was the first clear signal that he was starting to shake off the worst of the Doldrums with his lead intact. It may be a false dawn, there may still be light and fickle breezes to come, but Peyron’s speed has risen again and his margin increased.

Since he spoke to the daily radio broadcast Peyron, skipper of the navy blue hulled Gitana Eighty, has stretched his lead back to 21.8 miles over Seb Josse (BT).

The threat, such as it is, comes from Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2), in third, who has a more westerly position, by 45 miles, and has been making the best gains.

Indeed as the fleet emerge into the SE’ly breezes it is those to the west who seem to have made the best initial impact. Mike Golding, GBR, has nearly halved his deficit on the lead today, lying seventh at 55.1 miles behind Peyron.

With some 330 miles to the Equator, though the battle has largely been astern of Peyron and he has scarcely made a wrong move, the race between third and sixth has seen places change regularly and there is never any release from the intensity. Speeds may drop with the breeze,  but the competition is as keen and hard fought as it was off the start line.

Once again today boats within this elite group have been racing within a matter of miles of each other at distances and using strategies more reminiscent of a one design weekend offshore race than a 24,000 miles solo round the world marathon.

Vincent Riou (PRB) in third is just six miles behind Dick, while Armel Le Cléach (Brit Air) and Yann Elies (Generali), the rearguard of this top flight, were separated by only a couple of miles laterally this afternoon.

From Peyron to tenth placed Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux), the distance is still less than 90 miles. The gap back to 11^th placed Dominique Wavre, SUI, (Temenos II) is then more than 110 miles tonight but the racing within this next wave is as close. Brian Thompson, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar) is nearing the end of a marathon sail repair to his main utility A3 gennaker which split from front to back some days ago. The Cowes based skipper, holder of more than 20 round the world and ocean racing speed records, has been working round the clock while the conditions are favourable, sleeping on deck last night in the perfect weather. He told us today that he still has many hours to complete the mending process but he passed Sam Davies to take 12^th place on the standings and has had the highest average speed over the last sched of the Top 15 boats. 

And behind this group there is a rivalrly which is no less engaging as Dee Caffari, Steve White, Arnaud Boissieres and none other than Michel Desjoyeaux return good average speeds together in solid, relatively settled breezes as they anticipate what the Doldrums will bring them. Jonny Malbon, GBR, (Artemis II) is making a good westing at the moment, returning some 50 miles west over recent hours.  

Seb Josse, (BT): “ It is a mess on board BT because I have done so many sail changes and so there has been no time to tidy up at all. The wind has been up and down, sometimes nothing, sometimes two knots, sometimes five. But I think with Loïck so far we have made a good race and will find best exit from the Doldrums, hopefully that will be soon. But we know how it is, this is part of the game, we can gain or we can lose in this part.”

Brian Thompson, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar): on his mammoth sail repair , It is a massive, massive tear where the sail is at the widest. I would not say that I am nearly there, but I am more than half way there on the patching. There is a lot of little things to do after that. I have been using cuben fibre, sika flex spray glue, Kevlar strips, they are the main things but I am a little worried I am getting through the my sail repair kit, and so I do hope it holds.

Unai Basurko, ESP, (Pakea Bizkaia): Everything is good, everything is fine. I start to be happy now. The first three or four days I was not so happy with my tactics, but after a few days we get racing and now I am happy with the boat. I study my meteo and the timings and I hope that we have an open gate in the Doldrums, more east than for the fleet. I hope to try some different things.

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