Vendée Globe

Seb Josse sees his lead rise and fall by a small margin, but he is making the pace as the fleet head for the first ice gate.

The speed and intensity among the leaders of the Vendée Globe it to be cherished and to be wary of, according to several skippers at the heart of the action today. As the places change among the top group – yo-yo’ing back and forth according to sail selection and trim, to small changes in wind angles – and how fresh the skipper is, it is still Seb Josse on BT who leads Yann Eliès (Generali) by 37.7 miles.

Josse admitted today that he was loving the speed and the intensity of the race while Loïck Peyron had re-charged his personal batteries with a two hour spell in his bunk not long after struggling to bring his gennaker back on board Gitana Eighty after it tumbled into the water and became temporarily trapped around the keel. Peyron confirmed that he will have to climb his mast at some point in the future to retrieve the halyard.

With about 350 miles to run east to the first ice gate, Josse has seen his lead expand and contract by a matter of 10 miles over the course of today, while Yann Eliès has been consistently quick with a more northerly track on Generali, although there is little to choose,  as Jean Pierre Dick (Paprec Virbac) has gained in the south to return to third place having earlier been down to sixth. But there is still just 40 miles between third and ninth.

On Ecover 3 Mike Golding (Ecover 3) has been paced by Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux) who takes eighth place just now, with Golding ninth.

Jonny Malbon will do his best to put his recent problems behind him meantimes after damaging his starboard daggerboard in a collision with a marine mammal yesterday. The Artemis II skipper admitted that he will be compromised on his return up the Atlantic after rounding Cape Horn, but he is looking forward to a period of more settled sailing at speeds in the Southern Ocean.

“Percentage-wise it is very, very slight that I will need to use the board so it will be just a case of getting round the ‘Horn and up the Atlantic as best I can. That will be quite demanding.” Said Malbon today, “Otherwise I feel really good and the boat is performing really well. I just need to keep up and keep on it.”

Three English speaking skippers, Steve White (Toe in the Water), Sam Davies (ROXY) and Malbon, all lamented the fact that the race is passing so quickly for them, with more than three weeks under their belts.

“ I was actually quite sad today when I wrote Day 23 down today because theoretically, in time, we are a quarter of the way through the race, if you compare to the last edition of the race, and it seems to have gone by really, really quickly. I am sure that will change now that it is cold and a bit harder conditions.” Said Davies, skipper of ROXY today.

Loick Peyron, (Gitana Eighty):
“ I had a  problem with my gennaker, which detached itself and got caught up around the keel.  I was able to recover it, but I'm going to have to climb the mast at some point.  I'm going to have to get everything sorted for the south.  I'm not sure what sort of pace to adopt. For my birthday, I dived into my box of presents: I had a small radio controlled helicopter, but I'm not sure if it's really suited to these climes...”

Yann Eliès, (Generali): “I've just got out from under my duvet.  As long as Marcel, the pilot is coping, I've no reason to go out on deck.  I feel well rested now  I went out once in my underwear and got caught by a wave.  After that, I went straight back under the duvet.  Things can change quickly here: yesterday evening, I was completely worn out after a day with non-stop manoeuvres.  Apart from that, there are dozens and dozens of birds following me...”

Jonny Malbon, (Artemis II): “ I think I have about 30cms to 40cms of useable daggerboard now but if you can imagine that the leading edge tried to bury itself in the front of the boat and the trailing edge tried to bury itself in the front of the boat, so we are lucky not to have any structural damage to the actual hull, but it does mean I have about a metre’s worth of compressed carbon fibre and foam on the leading edge and the trailing edge is basically just shattered. It is not very good.”
“The sick thing I was taking some pictures for a blog I was about to write about the perfect day’s sailing….because it was just beautiful: sunshine, flat water, 15-18 knots of breeze and we were hacking along quite nicely, and I guess the whale was probably enjoying the weather too, basking on the surface and bang. I was hanging on to the backstay.”
“ It was nothing soft at fifteen knots. I did not see anything, there was nothing evident it was just a sudden stop. The bow went right down, we got hung up on whatever it was for about a minute and then finally we shook ourselves free, and looking out the back of the boat, there was a big grey-green mammal writhing on the surface around in a lot of pain, which was really horrible to see.”
“ I went straight below and could see the board had gone forward in its box from on deck, I thought one of the bearing units had broken it was such a big stop dead and upright shock. I went below immediately I checked the structure of the daggeboards, the keel, checked the rudders, made sure I had no taken any water.”

Steve White, GBR, (Toe in the Water): “It is lovely and warm during the day, cold at night, high cirrus clouds, 11-12 knots of breeze, full mainsail and spinnaker and just lashing a few things down before we get more wind later. “
“We are expecting sort of 30 knots or so, so that is a reasonable amount of wind. I enjoy 30-35-40 knots, wind behind the beam and it is great in this boat. I did a lot of sailing through the winter at home in England, Weymouth to Cherbourg in four hours door-to-door and things like that. I am used to it, quite comfortable with the boat, but it does get very, very, very wet on deck. That is the only thing.”
White’s maximum solo spell to date has been 22 days, which he now exceeds:
“The thing with the OSTAR and the Transat, is that I was always just getting into my groove and suddenly you are in Rhode Island. If I hadn’t have had my family waiting for me I think I would have turned right around and headed home again. I am getting into my groove. A funny thing happened this morning, it was the first time I have been in my sleeping bag because it is colder, I woke up at seven o’clock and I woke up and felt absolutely as fresh as a daisy. It is the first time I have felt not tired in probably a year, and so I feel like I have gone over the threshold and am back to my old self and am quite happy.”
 

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