Vendée Globe

As the leading pair deal with an awkward combination of a high pressure ridge and small, squally, active depressions typical of the South Atlantic, so Roland Jourdain has been able to profit, pulling back more than 70 miles of his deficit to leader Michel Desjoyeaux.

The Foncia skipper, 415 miles SE of Rio has had to tack three times losing miles to his pursuer – who has been on the same tack for over 300 miles - as they climb northwards towards relief and regularity of the tradewinds.

With the air temperature for the leaders now the high 20’s deg C, the contrast with the Southern Ocean, only eight days ago, is pleasingly marked. But with it comes the challenge of dealing with the mixed conditions.

Cold air from the South American high ground meeting warmer air creates conflict between the air masses.

As it moves over the sea more, becoming more and more humid, this produces thundery squalls.  Add to this the effect of St. Helena and the movement and development of the lows is unpredictable.

 Meantime Armel Le Cléac’h has continued to gain and is now, earning another six miles this afternoon on the leader, but so too the Brit Air skipper is having to deal with the more complex changes of the South Atlantic and has slowed in the high pressure system with his speeds right down to only 5 knots this afternoon. Tomorrow Marc Guillemot will see if he can follow his plan to stop at the Falklands, unaided, and pick up a mooring buoy or drift to repair his mainsail luff track.

Sam Davies, too, acknowledged today that she faces some difficult, and unpredictable weather over the next few days.

Cape Horn will be a blessed relief for Brian Thompson and his pursuing duo, Dee Caffari and Arnaud Boissières. Thompson, 177miles off the west coast of Chile, still has 415 miles to the mythical rock, has reported that he had ridden out the first storm OK.

Unfortunately today Dee Caffari reported to today’s radio vacation that her mainsail ‘has not made it’, with strands of material flapping in the gales, but she could not say exactly how bad the damage is. The British soloist will have to wait until the buffeting dies down to even assess how much more damage there is to her mainsail.  Meantime her closest rival and running mate, Boissiéres reported this afternoon that he had been knocked flat twice, the second time his Fleet 77 satellite comms equipment was washed overboard by a wave.

Arnaud Boissières, (Akenas Verandas): The boat was knocked down twice. The first time she stayed over for some time and I thought we had been dismasted. The second time we were hit by a wave on the beam and the Fleet was washed overboard. Once again my first reaction was to look at the mast, when I heard the bang.  I thought conditions would ease off an hour ago, but they haven't.  It's the first time I've seen anything like this since the start.  I had 60 knots of wind just now and the waves are about 8 metres high.  I have to be at the Horn by the evening of 15th, as there's another low moving in...

Michel Desjoyeaux, (Foncia): It's warm down here in the South Atlantic. It's hot, 26° in the boat.  It's twenty degrees warmer than 8 days ago.  Things are not easy, but we're making headway.  Yesterday, there were very light winds in the afternoon. This is the quiet part of the race, but it's not very interesting.  I'm not going to complain, especially in comparison with my friends, who are still in the Pacific.  To get through the Doldrums, I've been looking at Jean-Yves Bernot's book, but I don't understand much.  I'm heading up towards the trade winds from the St. Helena high  and it's going to take a few more tacks to get in the right place.  Since I changed my staysail, everything is fine on Foncia. The boat is slamming a bit.  I'm listening to her, but there aren't any strange noises.  I missed the Green Flash yesterday evening, when the sun went down.  I was busy with manoeuvres.  The sun was very bright and clear.”

Dee Caffari, GBR (Aviva): “It is still horrendous. That is the best way to describe it. The sea state is massive. I have seen a top wind speed of 64 knots, and probably the last seven hours I have seen 50 plus knots, I am OK, the boat is OK but the mainsail did not make it. I am down to four reefs and below that there is not a lot of mainsail left. There is no prospect of repairing it while I still have 50 knots, I can just see streams of material flying in the wind, and I am just thinking this is going to be horrendous. I will be under four reefs for a while and then I will have a look at it and see what I can do when the weather has ‘chilled out’ a little bit.

Raphael Dinelli (Fondation Océan Vital): “We're still heading upwind. We have to weave our way north and then south. The boat isn't really designed for upwind sailing. It's really not nice. She slams into each wave and the whole structure of the boat shudders. She rises up on the swell, there's a rodeo ride and then she comes to a violent standstill. I'm lucky my boat is made of fibreglass, as that makes her a bit more supple. Sometimes the whole boat is being shaken so much that I expect her to explode.  It's a nasty feeling. The seas are really boat-breaking, and not much good for the sailor either.  It's weird.  I've never sailed upwind in the Southern Ocean. It's the first time I've had to weave up and down like that.  Finding headwinds with highs to the south and lows to the north... This year the Pacific is really odd.  I've only got six weeks of supplies left. I'm going to have to watch what I eat and ration myself.”

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