Vendée Globe

They sailed only 70 metres apart and chatted by VHF, both sharing their experiences and thoughts after 68 days of hard racing and more than 13,500 miles.

 The moments of comradeship yesterday as well as the simple pleasures of seeing fellow competitors up close form some of the high points so far of this race for the Sablais skipper Raphael Dinelli and Austrian former Taekwondo champion Norbert Sedlacek who keeps his Open 60 Nauticsport Kapsch in the Vendée Globe port of Les Sables.

Their boats are of the same 13 years old vintage and since the North Atlantic they have generally been close, save when Dinelli diverted to try and repair a halyard problem off Brasil, but yesterday’s chance rendezvous in the lonely waters of the Pacific was savoured equally by both skippers. Sedlacek noted today how Dinelli’s boat looked in good condition, but reported that ‘some new s**t happens’, referring to a keel canting problem which he seems to feel he can deal with.

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) has been leading this race now for 32 days. And for 32 days, Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) has been sailing in his wake hoping all the time to get back up level with him.  But as he reaches the St. Helena trade winds, Mich’ Desj’ is able to put his foot down on the accelerator. Sailing at 14 knots this morning (while Jourdain is at 11.8),  he has extended his lead by sixty miles over the past 24 hours (from 270 to 330 miles).  When the wind veers from the north-east to east, Bilou too will be able to step up the speed and will no longer be losing ground. The next opportunity for him for him to try to catch the leader will be the Doldrums three days or so from now.

Emerging yesterday from their refuges from the violent storm at Cape Horn Brian Thompson, Arnaud Boissières and Dee Caffari have been making good progress in much improved conditions, abating SW’ly winds. Handicapped by her damaged mainsail Caffari is back at about 45 miles behind her longstanding running mate Boissières, while Thompson is making 12.9 knots this morning. Thompson was some 35 miles west of the Falklands Island this morning.

Marc Guillemot, in fifth, had a good night, making 17-18 knots around midnight and is now some 300 miles to the west of Sam Davies’ course, but the Roxy skipper is maintaining her margin on Safran, as the fleet’s quickest boat this morning and overnight, half a knot quicker than Guillemot.

Steve White is now about two days from Cape Horn on Toe in the Water and is going consistently well.

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