The atmosphere is building with an undercurrent of anticipation in Les Sables d’Olonne this morning. The sun has been shining and there is even a hint of spring as the daytime temperatures rise.
The race village opened officially with its inauguration at 1030hrs local time.
On the radio vacations this morning Roland Jourdain revealed that he has known since he hit the sea mammal three weeks ago that he had sustained damage to his keel. He told how he had dived and seen some damage to the laminate skin. It is not just the bulb which has gone but, he reckons, part of the steel fin as well. He is determined to finish and sees the 1650 miles he still has to sail divided into three parts – to the Azores, which are 450 miles NE of him, from the Azores to the north coast of Spain, and then to the finish. He is sailing fully ballasted and making 5 knots under a double reefed main and staysail at the moment.
Michel Desjoyeaux is making between 14 and 17 knots towards the finish and has less than 615 miles to run. He made the best part of 100 miles between 0330hrs and 0930hrs GMT. He is remaining prudent with his routing and had favourable 25 knots of SW’ly breezes this morning to make excellent speed.
But Foncia faces one final challenge in the shape of low pressure system, 50-55 knots in the gusts, swell 4-6m and the associated front will sweep to the SW to catch Bilou south of the Azores. Foncia will have a fast period, passing perhaps as close as 50 miles off N coast of
Meteo
In third Brit Air is cutting the cheese, passing to the east of the
Le Cléac’h is going a steady nine knots and his present ETA Les Sable d’Olonne is around about 5th to 7th February.
Sam Davies has emerged into the NNE’ly trades this morning. Roxy’s position – to the east and north of Safran, means that Sam should be able to take first bite as the trades veer. Guillemot’s strategy is more long term, he considers, and Davies really needs something closer to two days advantage over Safran, considering his redress, to be able to challenge realistically for him. Sam had a steady night averaging 11 – 11.5 knots on Roxy, while Guillemot has been slightly quicker this morning.
Pindar is in the Doldrums, such as they exist at the moment. There has been some compression.
Akena Verandas has the same situation as Marco Guillemot, squeezed to the coast – he has had stormy lows and now has just weak, disorganized asthmatic trade winds.
Steve White is in NE’ly winds still and that is pinning him, too, progressively towards the coast, although he said this morning that he was making a tack to the east to avoid that problem.
Rich Wilson has had bit of a beating again, whilst if Dinelli and Sedlacek don’t speed up a little there is the risk of them being caught in a high pressure system. Again.
Here is the summary of what today’s French speaking skippers had to say today:
Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement): Hasn’t been able to see exactly what happened. Thought it was keel bulb when he first had problem yesterday. But looks like the whole bottom part missing. Goal is still to sail back to Les Sables after stopping in the
Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas): Hot and fine weather. Summer weather. Wind came back yesterday. Occasional dark clouds and calms yesterday evening. Sailing at a steady 8-9 knots towards north of
Raphaël Dinelli (Fondation Ocean Vital): Am trying to step up speed to get to Horn before high pressure arrives. ETA 12-15 March. Wind generators working and in
Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia): Not too bad this morning, as decent speeds taking him back to Vendée. Boat speed 17-22 knots. Sunny with a line of squalls on horizon. When I returned so quickly to Les Sables (first time when he had ballast tank leak), it was already like winning as the crowds came to see me! I thought I’d make it back to the Top 5 by the Horn and then it would be a battle up the
