Vendée Globe

Keeping thoughts of what seems an inevitable and comprehensive victory at bay Michel Desjoyeaux has had no let up during a breezy Friday night which has seen Foncia still posting high average speeds passing Cape Finisterre

Desjoyeaux was making 16-17 knots during the middle part of yesterday evening and has slowed little through the night.

Today will be the final day at sea for Desjoyeaux before he reaches the coast of Vendée and the leader has pledged to have a quiet day as he concentrates on the final miles.   Meanwhile his shore team are also going through the last hours of the race, savouring those precious moments.  From the boat builders to the technical support team and all those helping him psychologically from a distance, the back room team have played a vital role in helping Desjoyeaux to victory. 

The most obvious reminder was when 200 miles into the race, Jean-Paul Roux, the team manager at Mer Agitée, Desjoyeaux’s company which runs his projects, received a call from the skipper announcing that he was returning to Les Sables d’Olonne with an electrical problem following a leak in his ballast tank. 

That was the time for quick action, to organise a pit stop to get the boat back in the race as quickly as possible. Part of that was analysing the weather to judge the conditions which the boat would face and also working out the best time to set sail again, calling in suppliers and specialist sub-contractors, preparing the equipment, as well as taking care of the sailor on his arrival in Les Sables d’Olonne.  Nothing could be left to chance.  Efficiency was watchword with the overriding need to show the skipper that everything was in hand and that he could relax.  Forty hours later, as planned, Desjoyeaux was off again on his way.

Roland Jourdain has kept up high average speeds despite lacking in a keel bulb and has made 10.2 knots towards the Azores since last night. At that speed his biggest initial problem may be timing his arrival in daylight to minimize down-time. He has around 300 miles to sail if he sticks to his original plan to head for Sao Miguel in the eastern group of islands.  His nearest rival, Armel Le Cléac’h on BritAir, has been trapped by the Azores high pressure, which has slowed him to 2.6 knots early this morning, but he should start to escape into better breeze later this afternoon. Around 2230hrs last night Le Cléac’h was virtually stopped and BritAir is now 415 miles behind Veolia Environnement this morning.

Bouncing upwind in the trade winds Sam Davies and Marc Guillemot are very closely matched for speed. Davies has Roxy well set up for the conditions and is making a very steady 11.5 knots all the way through the night, maintaining her margin on Safran at around 100 miles.

Brian Thompson has been able to make a jump ahead of Dee Caffari again. He worked his way out of the Doldrums last night and was has extended while Aviva remained stuck, skipper Caffari heading every which way she could to try and make progress at different times through a frustrating spell. Bahrain Team Pindar is 197 miles behind Safran this morning, losing about 50 miles in the latter stages of Thompson’s Doldrums crossing, but in turn he has 140 miles of advantage in terms of straight line distance although Caffari is much closer according to the DTF calculation due to her more easterly position.

Arnaud Boissières is 140 miles offshore now, north of Salvador making a steady 8-11 knots upwind. Steve White is still plugging away upwind in 16-18 knots of breeze from due north. White has still be struggling with the crossover selection between his Solent and Staysail but often now electing to stick with the bigger sail area to keep powering on through the awkward chop which he likens to his native English Channel.

Rich Wilson, USA, tacked around 0200hrs last night to stay on the west side of the stormy low pressure system which is developing off the coast. He reports that Great American III has come through another hammering but was back up to close to 10 knots this morning.

Raphael Dinelli on Fondation Océan Vital has 600 miles to run to Cape Horn this morning with Norbert Sedlacek, heading for his second rounding, another 100 miles behind him.

Ends

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