Vendée Globe

October 29. 2008 at 11:11Seb Josse on record breaking.

It is a very cold, clear morning around Port Olona where the crowds continue to arrive and make their pontoon promenade. Going sailing this afternoon BT skipper Seb Josse wears his usual radiant smile despite losing his 24 hour distance record overnight. Seb was the skipper of ABN AMRO 2 when they set the record of 563 nautical miles on 11 January 2006. Last night it was, again, another design from ABN 2 designer Juan K, Ericsson 4 which has pushed the mark of Josse and his team up to 589 miles, and building. “I think that 589 miles is quite a lot compared to ours but they have done a really god job with their campaign and of it is a Juan K design." said Josse this morning, " Well done to Ericsson and Juan K. It is not so much of a surprise because ABN AMRO 1 beat the record in about the same place last time, all the time it is the same there, flat water and big pressure, and you can take the first low pressure and go for it. It is very good there for records. 600 miles is possible, but it does become harder to break records by much, maybe three, four, five miles. When we see the boats are a lot faster in this race then the lap record may fall, with a downwind start you can gain two or three days straight away. If it is an upwind start then it will be hard. Single-handed I am sure that the record will go in this race, but I am not the man to do it. I would rather win the race than the record.”

October 29. 2008 at 10:43Six boats at sea this Wednesday

Six IMOCA monohulls will be taking advantage of the sunshine today (Wednesday 29th October) for a trip in the bay off Les Sables d´Olonne. Marc Guillemot (Safran) was the first to leave the pontoon in Port Olona this morning at seven. He will be followed this lunchtime (around one) by 5 other boats: Derek Hatfield's Algimouss-Spirit of Canada, Sébastien Josse's BT, Roland Jourdain's Véolia Environnement, Unai Basurko's Pakea Bizkaia and finally Raphael Dinelli's Fondation Ocean Vital (at around two).

October 29. 2008 at 10:25Chilly

A wintery wind has arrived in Les Sables d’Olonne this morning… a northerly bringing temperatures down to a minimum of 4 degrees, making it feel like the big chill. Blowing at force 4 or 5, it will gradually back north-westerly this afternoon. Fortunately however, the sunshine is present, even if a few passing showers could well appear this afternoon, and this means that the overcoats may come off as the temperatures climb back up to 11 degrees.

October 28. 2008 at 11:12Who is in and who is out

Today, the following have requested the right to leave the harbour: Sébastien Josse on BT, Vincent Riou on PRB, Michel Desjoyeaux on Foncia, Dominique Wavre on Téménos II.

October 28. 2008 at 10:55Cooling off

The temperatures are back to the average for this time of year with 11°C forecast today. It will remain slightly cloudy, but some fine periods can be expected. Winds - northwesterly 10 to 12 knots. Tide times: Morning: coefficient 86, High tide 3h48 - 5.07m, Low tide 10h02 - 1.02m Evening: coefficient 87, High tide 16h06 - 5.12m, Low tide 22h22 - 1.01m

October 27. 2008 at 19:43Hugo Boss Repairs Update

Update from the Hugo Boss repairs today: Boatworld: Significant progress, the outer carbon skin has been successfully laminated so the new hull section is fixed in place, and the high-density core is being fitted, ready for the the carbon inner skin to be applied tomorrow. Rigworld: A fairly big day for the riggers today as "two becomes one" so the two sections of the mast, with their new inner sleeves have been glued into place, and are joined together by the addition of two outer shells which will clamp around the inner sleeves, thus giving us a whole rig once again! It´s imperative to ensure that all the mousing lines are properly attached at this stage - there´s no chance of threading them through again once it´s complete.Spliceworld: Continued good progress - so much so that the splicers have started to work on the spare ropes that Alex will take with him, rather than just the ones that had to be replaced.Provisional arrangements have been made for cranes and/or lorries to enable us to get the boat back in the water on 31st October, ready for an intensive week of sailing and fine-tuning before the race start.

October 27. 2008 at 17:44Monday night fever

For those of you visiting les Sables d'Olonne, tonight there will be an opportunity to enjoy some Celtic music with the group, Pao Bran, who will be performing in the VOG´ Café from 9.30.

October 27. 2008 at 10:34Today's weather

Today we have a 20 knot north-westerly wind, which will be easing off to around 18 knots this afternoon. The clouds will make way for some brighter periods this afternoon, with a temperature of around 14°C. Tide times for les Sables d'Olonne: Morning, coefficient 82 High tide 3h20 - 4.97m Low tide 9h21 - 1.18m Evening, coefficient 84 High tide 15h39 - 5.08m Low tide 21h45 - 1.03m

October 27. 2008 at 10:08Today's sailings

Four boats have requested permission to leave harbour for PR operations or for some final adjustments: Yannick Bestaven on Aquarelle.com, Loïck Peyron on Gitana, Sébastien Josse on BT and Marc Guillemot on Safran.

October 26. 2008 at 19:00Not as bad as it looks

Having your boat in pieces on the dockside just 14 days from the start of your first Vendée Globe is not ideal preparation, but everything is reported to be well under control in the last minute rush to get Steve White’s Spirit of Weymouth ready. No one knows the boat better than Josh Hall, who commissioned and raced the former Gartmore, which was built by JMV from the same mould as Group 4, Mike Golding’s original Open 60. Hall who was one of four British skippers who raced in the 2000 Vendée Globe, finishing 9th has been in Les Sables d’Olonne, working hard on the nearby commercial dock, to ensure White and his boat are ready to take on the skipper’s ten year dream. Hall reveals that without the last minute sponsorship that arrived last week, White stood a very high chance of losing the boat and his family house: “ It actually looks a lot worse than it is as often these things do, but a lot of work needed doing to the boat, basic work, to get her on to the start line and so she is completely in pieces at the moment with the bottom sandblasted, so it looks like there is a mountain to climb, and there is but it is a small one. But all of the people and all of the equipment is in place.” Hall says. More with Josh Hall in the audio section of www.vendeeglobe.org