Vendée Globe

November 10. 2008 at 06:26Swiss cross in the night

Just before 2300 this evening Dominque Wavre on Temenos departed the port of Les Sables d'Olonne for a second time - despite the pitch black, again accompanied by cheers and waves from spectators on the seawalls and restarted the race from a 'virtual starting line' at 23hrs 19mins 42s.

At 0130 fellow Swiss sailor Bernard Stamm returned to the dock in Port-Olona, assisted by the shore teams of fellow competitors. The damage to the bowsprit on Cheminées Poujoulat sustained after it collided with a fishing boat is currently being assessed by composite experts.

November 10. 2008 at 02:37First message from Kito de Pavant

Hi everyone,

Everything is fine aboard Groupe Bel.  It was really impressive with the crowds in the harbour entrance. Thanks to you all!  Farewell to the land and hello to the sea…
Kito

November 10. 2008 at 02:29Bernard Stamm's reaction

At 1h30 precisely, Bernard Stamm and his team, aided by the shore teams from other competitors moored Cheminées Poujoulat up in Port-Olona. After a quick look at the broken bowsprit with some experts in composites, the Swiss sailor gave his impressions:
«There were a whole group of us racing upwind. There was a fishing boat in the area that I saw some way off and didn't seem to be a problem. I went down to do some nav work and a few minutes later… boom ! I reckon he must have changed direction. By the time it took me to go inside, I'd hit him. I couldn't raise him on the radio. I don't know whether he saw me. It was more or less a direct hit, a bit to one side. A huge collision. We'll be trying to repair it. I decided immediately to head back, as I can't hoist any headsails. For a downwind race, that isn't much good! Clearly only the bowsprit is broken. I'll be setting off again. There's no reason not to. The others won't be waiting for me, but it's around the world race, so isn't over yet. »

November 09. 2008 at 22:18Broken Bowsprit, Stamm back in Les Sables for repairs

At around 20:00 french time today, Bernard Stamm had a collision with a fishing boat while he was working inside the yacht. The bowsprit of Cheminees Poujoulat is broken and after assessment by the skipper cannot be repaired at sea. 72 miles after the start skipper turned around to head back to Les Sables d’Olonne. He should arrive at around 2 or 3 o’clock early Monday morning.

November 09. 2008 at 20:432000hrs rankings: Safran from Groupe Bel

The second position update of the sixth Vendée Globe is in and Marc Guillemot on Safran is still showing as the leader, just 0.1 miles ahead of Kito de Pavant’s Groupe Bel, who’s put in some big gains to climb from 11th place in the earlier positions. Sebastien Josse, who was tied with Safran for joint lead, is now in eighth position – but less than two miles still split the top 10 boats, and just a mile covers the leading five. The majority of the fleet are currently making between 9-10 knots on a west-south-westerly course.
It’s French at the front, with Roland Jourdain in third from Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron. The first British skipper is Dee Caffari on Aviva, the Owen-Clarke design showing one the fastest average VMGs to lie ninth. On design stablemate Ecover 3, Mike Golding hasn’t yet been able to climb back through the fleet following his OCS, and is 24th place (from an earlier position of 23rd).
Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss has dropped a couple of places back to thirteenth (from seventh), just ahead of Brian Thompson on Bahrain Team Pindar. Sam Davies is steady in nineteenth, with Jonny Malbon on Artemis one place behind, who is taking a more northerly route.
Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch) is currently the back marker, but with Temenos looking set to rejoin the fleet Dominique Wavre will be chasing hard to make up the miles on the rest of the fleet.

November 09. 2008 at 19:57 Vendée Globe Virtual Race

Please accept our excuses for the problems you may be experiencing with the Vendée Globe Virtual Race due to the large number of connections to the server. We are doing our utmost to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.

November 09. 2008 at 18:26Temenos should be setting sail again tonight

Dominique Wavre and his team have identified the electrical problem, which led the skipper to return to Les Sables d'Olonne. It was the computer unit in the system, which had stopped working. A new part is on the way from Lorient. The sailor is expected to set sail again on the next tide at around eleven tonight (French time).

November 09. 2008 at 18:19Jury to meet

The International Jury will be meeting to make a judgement concerning the fact that four crewmen were still aboard Bahrain Team Pindar in the four minutes leading up to the start.

November 09. 2008 at 18:10Temenos versus the tide

The shore crew of Temenos are working hard to fix the electrical problems which forced Dominique Wavre to retire. If the problem can be solved before midnight tonight then Temenos may be able to leave Les Sables d'Olonne and rejoin the race.

Dominique Wavre: "Already this morning, when I was leaving the pontoon, the electric system was a bit doubtful. Once out at sea, I realised that it wasn't charging. The batteries were losing their power all the time. They're down now to half of their capacity. None of the chargers are working, neither the solar panels, nor the wind turbine nor the alternator. It was a fairly easy decision to decide to turn back, as by the end of the night I wouldn't have had any battery left, no energy at all.  I would have been in 30-40 knots of wind, with the front that is forecast, with no automatic pilot, nothing at all.  It was therefore only natural to head back to port and try to find out what is wrong with the damned electrical system!

“We realised there was something wrong a bit too late. We thought we had sorted it out by phone with the electrician. At sea upwind, I went inside and stripped down the wires to see if it wasn't a connection problem. I looked over the whole circuit, but couldn't find anything. So, it's beyond my electrical skills.  It's down to the experts to find out what's wrong now.

Do you think you'll be stuck here for long? “All depends if we find out what is wrong. I just hope that it is not the battery units themselves, which are the problem, as it will take a while to get some more from Paris. An electrical problem can be very complicated or very simple. I hope it is simple this time, so that I can get away on the next tide.  If we repair it very quickly, we should be able to set sail again before midnight.”
 

November 09. 2008 at 17:42Wavre back on the dock

Dominique Wavre, the skipper of Temenos, who turned around at 15h05 because of an electrical  problem, moored up at around 17h00 in Les Sables d'Olonne.