Every day at 15h30, you can hear Pierre-Louis Castelli's radio programme (in French) looking back on the key events of the previous 24 hours. Today, Michel Desjoyeaux's problems, the leader, Marc Guillemot's satisfaction, Sam Davies's joy of being at sea and Jean-Pierre Dick's tiredness. http://www.vendeeglobe.org/fr/mediatheque/radio/
As Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) still had some of his team on board during the final Vendée Globe start countdown (four minutes before the gun was fired), the International Jury has given him a penalty of four hours.
Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia)'s support team is in place in Les Sables d’Olonne. "We're all on the spot now trying to get hold of all the engine parts, in case they need to be changed. That is never that easy, but is more complicated as it's a long weekend in France for the Armistice bank holiday of 11th November. Michel has explained the situation to us and we're taking advantage of the wait, while the boat returns to Les Sables d’Olonne to carry out a more detailed diagnosis of the boat's problems. We're trying to understand everything that may have gone wrong by asking Michel various questions to confirm or refute our suspicions."
Bernard Stamm (Chéminées Poujoulat) talking about his repairs:
"It's a race against the clock, but there are things you can't hurry. For example, we're going to have to rebuild the bowsprit in its entirety and you can't change the time it takes to dry composites, whether you are racing or not. This repair job needs to be done as seriously as everything else we have done on Cheminées Poujoulat up until now. We're going around the world and it's going to have to last.
"The countdown has begun. while the others are all sailing upwind. It's not a big problem, but if I could get away today, rather than tomorrow, it would be better. However, looking at what needs to be done, I shan't be leaving Les Sables until tomorrow afternoon to try to sail the best race possible."
The 10 skippers taking part in the first of the Vendée Globe live radio sessions are all weathering out the storm: "We're really being banged around!" they all agreed. The south-westerly wind was still blowing at around 30 knots with gusts up to 40. They are currently waiting for the wind to veer, as the cold front moves over the 30-strong fleet at around four this afternoon. When the front arrives, the wind is forecast to exceed 45 knots in the squalls, before easing off and suddenly veering NW'ly.
"There's going to be a difficult moment when we carry out the manoeuvres to change tack, as this will take around an hour and we're going to have to hoist more sail as the wind drops to 25 knots… » explained Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore).
Michel Desjoyeaux on Foncia: "I had a small leak in the ballast system and underestimated its importance and the damage. This morning I started up the engine and after 40 minutes of charging, I could smell something burning. The engine was taking a swimming lesson and didn't appreciate it. I have already done part of a round the world voyage with an engine which was extremely difficult to start, but if it wasn't going to work at all... I therefore took the decision to turn around. I hope to reach Les Sables d'Olonne by 2200h and that the sea, which is already high, will allow me to do that, so we can get to work on the repairs."
