Thanks to the AIS tracker on the onboard computer, Cheminées Poujoulat's support team appear to have identified the boat with which Bernard Stamm collided. In fact, Stamm's team report that is is not to be a fishing boat, but an 80-metre long Maltese cargo vessel which is believed to be a freight carrier. According to reports the paint from the ship's hull side matches that left on the Open 60's hull side.
The 1500GMT positions show Marc Guillemot on Safran making a small increase in his lead to 10.1NM with second and third places changed again as Loick Peyron on Gitana 80 swaps once more with Roland Jourdain on Veolia Environnment who is now 12.2 miles behind the leader. Peyron’s tack to the south from the main pack, now following the same line as Safran, has been a small gain, while that slightly southerly path also continues to pay for Mike Golding on Ecover 3 who is now up to ninth from 13th this morning, with Dee Caffari on sistership Aviva in eighth. Caffari is to his north west on the same line as Veolia Environnment, Kito de Pavant’s Groupe Bel.
Sam Davies on Roxy has gained four to lie thirteenth. Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss is out to the north and west of the middle group, Veolia, Groupe Bel and BT, working for position and is 14th, while a noticeable drop of four places is that of Brian Thompson on Bahrain Team Pindar.
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."
