"For two days we have not been able to sail for the race. We have been simply trying to survive. I hope we can now start sailing and live the race. It has been really hard, we knew the difficulty of this zone and what we could expect. Now the wind is calming down and the sailing is more bearable. I am very well and so is the boat," said the Basque sailor, Unai Basurko (Pakea Bizkaia) this morning.
"I'm extremely disappointed that this Vendée Globe has come to such a quick end after all the work done with my team and the DCNS group over the past year or more, as we prepared this race in record time. The dismasting happened after a horrible, stormy night, when the monohull experienced waves higher than six metres. The dismasting caused significant damage, as we lost the outriggers, sails, and part of the electronics. The impact was huge, and I had no choice but to retire from the race and head for la Coruna. My priority was to save the monohull. As the repairs are being carried out, I'm going to become more and more involved in the DCNS talent hunt to pass on my knowledge,» commented Marc Thiercelin (DCNS) on his arrival in La Coruna this morning. After an inspection to discover the extent of the damage, a decision will be taken concerning the schedule for the next few days and how the boat will be taken to Lorient, her home port.
"I'm very relieved to have got through the first 48 hours. It was terrible. There was a lot of shipping around and the seas were horrendous. All that crashing into the waves wouldn't have done Aviva any good at all but she was really good and I haven't found any damage as yet. I tried snoozing that first night but there was so much shipping around I had to really concentrate and it wasn't until I rang the shore crew to tell them I was through the front that I was able to have a proper sleep. I just couldn't concentrate any more. Since then I have been concentrating on eating and sleeping and I feel quite a lot better now but need to get on top of everything down below - there are quite a few jobs to do down there," indicated Dee Caffari (Aviva).
Exceptionally, today's radio session will be between noon and 14h (local time) because of the official inauguration ceremony for Race HQ…Thank you for your understanding. See you shortly...
«I'm sailing under spinnaker. Everything is fine on board. It feels good. I'm getting used again to life at sea. I slept well during the night and am starting to eat properly. The fresh produce is gone and I'm on to the freeze-dried. Yesterday evening it was pasta bolognaise and this morning scrambled eggs, my favourite breakfast. After the Gulf War (the Gulf of the Bay of Biscay), it's time to recharge the batteries. At the moment it' s a bit choppy with 20 knots of wind and little gusts in every direction. With our towering sails, we need to be careful! Today, I'll continue my inspection of the boat to make sure everything is OK and then I'll be spending time at the nav desk drawing up the strategy for the coming hours. Time to go, as the wind is getting up!» Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2)
On his 0900GMT morning media call today Mike Golding (Ecover 3) reported that he was relatively content that he is holding his position on the lead boats, and is following the routing close to the rhumb line. Winds are still reasonably gusty with quite a big sea running and he reported that he is sailing under a big gennaker and full main. He had encountered a period of nasty adverse current during the night.
“We are just trucking south really, rotating around the high pressure there will always be some compression ahead, and then extension again, but that is really looking at what is happening over the next five days or so."
