Newswire : Group therapy on the Iridium

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November 26. 2008 at 08:03Group therapy on the Iridium

As reported last night, Dee Caffari (Aviva) lost one of her mainsheet blocks yesterday, but managed to replace it. Here in her night message she explains how she soon got over it:
"Just as I was feeling sorry for myself, wondering if I could take this pace and non-stop pressure for the rest of the course, my phone rang. I was surprised to hear Jonny's voice from Artemis. It was great to catch up and I was really pleased to speak to him. He told me about his doldrums and how yesterday he spent fixing things, I told him about my mainsail and having to hoist it again and we sympathised with each other. It was great therapy and we both agreed to stay in touch more often. I need to get a glimpse of his beard, he has yet to shave and I hope he goes the whole race without any razor action, as it will be a great sight. Just like buses, there are either none or two come at once, and the next call was from Brian on Pindar Kingdom of Bahrain. He was sounding cool as a cucumber and I asked if he was still at supersonic speed and he told me no, just semi sonic speed. So he is human after all! We both commented on the intensity of the racing. It is impressive to say the least. It was great to feel the British spirit and we decided that we would all support each other more often, like group therapy on the iridium."

November 26. 2008 at 07:37Sailing off Trindade

Message de la nuit envoyé par Armel Le Cléac’h à bord de Brit Air

«Brit Air went by the island of Trindade during the night. I was reading my second book, Bernard Moitessier's "The Long Route" and here's an extract:

"Land in sight on 29th September 1968. Steady NE'ly wind, force 3, under sheer blue skies. Trindad is getting bigger and bigger and gradually reveals her colours, then all her details. The island is high, with a very jagged coast, with huge cliffs which go from deep blue to mauve, according to their angle to the sun. There is some pink in there too, but not much green. A beautiful, very beautiful island. I would like to go around it, on the edge of the cliffs, sitting on the spreaders to get a good look at the shallow."
Unfortunately for me, this island will just be a dot on the chart and so I won't be able to admire her beautiful colours. Maybe some other time?
Armel»

November 26. 2008 at 07:13The Sun in the North?

«Gosh! In a few hours from now, one of the basic concepts we tell our children (and I was once) will crumble. Let me explain: "Tell us the story of the sun coming from behind us, Grandad. Well, twenty years ago, as I was going down the South Atlantic trying to round the St. Helena high, (yes, once again she's on our mind), I was at the helm early in the afternoon and I couldn't see the sun, but the previous helmsman had told me to head south. I look at the compass: 180°, all is well, but still no sun ahead of me. It is behind me! Amazement. I check the compass; 180°. Did they lie to me? They (in fact it was my mother, who told me this and so I thought it was the absolute truth) taught me: the sun rises in the east, is at its zenith in the south and sets in the west. East-west. OK. But for the south, there's a problem! Sometimes yes and sometimes no. Time for some practical work. When did the sun suddenly move behind us? Another three days of heading south , before we turn left, so I'll have plenty of time to get used to it. No moon, but the stars are out. The waves are coming in every direction, so impossible to go quickly. We're leaping up and down, slamming, being shaken around. Not nice. Variable winds, and consequently speeds too.
Mich DESJ »

November 26. 2008 at 06:44The Leaning Tower of Pisa

"Hi there, I'm pleased to be sheltering in my watertight veranda. The neighbour appears to have left on his automatic watering system and if I want to admire the stars and the clouds, I need to put on the wet weather gear. my veranda is gliding along nicely, or at least as well as can be hoped, leaning like the Tower of Pisa. It's one in thye morning and I've just had a night feast, gingerbread and some tea.
P.S.: If you see the neighbour tell him to turn it off!"
Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas)

November 25. 2008 at 23:02Dee's late night message

"All is good on board. It is a wet and bumpy ride that seems to be getting faster. I blew my mainsheet block today so had to drop the main and find a fix. With a new block lashed in place we hoisted the main again and are back sailing." Dee Caffari (Aviva)

November 25. 2008 at 22:35Jérémie Beyou approaching Recife

"I know which parts are broken, but I need to inspect the standing rigging and the mast. It may be delaminating, where the spreaders kept hitting the mast. Before repairing or setting sail again, I need to be certain that it's safe. The whole of the Delta Dore team is in place, as are the suppliers. This is a massive blow for everyone, but we have to look at it calmly and rationally in Recife under shelter. I managed to climb up again to untangle the stays, but time is dragging. The closer I get to Recife, the closer I get to the moment of truth." Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore)

November 25. 2008 at 19:16A race within the race

During today's radio session Brian Thompson (Pindar) talked about his current race within the race. This afternoon, he is in eleventh place between Dominique Wavre and Marc Guillemot.

"We’ve got a little race on here with Temenos and Safran, and all day yesterday I was with Temenos, we had a very good sail in similar conditions to this.
How do we compare to Safran? We’re very different. We’ve been quite similar over the past couple of days, Safran has probably been a touch faster. She’s been a little bit more in the east, which may have helped her but there’s not much to choose between them.
I remember at the start Safran as well was very fast and she’s a particularly good boat upwind, which is surprising when you look at those curved foils, but maybe that long chine helps her go upwind as well. But it’s going very fast a lot of the time with Ecover as the boat with the highest averages."

November 25. 2008 at 18:58Stamm across the Equator

Cheminées Poujoulat crossed the Equator today at 16 h 35' 31'' (UTC). Bernard Stamm restarted the race from Les Sables d'Olonne on 13th November and in spite of experiencing tricky conditions in the Bay of Biscay, where he was slowed down, the total time it has taken the Swiss sailor to reach the Equator is very similar to that of the race leaders, as Cheminées Poujoulat only took four hours longer than Gitana Eighty to cover this stretch.

November 25. 2008 at 18:36A tiny window to get through

Yann Eliès (Générali) is in 6th place 67.6 miles from the leader this evening, just over six miles ahead of Mike Golding.
"There is a tiny window to get through at the St. Helena toll gate three or four days from now. We're going to have to line up behind the leaders, so no one gets away. If it was to close on those chasing on behind, once in the south, we should be achieving good speeds of around fifteen knots and it would be difficult after to claw their way back...He's (Loïck Peyron), setting the pace and leading the way at the front. He is really impressive, because he never eases off in light or heavy weather. With his pace and his precision in all the adjustments, he is truly impressive."

November 25. 2008 at 17:40Dominique kicking up the spray

Dominique Wavre (Temenos) is currently in 12th place, 253 miles from the leader sailing to the west of Brian Thompson and Marc Guillemot. "We still have at least two days in these types of conditions and then the zone of high pressure seems to want to shift a little to the east, which would let us get past. It seems plausible that the frontrunners may be slowed at that point. If we’re to believe the routing, we may reduce the deficit by a hundred miles prior to the South African gate, but these forecasts have to be taken with a pinch of salt. The weather models aren’t always very pertinent when it comes to the movement of areas of high pressure. As a result it’s very difficult to make reliable forecasts. Though the zone of high pressure is moving slowly, I’m managing to slip along down its western edge and gain a bit of ground. If it shifts quickly I’ll have lost some ground so I’m taking a bit of a gamble on the reliability of the weather models. I’m trying to kick up some spray towards the anticyclone so that it shifts across at the right point! "