Vendée Globe

November 26. 2008 at 17:49Derek down in the Doldrums

Derek Hatfield (Algimouss-Spirit of Canada) is in 24th place, 1509 miles from the leader and is just passing through the Doldrums, as he explains in a mail sent earlier this afternoon. 

"A tough 24 hours starting last night with two major black clouds in the path to the south. These are very localized conditions and can be disruptive for many hours as you get through them. Especially after dark, it is hard to tell the intensity and sometimes the wind doubles in strength. This can be boat breaking if you have a lot of sail up when it hits. The first one had torrential rains as well and caught me on deck without my wet gear on. The fresh shower was welcome but by the end of it I was freezing and unable to leave the helm. Today the wind has shifted to the south a little bit so I am upwind at 5 degrees north through the doldrums. Always an experience. Two beautiful snow white sea birds have been following me now for an hour, flying very close to the transom. I'm not sure what they are expecting but I think they will be disappointed with my leftover freeze-dried noodles and chicken.
Take care
Derek "

 

November 26. 2008 at 17:12Another busy night

"The first part of the night was quite rough.  This morning it's a bit quieter. And it's very pleasant. The problem is to know which sails to put up, as we never know just how much wind we will be getting… It's hard to ease off, as you have to keep an eye on what is happening out on deck. We have to sort out our priorities: minor repairs, navigation, eating, sleeping.  In fact, everything needs to be done quickly.  Today, it's dried mountain ham and pasta milanese…"

Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) on today's radio session at 11h00.

 

November 26. 2008 at 16:26What's for dinner?

"There's no other choice: due south it is. The seas are more pleasant than yesterday afternoon.  We always go faster, when the boat is suffering less, and on Tuesday we had 25 knots of wind coming straight at us.  Now, we're gliding along with 18-19 knots of wind under solent and full mainsail. We'll be taking the long way around the high, but we mustn't burn our wings by getting too close to its centre. I'm the furthest east, because this will make it easier to get in position in comparison to the rest of the fleet. Yesterday, it was beef bourguignon and pasta and today it's smoked salmon and couscous for dinner… " Sébastien Josse (BT) on this morning radio session.

 

November 26. 2008 at 15:20Sam under threat from Mich Desj'

Sam Davies (Roxy) on today's radio session:
"It’s kind of bumpy at the moment. The wind’s quite unstable, in the last 24 hours we’ve had everything from 6 knots of wind to 32 knots in the last squall. It’s quite a full time job on deck to trim the sails and change the sails, to keep the boat going as fast as possible.  Being chased by Foncia: I’ve been trying to go faster and faster! Mich Desj' said ‘Don’t worry Sam, I won’t give you any wind shadow, I’ll go past and leave a big gap!’ But I’ve been trying to stay in front of him for as long as possible. And I thought Last night I’d gone quite fast when I looked at the position reports I was quite proud of my average speed being nearly 14 knots, then I looked at Mich and his average was 17.6 knots and there’s just no way I can compete with that, it’s just amazing!"

 

November 26. 2008 at 14:51DIY plumbing repairs

Bernard Stamm crossed the Equator yesterday afternoon at 16h35, but did not really toast Neptune as much as he would have liked, because it was a very busy day on board Cheminées Poujoulat:
"Yesterday, there was a bit of a boatyard atmosphere aboard. The toolboxes were out to attempt a repair of the faulty desalinator. In the end I completely changed it over, so it was just as well I brought a spare. It’s heavy but when it breaks down you immediately look at the future in a very different light. I also repaired a leak in the ballast tank, which I’ll now be able to use on my current point of sail. As regards Neptune, I’ve made it up with him a little again and I even gave him a taste of the water from my new desalinator, “Château power survivor", and I promised to buy him a snifter on the climb back up. Hidden in the boat, stuck to a pipe, I’ve spotted a small bottle of pear or plum brandy”.

 

November 26. 2008 at 14:07Mike Golding analyses the current state of play

Mike Golding (Ecover 3) is currently in 6th place, 62.4 miles from the leader and under 10 miles from Vincent Riou (PRB), the winner of the 2004-2005 race.  This morning, Ecover 3 was achieving the fastest speeds in the group of 9 frontrunners.  During his media call this morning, Mike analysed the current weather situation and the opportunities or dangers that lie ahead.

"Making good progress down the track.  Just having a lot of difficulty here in the south Atlantic trying to get round the high pressure system that is in front of us.  From a racing perspective it does not make any difference we are all having to do the same thing, which makes it a  bit of a drag race at the moment. It’s very tricky because looking ahead it looks like we are going to  contend with one high, which will dissipate and we will have to deal with  a second, so we have to sail all the way down South before we can turn and start making progress east to our first gate.
When we looked at the weather back in the Doldrums it was clear that  the St Helena high was not in it’s normal place, it’s placed to the  South and to the West of the South Atlantic, so there is no route to cut across above the high.  If you tried to that you will be sailing  upwind for days and you would get caught in very light airs. So we  have to sail with the high pressure system following its  circulation right the way round. It is the  quickest route even though it’s a long way from the straight line route. The prospects of a record are rapidly diminishing.
I am not really having a fight with  Générali.  The reality is it’s about your position down the course so in terms of Generali he may be ahead of me on the polls but the reality is that she is not ahead of me in terms of the track that  we have to take, so I am not too worried about that.  I only concentrate  on the leader and the boats around the leader.  It’s nice to see you are ahead on the polls, but it is not critical in terms of the longer gains.  
Looking at the latest weather file this morning and we have a very  complicated set of two high pressure systems that we have to transit, before we can really start making some easting towards the gate.  I could easily see the  race re starting about 3- 4 days ahead of us. It could work to our advantage or it  could work against us, so we will just have see.  One good thing in our favour is our positioning to the west, which gives me more choice on how I go round this high pressure system, The boats to the  east will slow as we get into the lighter stuff and that’s what I am hoping will allow me to pull forward."

You can see Mike Golding heading south in his latest video.  Just click on videos in the media section.

November 26. 2008 at 12:08Sam the cavewoman

"Nothing has changed here! Still living at 20° angle, on a bumpy ride South.  Yesterday I attempted to fix the small diesel leaks, so we will see if it works or not. It's not the easiest job - under the cockpit, trying not to bump my head or back on the coffee grinder system, sliding around, as (due to oil then diesel) it is like an ice rink.... Trying to keep still enough to sand, clean then fill the joints.... I came out after my repair looking like a caveman (or woman)!

Yesterday morning I was treated to a cockpit that looked like a murder scene! An enormous flying fish had done a suicide attack (successful)and alongside that, I had missed a little when I had thrown the rest of my lasagna over the side!!! Luckily, now, we are in "washing machine mode" all of that has been quickly washed away by the buckets and buckets of (still warm) seawater that come cascading over the boat!"

Sam Davies (Roxy) in her early morning e-mail.

 

November 26. 2008 at 11:17A heart-breaking decision

Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore) talked this morning about the painful decision he wasfinally forced to take:
"The sea really did its work on the rigging, which had already been damaged.  It would seem impossible to see her sailing again quickly and safely.  The hardest part was when I discovered the damage three days ago: being forced to retire in a contest where I was doing well  breaks my heart. The boat was sailing well and I was feeling great. I can assure you my boat was in perfect condition, and was well prepared, until this incident."  

 

November 26. 2008 at 10:40Jean-Pierre's morning message

As many of the skippers to the south of the Equator, Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) has been through some slamming seas over the past few days, which have given him some tiring conditions:

"Everything is fine on board.  I'm currently sailing at 16 knots and the wind is getting up again.  It was a rather tough day yesterday with 20-25 knot winds, so the pace was very fast. I had a lot of manoeuvres to do, which is physically demanding.  I got a good sleep and got back into third place during the night, which is good news.  There was quite a lot of wind early on, so I got a move on."

 

November 26. 2008 at 10:12Brian's astronomy lesson

Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) is in eleventh place 236 miles from the leader. Currently sailing at the latitude of Espirito Santo, he offers us a lesson in astronomy, as he admires the night sky:
 "During the night it was again crystal clear, and you could see the stars, low down to the horizon. Orion and the Pleiades were very clear to the East and to the South East were the 2 cloud like dwarf galaxies called the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, some of my favourite objects in the sky. You need a very dark and clear night to see their subtle form, like bits of the Milky Way that have broken away and are floating on their own. They are named after Ferdinand Magellan who saw them on his own Round the World voyage starting 1519, but actually it was Al Sufi, the Persian astronomer who first mentioned the Large Cloud in 964. He had to travel south to 12N to the Straits of Bab el Mandeb, to see them over the horizon, and he named the cloud Al Bakr, the White Ox. So on Bahrain Team Pindar, it’s Al Bakr from now on..."