Vendée Globe

November 26. 2008 at 20:00Greatest distance of the day

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) covered the greatest distance of the day by clocking up 373.9 miles towards the finish over the past 24 hours.  This evening he is in 14th place, 386 miles from the leader.  

 

November 26. 2008 at 19:38A bit of a lottery ahead

Dominique Wavre (Temenos) in 11th place, 253 miles from the leader, was sailing by the islands of St. Martin Vaz and Trindade  this afternoon with Brian Thompson on his port side.

"If I could have avoided going between the islands I’d have done so, but it’s down to the wind really, which pushed me this way. It’s always a little tricky when the sea bottom rises sharply. Here they go from 4000m to 100m, so I may still suffer the effects of the current and a bad sea state.  It was a very tiring night. I got virtually no sleep. I tried to rest this morning but with the wind filling in it was difficult as I had to trim the boat. Right now it’s shaking about so much down below that I’m unable to find a good spot to rest. I downloaded some grib files this morning and they mirror those of yesterday for the time being. The zone of high pressure is switching back to a more normal position, though the transition won’t be easy. There will be some calm zones to negotiate and it may well be a bit of lottery."  

 

November 26. 2008 at 19:07Design choices

"Safran is completely fulfilling our expectations.  She is the boat we were looking for and all the choices we made, particularly favouring a lightweight approach rather than power, are paying off.  But I do have to spend a lot of time carrying out adjustments.  The difference in speed from a boat like Pindar, for example (overtaken two days ago, and today 40 miles behind - editor's note) is not uniquely down to the design choices. We saw during the races before the season, that the speed differential between the boats could be a quarter of a knot, not one or two, as is currently the case. It would be easy to ease off on the pedal, to say stop, as it is extremely uncomfortable. You take in one more reef in the mainsail and you go one or two knots more slowly, so there is less stress. That is not my choice, but at the same time I don't feel I'm taking any risks. I'm pushing her all the way, that's all."  Marc Guillemot (Safran) talking earlier today

 

November 26. 2008 at 18:15Time to unpack the thermals

As the leaders move down from the North to the South Atlantic, they have been through a series of weather patterns, but are now finding cooler weather in the south, as Mike Golding (Ecover 3) explained this morning:  
"I had a  good night's sleep last night, so feel quite rested, eggs on toast this morning.  The sailing is not that enjoyable.  It’s extremely wet on deck and its pretty remorseless port tack and  high angles of heel but it is at least cooling down now so it’s a  little more liveable onboard – it’s changed very quickly from Biscay howling gales, then into the trades, mild and steady breeze to the Doldrums that are stinking hot with very light airs, then the south Atlantic which has been hot and breezy with trade winds, but from a rather unusual direction as we are upwind and then of course very rapidly we are descending down into the cold of the Southern Ocean.  In fact, last night I dug out my thermals for the first time since Biscay."  

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


 

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.