Vendée Globe

November 30. 2008 at 16:32Solo sailors, but not quite so alone

Roland Jourdain has his crickets.  Sam Davies, Lucky and Foxy, her duck and flamingo. Jean Le Cam has Léon the hedgehog and his friends.  Today, we discovered that Yann Eliès (Générali) has Aquilon the crow, a cuddly toy given to him by some French school children, and which he is proud to show off in this photo.  

November 30. 2008 at 12:45Brian Thompson completes his penalty

Brian Thompson has completed the four-hour penalty that the international jury awarded Bahrain Team Pindar on the 10 November

November 30. 2008 at 12:20DIY jobs for Sam

Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily log:

"Hello everyone from a bit too near the middle of the St Helena high pressure!  I have had a busy morning, as I have quite a few jobs on the job-list and a lot of checks that I want to make. At about 5 am when the wind had dropped and freed enough to be safe for me to go out on my bowsprit, I got busy with the first job - replacing the gennaker tack line. With that job ticked off, I hoisted and unrolled the gennaker! The next job was the trickiest one, as part of my rudder system had broken, and I didn't have a replacement piece, so I had to get the tools out and make one! I had checked out with the Roxy team what we thought the safest and best solution would be previously. The broken piece is on the starboard rudder, so I needed to gybe to finish the work! Luckily, there was a nice wind shift, so I managed to gybe and install my new piece.  I had been hoping for light winds for the repair to the rudder, but now I have finished it, I am hoping that I have not cut the corner of the St Helena High Pressure too much, and that the wind gods will be kind to me an let me escape!"

 

November 30. 2008 at 10:34Ready for the Forties

"Yesterday, it wasn't easy in the calms. Today, the wind will get up. I'm sailing downwind under spinnaker.  That's great after so much upwind sailing.  The boat and sailor are both ready to face the southern seas and the Roaring Forties."  Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) by e-mail.

November 30. 2008 at 07:34Rich executes his penalty

"Way back at the start of the race, in the difficult conditions of a bad seaway six of the fleet, including us, missed a buoy that was supposed to be respected and left to starboard. We were notified of the infringement that afternoon. Finally this morning, the Jury assessed its penalty for the six boats, 30 minutes. This means that each boat that missed the buoy has to, according to the race committee, set a waypoint agreed to by the committee, sail to it, turn around, sail somewhere else for 30 minutes, and then come back through that exact point at least 30 minutes later. The penalty had to be taken before we reached 1 degree East Longitude, which means that it has to be done in the next week or so.
I decided to do my penalty this afternoon, otherwise I'd just think about it until it was done. Also, since had manageable sails up--staysail and 2 reefs in the main--it made sense to do it now. So I contacted Race Committee, set a point, went through it, bore off, rolled up the staysail, gybed, realized I wouldn't be able to get back upwind without the staysail, rolled it out, moved the keel to center, headed north for about 15 minutes, then gybed back,  came through the point about 36 minutes later, and headed south again. I contacted the Race Committee again, confirmed with them that I "paid" the penalty, and now that's all done."
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily blog
 

November 30. 2008 at 07:07As dark as the inside of a cow

"Well the last 24 hours have been very full on again! I did a radio interview yesterday morning and shortly after the interview we parked up for a couple of hours, and then some huge black angry squall clouds rolled in. Very soon we had horizontal rain, and 30 knots of wind. I started with 1 reef and the jibtop, then 1 reef and the big Solent, then 2 reefs and the big Solent, then 2 reefs and the small Solent! It has been a succession of huge squall lines since the first one broke – the most powerful breeze hit about 20 mins ago recording 34 knots. I just about to go for 3 reefs and the staysail when the breeze moderated to 20 knots, so I have taken the opportunity to pound the keyboard.  Because there was so much cloud and rain last night the stars couldn’t pierce through, and that coupled with no moon = complete darkness. “As dark as the inside of a cow” is a phrase commonly used. It’s really hard to steer with no reference point or horizon, so I was overjoyed to let the pilot do the donkey work. He has done a great job all night, and I even managed to get some sleep. This much breeze has not been forecast on any of the models that I have, except as rainfall. I hope it moderates further through the day as it is pretty exhausting to say the least."  

Jonny Malbon (Artemis) in his daily blog last night.

 

November 30. 2008 at 06:44Friendly advice for Dee

"Finally, what we have been looking forward to for a week has finally happened. A lot of things have come together: the wind has shifter, so the route changes, so the sails change.  The temperature falls, the number of layers increases.  The fingers are numb.  Let's just hope the brain doesn't go the same way...We were heading south, but now we can turn to the east.  Remember Dee, it's left this time!"

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) by e-mail. 

 

November 29. 2008 at 18:37Dominique Wavre's weather analysis

Dominique Wavre (Temenos) is in 12th place 185 miles from the leader.  Like his rivals, he is busy studying the weather.
"Right now I have a really favourable breeze and I’m making 14 knots of boat speed in a fairly variable, moderate wind. There are some clouds still knocking about in this area, which are creating small unsettled patches. There is a uniformly grey sky forming a lid over the high pressure and in fact there are some unmistakable signs of this with the barometer reading 1031. The wind I have at the moment is only temporary. It will become increasingly erratic and we’ll have to mirror the shifts with the sheet trimming. The zone of high pressure is shifting eastwards and nobody is likely to come to a standstill for a long period of time. The frontrunners should be slowed a little more than us, but things aren’t likely to come to a complete halt. With my slight W’ly separation I hope I’m not going to lose too much time. It will all depend on how the zone of high pressure moves, so naturally there is a slightly random aspect to proceedings."  

November 29. 2008 at 17:09Uncomfortable ride nearly over

Loïck Peyron (Gitana 80) in fourth place this afternoon, 7.8 miles from the leader.
"It was a lively night with the wind climbing as far as 28-30 knots… We went through the entire sail wardrobe! The seas on the nose had the biggest impact though. The wind is tending to ease but it’s still very shifty.  I’m naturally looking a little at what my friends are doing in the east but I’ve noticed too that Michel Desjoyeaux has decided to skirt right round the outside out to the west. For those to the east, it’s coherent that with their slight deficit, they’re trying to cut the corner. Sébastien and I got here too early to do that.  It’s soon going to be time to turn left. I’m looking forward to it… it’s a real motivation to tell yourself that at the end of the weekend we’ll finally be sailing downwind, under gennaker, and no longer have to sail close-hauled suffering this uncomfortable ride.”

 

November 29. 2008 at 15:37Rich Wilson's penalty

The International Jury imposed a time penalty of half an hour on Great American 3 for passing a buoy on the wrong side shortly after the start of the race in Les Sables d'Olonne.   Rich Wilson carried out this penalty early this afternoon, as laid down in the Race Instructions:
"The penalised boat shall call the Race Management to agree upon a waypoint and a time where the penalty will be taken. When the boat passes the agreed waypoint in question, the skipper shall call the Race Management to confirm his/her exact position so that the penalty time can be recorded. When the penalty time has elapsed and this has been confirmed by the Race Management,the boat shall pass the same waypoint once again before continuing the race."