Vendée Globe

December 03. 2008 at 10:54Doldrums in the Forties

"Here I am in the "Roaring Forties" and I am going slower than I did in the Doldrums!  An incredibly frustrating night on Roxy. My weather information didn't show that this light spot, otherwise I'd have avoided it. Being pitch black - I didn't see the cloud! I spent a lot of time gybing to try and wriggle out of the clutches of Mr Nasty Cloud. The trouble was, as it was pitch black it was hard to see the best way to go. Obviously, each time I gybed the wind shifted round so I had to re-gybe! In the end, at about 4am, I started feeling some more steady wind, I had to consolidate my route S to escape towards the East. I managed to snatch a bit of sleep right at the end of the night, so I missed the sunrise AGAIN! I am SO frustrated to have lost these miles. I can see that I was the slowest of the fleet all day. The leaders have done a runner, and those behind me have caught up. It is very annoying. It means I have some work to do to make up....." 

Sam Davies (Roxy)

 

December 03. 2008 at 08:08Norbert's busy day

Norbert Sedlacek (Kapsch-Nauticsport) took advantage of some good downwind sailing conditions yesterday to carry out a few odd jobs around his boat, such as the messy job of filling his diesel tank from a can and  he also replaced his faulty satellite beacon.  During his clean up operation, he discovered a small leak around a hatch as the deck has warped slightly, leading to some dripping in the bow section. He is paying attention too to his feet, as treating a fungal infection, which he hopes will clear up before it becomes necessary to wear boots all the time in the deep south.  

 

December 03. 2008 at 07:10Broken bowsprit on Cheminées Poujoulat

"Before entering the Doldrums, on carrying out an inspection of the boat, I realised that my bowsprit was broken again.  It had been compressed towards the bow on the starboard side.  When I looked more closely, it appeared that the new bobstay that was  fitted in Les Sables was not taut.  From the start to the Doldrums, the headsails were up and the load was just too much for the bowsprit.  So consequently, regrettably it's broken and there's a lot of work to do.  I had hoped to take advantage of the calms in the Doldrums to get it fixed, but I had strong winds and thunderstorms, so it wasn't very practical. Around St. Helena there aren't any calms and working on the bowsprit, when  you're heading upwind isn't easy, or even possible. A few days ago, one afternoon, I managed to tighten the bobstay and yesterday, with the spinnaker attached to the bow, I carried out repairs on the carbon. I was pleased to get that out out of the way before 55°S.  Keeping the fingers crossed that it will hold out."
Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) in his message during the night

 

December 03. 2008 at 06:35Too cold to type

"Someone on dry land once said that a good night's sleep helped you think.  This sailor said night is for sleeping. So applying the Breton way of thinking, I don't know why in that case, someone doesn't take care of things for me. The further south you go towards the southern summer, the nights get longer, so will we be sleeping less? No, as there's no one to take over from us.  I'mmmm nottt correctting my missstakes this morning just to show what happens when your fingers are numb and it's starting to get coldddd and the secretary doesn't want to work....Enjoy your day.  Have a nice rest!"
Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia), in his message sent during the night

 

December 02. 2008 at 21:18Extra hands wanted

"It was time to gybe, moving the stack of equipment from one side to another and then gybing the sails. At this point I changed from the fractional 0 to the repaired A3.This all went well for a couple of hours before a weak front arrived, dropping the wind from 20 knots to 8 knots and making the sea state feel much worse, and causing the sails to slat around badly.  I noticed the defect in the repair on the A3 was just getting a little worse with the sea state, so I used the lighter winds to partially furl the sail and drop it to the deck for a preventative repair. Of the 370m of sail there was still at least 250m flapping around and so it was no easy task to get it down on the deck without going in the water or getting wrapped round the stays. By this stage I was thinking that a full crew would be handy, as it is a constant round of going to the bow, to the cockpit and back again ceaselessly to do the sail changes. Actually our mast and sails are the same size as the Volvo 70s, and I have 10% of the manpower!" 

Brian Thompson (Pindar) in his daily blog.

December 02. 2008 at 20:09Greatest distance in 24 hours

Over the past 24 hours, it is Dominique Wavre (Temenos), who has covered the greatest distance towards the finish, clocking up 392.4 miles.  He remains however in twelfth place, and is now 233 miles from the leader.  In the leading group of 12 boats, he is currently the furthest north.

 

December 02. 2008 at 19:17Life in the Forties

You can see what sort of conditions the sailors are now experiencing in the Forties in the latest video from Dominique Wavre (Temenos).  No more T-shirts.  It's on with the foulies in the colder and wetter weather in these southern latitudes.  Just click here to see Dominique on Temenos.

 

December 02. 2008 at 18:50Take it easy

Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) in a message to his team: « Because of the changing wind, I have to keep nipping in and out on the deck to check everything is just right.  But unlike yesterday, we are not expecting to gybe and are set to continue on the same tack throughout the day. For the moment, I prefer to take it easy. It's true that later on, there will be moments of frustration as the boat is not sailing to her full potential, but it's very easy to make a mistake and that can cost you dearly. I prefer to remain cautious.»

 

December 02. 2008 at 17:23Rich able to use his bunk

"Last night was a huge step forward for my ribs and for my sleep. For the first time since the start, I actually slept in the bunk. GA3 is fibreglass hull, so also has longitudinal bulkheads running bow to stern about 1 meter from each side, for fore/aft stiffness. The bunks are in compartments outside these bulkheads, and are accessed by small openings. The pain of my fractured rib was such that it was utterly impossible to do the gymnastics required to get into the bunk, let alone, out. So its been curling up at  the chart table for 3 weeks. Last night, got into the bunk with minimum agony, and had 4 good 50 minute sleeps. Woke 1 time, panicked at not seeing all the twinkling/glowing lights of the nav station, thought maybe a full power outage, but no, just a new sleeping spot. It's the only drawback, to not see the instruments if you wake for a second and want to take a check."  
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in 20th place, 877 miles from the leader, in his daily message.  

 

December 02. 2008 at 16:10Mike waiting for a better opportunity

"It's now properly cold. Yesterday whilst gybing I took the full brunt of a very steep wave - it was freezing! Once the gybe was completed and by now fully shivering I slid below to slip into some thermal mid layers and a fresh pair of boots/socks.  So that’s it, its official - we are definitely in the South.  Rounding the high did not work out so well for me. I was happy with my positioning and from every weather model I saw, I should have earned more gains than I actually did. Then again, arriving in the breeze I cut South again hoping to reach the stronger breeze first - again this really did not work out as well as I had hoped. Now we are all spaced inside a 100 mile corridor of stronger breeze blowing almost directly at our short-term goal, the first official ice gate. Boats are gybing to the north and south within this band of breeze and opportunities for gains are few and far between. I think perhaps that its best for me to sit this one out and wait for a better opportunity."  

Mike Golding (Ecover 3), currently in 9th place, 94 miles from the leader.