"There was a lot of wind during the night.  Waves kept sweeping over the deck. Paprec-Virbac 2 was sailing between 17 and 25 knots. It was certainly exciting!  On board the noise was deafening with the waves hitting the hull, keel and the wind whistling, as we surfed along... It was quite chilly at the same time with the sea and water temperature down to 5°C.  I let the automatic pilot do the steering to avoid getting soaked, as that is very tiring. The manoeuvres on deck are rock’n roll: the waves just keep coming at you.  Welcome to the deep south!"

Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) talking to his shore team this morning
 

"Roxy and I have had a great 24 hours of super-fast sailing! The wind has been between 35 and 40 knots and we've been hooning along. At one point I decided that things were a bit "crazy fast" so I took another reef. The thing is, that didn't slow us down!! The speed seems to be determined by how Roxy wants to surf the waves - she is a surfer, after all, and probably knows a whole lot more than me about the subject! So, I took confidence in my super boat and let her decide where to go, and at what speed! And the result was a great 24 hours sailing! A couple of "oh crumbs how is this one going to end?" moments when I found myself clutching to the chart table a bit tight as we careened sideways off a big breaker - but each time for no reason, Roxy just picked herself up, shook off the water, and lined up the next wave....."
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message

 

"Sorry but the conditions weren't really favourable for writing at the moment.  Zooming along.  there are times, when we would like to slam on the brakes and apply the handbrake!  The weather conditions are ideal for us 25 - 30 knot winds and broad reaching, that helps.  Since the start it feels like I've gone off the official ski run on a mountain.  The fleeces are back on now and I'm sailing with the door shut.  feels like the south.  Almost in the Roaring Forties, while I'm still scarred by the Roaring Tens and my back is peeling for he winter.   The boat is in fine shape, but there are a few daily jobs to do, but no real worries.  it is however very wet! Impossible to stay at the helm, and manoeuvres are punishing in these conditions.  Fortunately, this time I've got my foulies with me.  Apart from that, a bit stressful in the surf.  A bit worried, but you mustn't think about it too much.  Listening to music to cut out the jet engine sound -  a lot of rap at the moment. "
Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty (Groupe Maisonneuve) in his daily message

Pete Goss, who finished 5th in the 1996 Vendée Globe, is currently sailing from Cornwall to Australia aboard a replica of a traditional fishing lugger.  He was surprised this week to spot the lights of an Open 60 off the coast of Brazil and after investigation discovered he was within a mile of Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty (Groupe Maisonneuve).  Astonished to see such a boat in the vast expanse of the Atlantic, he also discovered that although out of sight, Raphaël Dinelli (Fondation Ocean Vital) was also nearby.  In the 1996 race, Pete Goss went to the rescue of Raphaël after his boat overturned in the southern seas.

 

"I decided to change down to a Code 5, which is like a rolled up mini spinnaker for stronger winds, as the breeze was hitting 30 knots regularly. I went through the motions, rolled away the gennaker, took it down, bagged and stacked it at the back of  the boat on deck, and as I was preparing the Code 5 there was a big bang that I felt through the boat - "Oh, we've hit something" I thought - not an unusual occurrence if you sail in the English Channel which is absolutely full of flotsam from shipping and rivers, and so I carried on and put up the sail, but when I unrolled it I could not get the boat to steer. Without further ado I rolled it up again, which is no mean feet in 30 knots of breeze, and looking over the back of the boat I convinced myself that the wash was different from the starboard rudder and the earlier collision had broken the tip off it. What went through my mind was pretty grim, the thoughts of coming so far to wind up in Cape Town to do a rudder repair or retire if I didn't have enough materials on board to fix it. At the very least I'd be re-starting at the back. I went all through the steering gear checking that the rudders hadn't been knocked out of alignment and everything seemed OK, so in desperation I gybed the boat with the ballast on the wrong side to get the rudder out of the water - it was OK! minus a big chunk of it's orange paint, but otherwise unscathed. So what was wrong with it, why wouldn't it steer? I put a second reef in and then - we were off with me feeling like a fool! The size of the swell and the increased breeze during the sail change just meant that the boat was going too slowly (ten knots) for the rudders to work, and I had heard the bang, put two and two together and made six! It's there in the Ladybird book of sailing on page three "If the steering doesn't work and the top guardwire is underwater, try putting in a reef!"  
Steve White (Toe in the Water) in his daily log sent during the night.
 

Message from Foncia sent this morning at 03h30:

«It's fun, when we're sailing quickly, although the waves weren't much good for surfing.  The boat's record speed: 30.44 knots according to the GPS, but once or twice the bow has really dug in. That isn't much fun, checking to see whether everything is still in place - the mast, the runners.  After that we reduced the sail, but were still speeding along. You become more reasonable.
On a calm sea it would be possible to reach 35 knots.. I can't wait.  What is good when it's windy is when you've brought in the large sails and only have to work with the smaller ones, so you can really get some sleep. Bringinging down a 400m² spinnaker in 25 knots of wind,is more complicated than dealing with 130m² in 35 knots 35!  A broach under staysail and two reefs is easier to deal with than when you're under full mainsail and big spinnaker. Mich »