Vendée Globe

December 08. 2008 at 06:51Surrounded by foreigners

"Hi there, For more than two hours, I have had light winds with sleet.  Hat and gloves time ... It's not easy to push the buttons on the pilot with gloves on!  This truly an international Vendée Globe, as I'm surrounded by foreigners.  So how do I say Verandas in English? Take care!"
Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas)in his daily message

December 07. 2008 at 20:48Dee in her yellow submarine

"All is good on the yellow submarine today. This morning we had strong gusts and I was shipping lots of water which made me feel like a submarine but that has eased as has the size of the surf. Gybing and moving the stack around below decks will keep me warm tonight as it is very cold at night but the dawn arrives early at about 3am which confuses your body clock slightly."

Dee Caffari (Aviva) in 16th place this evening, 736 miles from the leader.

 

December 07. 2008 at 20:05Greatest distance in 24 hours

Jean-Pierre Dick's southerly option on Paprec-Virbac 2 has enabled him to cover the greatest distance towards the finish of all the boats in the fleet today.  Between 19h UTC yesterday and this evening the leader sailed 424.1 miles towards the finish or in other words achieved a VMG of 17.7 knots over 24 hours.

 

December 07. 2008 at 19:33Groaning in the gray

"After the strong winds of the last few days, sandwiched between a high and low to create a good gradient, we finally slipped out of the funnel and were faced with lighter winds to the east. So decided to gybe south toward the stronger breezes, likely for a day, then to gybe back for the next icegate, hopefully in stronger wind. Worked down the job list, re-seal a stanchion that was leaking, go into the keel compartment to lubricate the sheaves. There have been some big groans coming from in there and hopefully this will help. Bailed a half bucket from forward and from the sail compartment, still trying to understand where the leak forward is coming from, perhaps the ballast tank vent, just can't tell. It's gray, misty rainy, gray, but it's nevertheless always a wonder to see the albatross fly. They have forgotten more about flying than fighter pilots ever knew. One grandpa came by, enormous, 10' or 11' wingspan, huge body, and never, ever, flapping his wings, just gliding, gliding, gliding...amazing. Got several naps last night, but still seem very tired. Think the toll of the stress of the high speeds the last few days has added in, and also I think that the healing of my rib just needs more sleep.  Likely ashore, the prescription would be 2 weeks of bedrest, not, go sail the Vendee Globe!"
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message

 

December 07. 2008 at 17:10A slower night ahead?

"The high pressure has already joined up with the tail end of the fleet and it is likely to gobble up Safran and I from this evening, then it will start having an effect on the leaders tomorrow morning. Everyone is likely to be slowed as the zone of high pressure is so big; it runs from north to south, that is from 40°S as far as the latitude where ice is indicated. According to the grib files, it was unrealistic to imagine we could escape it, other than maybe dropping right down to the south, but that would involve a high risk of encountering ice. " 

Dominique Wavre (Temenos) talking to his shore team today.

 

December 07. 2008 at 14:20Unaï Basurko forced to retire

Unaï Basurko (Pakea Bizkaia) officially confirmed his retirement from the race at 12h34 UTC today due to the problem with his starboard rudder box.  The Basque sailor does not believe this can be repaired at sea and he is therefore heading back northwards to pick up the trade winds.  He does not want to go further south in these conditions because it would be dangerous for the boat. As he left the race, he took advantage of the occasion to wish all the skippers still at sea his best wishes and expressed his hope that they would not be faced with such problems. He is the sixth competitor to be forced out of the race after Kito de Pavant, Yannick Bestaven, Marc Thiercelin, Alex Thomson and Jérémie Beyou. As only the starboard rudder is affected, Unaï can sail on the starboard tack, with the port rudder in the water. Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty said on today's radio session that he had been on one tack all the way down the Atlantic, so we can imagine the same may be possible in the opposite direction, enabling the Basque sailor to sail all the way back to Spain.



 

December 07. 2008 at 13:07Autopilot problems for Derek

"Seems the easier sailing causes more damage.  I lost two of my three autopilots last night and after a spectaclular crash tack spend an hour sitting hove too while switching all the electronics over to the third pilot. I will endeavour to get the other two back up and running if I can as I'm sure I will need them before the end of the race. It has been difficult sailing for the last 24 horus as the high pressure system almost has us in her grasp. At least we are now on the bottom side and sailing away from the center so to speak. There won't be much wind for the next few days so it's time to check out the boat and do some maintainance for the south. While in the back switching the speed transducers to the new pilot, I took out over 5 buckets of water in the aft compartment. The new gennaker needs some TLC as well next time I take it down; the foot tape has ripped away from the sail along 6 feet on the bottom.  Today is a typical day in the southern ocean, drizzle and overcast with visibility down to a few hundred meters or so. There is nothing to see out there of course but it's always nice to see the horizon (and the sun)."
Derek Hatfield (Algimouss-Spirit of Canada) in his daily message

December 07. 2008 at 12:33Great to be in the lead

"It's great to be in the lead. Since the start, this is the second time I have been the leader in the Vendée Globe. It's really pleasing and motivating, but I need to remain focussed and not get too excited. What is really positive is that I took a clear option and it worked out. Three days ago, I was 1.7 miles from Sébastien Josse. I could have stuck with Seb, but I thought things looked good in the south.  It was a calculated risk. That gives me confidence.  At the moment, the wind is reaching 40 knots.  I reduced the sail, as the forecasts are showing strong winds until 17h." 

Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2)

 

December 07. 2008 at 11:56Time for some housework

"I have now broken my own record of time alone at sea!! Before now, it was 26 days. By the end of today it will be 4 weeks!  It's funny though, as it doesn't seem like I have spent 4 weeks out here - the time is going SO fast! There are little signs of the time at sea showing up on Roxy though - like the rust stains on the coachroof where my solar panels have rusted up, the squid-ink stain, and a "lived in" look to the inside! So much so that I decided that this morning was a "housework" morning and I did a little clean and tidy-up! The wind has dropped too, and last night I got to put my big gennaker back up. I am desperately trying to stay in front of Bernard Stamm, who is coming up behind in a bit more wind...."
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message.

 

December 07. 2008 at 10:13Let's get out of here

"It's cold now, very cold - sea surface temperature has dropped below 5C and so it’s painfully cold at night. It’s also wet as we are trucking along at pace so water is everywhere all of the time. I have a heater but, I fear, not enough diesel to risk using it - at least until I have passed the half way point when I can reassess the fuel levels. The food is generally good but the portion sizes are a bit small for the Southern Ocean intake - so I am always looking for something else to add to the pot.  Outside now it is blowing 30kts from the north-west, the sea state is becoming high. It is uniform grey with visibility down to around 1 mile. I can hear the pilot ram screaming under the strain of recovering the boats course after each surfing wave. The radar is intermittently scanning for ice, I can see on my Maxsea that there are satellite identified bergs 60 miles to the South of my position - ice is present even if for now it remains unseen. Looking out for bergs is a waste of time, at 20 knots in 1 mile visibility we reach the limit of visibility in only 3 minutes - that's not even enough time to make a coffee! Sea surface temperature and my radar are probably the best protection. Strangely I am excited by the prospect of seeing icebergs, the ones you see are not the ones which you fear - if that makes any sense!  Only one "course of action" then - sail fast - and lets get out of here!"
Mike Golding (Ecover 3) in his log yesterday evening.