Vendée Globe

December 08. 2008 at 09:05A change in scenery

"Hi there, the wind has eased off.  I was a bit exhausted after so many sail changes, so much so that this evening after sleeping for half an hour, I wondered whether I wasn't going to turn on the autopilot on Cheminées Poujoulat, when in fact it was already on.  It took me ten minutes to get my head straight and understand that there was nothing to do;  And yet I still had the feeling that I hadn't done everything I should have. In short, it wasn't easy waking up.  This afternoon was fine, but now the drizzle has returned.  It's just like at home.  At the moment there is very little wind.  You get used to the wind and when it drops off, it feels like there's something wrong, when in fact, all is well.  I can't find the right setting for the pilot in wind mode, so it's set for compass, which isn't very practical. It's working, but there must be a problem in the calculation of the real wind.  It's not easy to get things organised aboard the boat . There's no separation between the cold and wet and the living quarters. We had planned an area to dry my clothes, but it doesn't work unless the heat is on all the time.  The scenery has changed. There are a lot of birds.  I'm not a specialist, but I think they must be petrels, terns and of course albatrosses. Haven't seen any marine mammals, except one or two dolphins off the Canaries, but nothing since.  At least if I don't see any, I'm not running into any.  This is after all their home."  
Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat)

 

December 08. 2008 at 08:02Dee washes her hair to celebrate

"It has been a very ‘Jack Johnson' Sunday. Steady and consistent. The sky began blue and the seas huge again with gusts of 30 knots and above. As the afternoon has crept forward the wind has eased and the waves have reduced, although the blue sky has been lost to Southern Ocean grey with complete cloud cover. This has rapidly reduced the temperature although my northing course before the gybe has taken me to slightly warmer sea temperatures. It is my Mum's birthday tomorrow so as a treat I washed my hair before I called her to wish her birthday greetings. It made me feel a lot better and also I thought my Mum would approve. It is a celebration for her birthday and for crossing the longitude of the first Great Cape."
Dee Caffari (Aviva) in her daily message yesterday evening

 

December 08. 2008 at 07:40The sea according to Mich Desj

"The other day, someone asked me: "describe the sea!". He should have asked me to describe a sheep.  I don't know how to draw, but I could have managed that.  But the sea? I think there's a lot of white, as the Swiss say. How can I explain that? You often hear sailors saying "There are some seas!"  Obviously, as 75% of the planet is sea.  What they mean is there are waves. The waves are made by the wind blowing. The stronger it blows in the same direction, the higher the waves, to keep it simple. Behind the low-pressure area , this morning, the seas became rougher, the wind shifted and is still blowing strongly.  Now it's completely confused, blowing in every direction.  I think that tomorrow in the high, it's going to be hard and light. Just be careful, if someone offers you a sea platter - that can mean anything."
Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) in his daily message

 

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