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December 11. 2008 at 07:36Unaï's adventure continues

After retiring from the Vendée Globe, Unai Basurko (Pakea Bizkaia) has decided to sail his boat home. If the weather conditions and the boat permit it, Basurko could reach Getxo in the middle of January. The Basque sailor estimates that with only one rudder he cannot exceed 10 knots, even when the conditions are good. Basurko is considering several options: 'On the way to the Equator I have in mind Saint Helena Island and Ascension. Most of the time I will sail on a starboard tack, so with the good rudder functioning and protected by the centerboard from possible collisions, although I am conscious that there is a risk'. The SE winds during the next 2000 miles will help him to reach the Equator. Then he will go North trying to reach the Canaries. Once there, he will decide between the different options (Portimao or the Azores) depending on the forecast.

December 11. 2008 at 06:30Dee's reaction to Loïck's dismasting

"Brr...Brr!! Yes it is that cold. This will be short as I have to take my gloves off to type. I gybed today in pleasant conditions and then spent another 40 minutes moving everything below deck which did help warm me up. It feels strange when you first gybe as it doesn't feel quite right leaning to the other side but you do soon get used to it. I was pleased to head back east again rather than the steady south east course of last night as the sea temperature was at 3 degrees and there was something spooky about today. I just felt unsettled. I couldn't tell you what it was but I constantly kept looking out and then going on deck to check around both onboard Aviva and around in the sea. I then heard the terrible news about Gitana. I am devastated for the Jedi Master and to think he was only up the mast yesterday. It makes my stomach turn to think about it. Aviva is going well and doing a sterling job. Tonight we will be passing south of Prince Edward Island and Marion Island."
Dee Caffari (Aviva ) in her daily message

December 10. 2008 at 20:05Greatest distance over 24 hours

Over the past 24 hours, Dominique Wavre covered the greatest distance towards the finish of all the fleet. Currently in 11th place, 233 miles from the leader, between 19h UTC yesterday evening and this evening he covered 382 miles.

December 10. 2008 at 18:45Loïck talks about his dismasting

This afternoon at 16h a special radio link was established with Loïck Peyron (Gitana 80), who explained the circumstances behind the dismasting of his boat. You can listen to this interview by clicking here and selecting Loïck Peyron (eng)

December 10. 2008 at 18:26Forcing your way through is not reasonable

"I have a very favourable wind which is enabling me to get in some southing. It had dropped to 18 knots this morning but now it’s been boosted to 22, 23 knots. There are messy cross seas and the swell is beam on and the boat’s struggling to get into the groove. It’s often halted by a wave the minute it launches into a surf. The speeds are quite varied and Temenos II is making headway in fits and starts. It requires a great deal of work as regards the sail trimming, which isn’t always easy. When the sea state is good, with a wave on the tail which launches the boat into the surf, you can expect 18 knot average speeds without forcing things too hard. However, the minute the sea state is poor you lose 3 knots straight away. In this instance you really get the feeling that if you force the boat too hard by carrying too much sail aloft, you can cause damage with the violent braking in the waves. Forcing your way through these types of seas isn’t reasonable. You have to try and weave your way through gently when the sea state is poor. As soon as the boat’s making more than 20 knots the rudders scream creating a fairly stressful, sharp noise. I tune the I-pod into my anti-noise earphones and that tones down the noise well and it becomes more bearable.”
Dominique Wavre (Temenos II) talking to his shore team today

December 10. 2008 at 18:05I can see my breath

"Yesterday under spinnaker, I stayed at the helm for a few hours before handing over to the autopilot. I even managed to get some sleep. It just goes to show that having a good pilot and knowing how to pace yourself are both sources of success. I'll certainly be going to the south of the Kerguelens. At the moment, there are 25 knots of wind and it feels like there's hardly any. Here things are on a different scale. Below thirty knots, it feels like there's no wind. I don't hang around out on deck and while I chose a minimalist approach inside I am not complaining. But it's true that it is very cold. I can see my breath all the time."
Marc Guillemot (Safran) talking to his shore team today

December 10. 2008 at 17:54Steve loses his Code 5

"I signed off last time about to do a sail change in a building breeze. I had to roll up and take down the Code 5 in what was by the time I got on deck about 35 knots of wind, which is over the limit for an old sail! This is a perfectly normal procedure, I started rolling the thing up but it got jammed half rolled up and half unrolled! There it was, flogging itself silly at the front of the boat. I went up the front to try and free it up, but the furling drum is right at the end of the bowsprit - I was not going out there I can assure you - there was a big sea and we were surfing at nearly twenty knots sometimes! I taped my big kitchen knife to the deckbrush handle and went up to deal with the problem, which was that the cover of the furling line had wrinkled up like Nora Batty's stockings (a character in a British sitcom-editor) inside the drum, got caught on a cunningly placed spike and wedged itself up very very tightly! Whilst hacking away I took my eye off the ball missed a big wave which we surfed down, and got hosed down the deck, knife in hand, as we buried the bow in the wave in front at high speed - everything went dark, there was a whooshing noise in my ears as they filled up, and I held my breath as water went down my neck right down to my boots, up my nose, up my arms, everywhere. I took some sizeable pieces out of my fingers as I tried to grab stanchions and guardwires on the way past - the force of the water was incredible and I still have the bruises to testify! When I came to a stop at the mast I had managed to keep hold of the knife luckily! I had several goes at cutting away at the drum, rolling and unrolling the sail; I cut forty five metres of cover of the rest of the line with a pair of scissors on my hands an knees, and still it was up there, half in, half out and flogging like nobody's business. After nearly three hours I decided it had to be dropped on deck as it was whilst I still had a mast! I sailed as far downwind as I dared without gybing, and went for it - first time I aborted and winched it up again before it went in the water, then second time I had it on an "inboard roll" of the boat - it was there on deck, coming down, coming down, then,outboard roll - whoosh, over the side, in the water. The boat stopped short and rounded up into the wind with a parachute handbrake over the side. There followed another two hours of struggling as I tried to get the thing back onboard, but things were going badly wrong - bent stanchions, then the first rip, then around the keel - the stuff of nightmares. I finished up dragging the thing off the bowsprit after trying to save the boltrope for my poor old broken gennaker, but I couldn't get the thing out of the middle of the partially rolled sail. In the end I had to let the thing go before I had to get in the water and get it off the keel. I watched it sink. A twenty thousand pound sail lost because of a hundred pound piece of string with a loose cover. All I had left was the swivel and two thimbles and a ten inch piece of the head.........I don't mind admitting that nearly killed me, I was fairly well beaten up and bruised, and soaked to the skin, and rapidly becoming cold. It was 1400 when I went on deck, and 1915 when I came back down."

Steve White (Toe in the Water) in his daily message

December 10. 2008 at 16:40Rich Wilson getting ready for a deep low

"Have shockingly beautiful sunny day, crystal blue sky, big bank of clouds overtaking of course, but great sailing today so far, reacher and 1 reef in the mainsail. Spent considerable time working on video editing and conversion and uploading this morning, many computer battles fought, some won some lost, but did get some good video last night of the moon and got it uploaded. Inspected forward two watertight compartments today in anticipation of low coming along in a couple of days. Bailed a couple of buckets out, but otherwise all ok. So hard sometimes to tell if you have a leak, or if its just condensation. Gybed this morning for he ice gate, reacher and full main, 25-27 knots true, that was exciting, likely won't do it again, should have put in reef first, ended up broaching upon the gybe, but did have the new runner on so all was ok."
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message

December 10. 2008 at 15:44No opportunities before Australia

"There are 27/32 knots of wind. I put my foot down on the accelerator for an hour, but the seas got rougher and so now I have reduced the sail. I don't want to go too far south, as there is the risk of encountering icebergs. Even if our routing indicates that there is the possibility of gaining miles, I have seen that in the conditions in the deep south, the polars the machine comes up with are 15% above the real speeds. If we glide along downwind at 145° to the wind, we get closer to the polars. I don't want to push too hard. We'll see whether I am right or not. In any case, the weather situation tends to indicate that there won't be any opportunities to make a getaway before the gate to the south of Australia. In other words, we could say that it's not worth pushing too hard here, as there will be no rewards, with everyone arriving at the next system together."
Vincent Riou (PRB) talking to his shore team today

December 10. 2008 at 14:21A pleasant summer day

"The jibe to the East last night really felt like I'm headed home. I know we are only past the 1/4 mark but if you look at the course, straight ahead lies Cape Horn and then the sail north to the finish line. There is a long way to go but it seems now I am headed in the right direction. I have some good winds now and speeds are back up to where we are making good progress. I'm looking at the next competitors and starting to attack the course a little more aggressively. I have to be patient as with the limited sail inventory on board, I don't want to make any mistakes that will ruin any sails and leave a gap in the performance band. Otherwise the boat is in good shape; I've noticed a small hole in the mainsail at the third spreader and I will have to fix at some point with kevlar tape. I managed to switch back to the Raymarine autopilot that was having difficulty after doing some work on it and it is steering the boat very well down wind. It was very cold yesterday but today it is sunny and 14 C outside so it is a pleasant summer day in the Southern Ocean."
Derek Hatfield (Algimouss-Spirit of Canada) in his daily message