Vendée Globe

December 13. 2008 at 10:07Dominique Wavre approaching Morbihan Bay

After suffering keel head damage, Dominique Wavre (Temenos II) decided to head for the Kerguelens. In spite of 30-knot winds, Temenos II has continued to make good progress towards Morbihan Bay.   At 8h30 UTC this morning, Dominique had around 15 miles to sail.  However, he will have to make a series of tacks in order to enter the bay and so he is only expected to moor up late this morning (UTC).  

 

December 13. 2008 at 09:08Armel meets some Bretons

"I'm starting to notice the time difference.  It's getting dark at around 16h UTC and light at 23H UTC. You get used to the new times, as it happened gradually. The Kerguelens are behind us and we had a few e-mails from the crew of the "Croix du Sud" a Breton fishing boat that is out here until early February before returning to Reunion in mid-February. They are in the Kerguelens and Crozet area for 7 to 8 month a year fishing for the toothfish (a bit like our hake).  There were 30 on board (A Breton skipper, some from Reunion, Madagascar, Ukraine and Indonesia).  The captain was from Le Guilvinec and his mate from St Guenolé, the mechanic from Trevignon and the bosun from Douarnenez.  the other boats in the area were from Sein, Lesconil, Loctudy.  All a long way from home.  Wherever you go, you find Bretons, even in the middle of the Indian Ocean."
Armel (Brit Air) in his daily message

 

December 13. 2008 at 08:31Patience required

"I'm trying to push Cheminées Poujoulat along as best I can, while dealing with a few technical problems.  I ended up having to change the alternator because I couldn't find what was causing the power problem. It seems to be working now, but I'm using quite a bit more diesel than planned, so I'm going to have to ration my use of power.  The desalinator is on the blink again. The intake is taking in air so getting fresh water takes a long time.  The GPS antenna was swept away by a wave.  The conditions aren't too bad for the moment.  We're sailing downwind and there are no extreme situations coming up.  It is fairly cold, but fine weather with occasional squalls of hail and snow.  The distance to the leaders seems to be stabilising and they may even be extending their lead.  We're going to have to be patient and seize any opportunities."

Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) in an e-mail this morning. 

 

December 13. 2008 at 08:02Short nights and long days

"It snowed last night! A nice little freezing snow squall! Yesterday was just a beautiful day, albeit full of sail changes and manoeuvres. However, as it was sunny and the sea was beautiful, I didn't mind running around on deck! I even had my factor 50 sun cream on! At the end of the day, there was a beautiful sunset, a rare sight down here, followed by an amazing clear night with a full moon. Again, the manoeuvres continued all night too, but I was happy to experience the amazing night. As we are so far South now, in the "summer time" we must be nearing the longest day as it never really got dark. To the South, the sky stayed that deep "twilight" blue as the sun can't have been far from the horizon. To the north, the moon lit up the sky brilliantly. There was so much light, I could have spotted an iceberg! The sky wasn't totally clear, there were a few  squalls, of the "40-knot snow squall" variety. It was fun to see my first snow of the South, and with all the sail changing involved in keeping Roxy upright in these squalls I didn't even notice the cold!"
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message

 

December 13. 2008 at 07:30A whale of a time

"How can they be so huge and yet eat so little? I'm talking about whales and their favourite food, krill.  We're not talking about shrimps and gambas, but about something enormous and something tiny. They're miles apart in the food chain. You know why they have such a big mouth, but what makes them so big? Do they keep the water they filter ? Maybe water doesn't help you slim as the ads suggest! It takes the smallest shrimp two days to realise that it is a prisoner.  Can you imagine us eating fleas? We would have eradicated the species by now.  Enjoy your dieting…" Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) by e-mail this morning.  

 

December 13. 2008 at 06:56Not a happy bunny

"Well I am cream crackered! I have had an eventful few hours and now I am wet, cold hungry and tired and still on the wrong bloody sail plan! Today had bursts of 30 knots sprinkled throughout the day, which was fine until the waves started to increase that was a little full on, so I changed the headsail. On walking back from the bow, I was followed by a wave, which dumped, over my head. I was not a happy bunny. Then I knew I needed to gybe and I could wait until tomorrow morning but I was not that keen to keep heading south with the berg reports we had been sent and with the weather to come I am happy to have somewhere to run with it when it comes. So I set up to gybe and ended with the boat on its ear, with 30 knots again. So the gybe resulted in a second reef going in the mainsail. The monster cloud that ended my first attempt to gybe disappeared and I went on deck again to find another in its path. This cloud came and the heavens opened with rain…no…sleet…possibly…but there was definitely snow as when I came on deck again it was like an ice rink with a covering everywhere. It was dark otherwise I would have taken a photograph. Anyway gybe done, stack below moved, reef shaken out and dinner being created in its bag as we speak. Unfortunately we look like having some lighter winds now and I should change the headsail again, but I just do not have it in me at the moment so I will give up some speed for an hour while I eat and warm up before doing the next round on deck."
Dee Caffari (Aviva) in her daily message

 

December 13. 2008 at 06:25Loïck heading for Australia

"Australia is now our safest option. Towing at sea is always a tricky operation, especially as today we don't have any guarantees about the weather.  Heading for Fremantle, in SW Australia, is the right decision… The boat is really getting shaken around with no mast, as the centre of gravity is so low. So I'm not getting much sleep.  I'm reading a lot as that helps pass the time."  
Loïck Peyron (Gitana 80) announcing his decision to head towards Perth yesterday evening

 

December 12. 2008 at 23:16Over 17 hours at the helm!

"There are no lasting problems and the rigging is OK!  When the weather improves, I will consolidate the genoa  to be able to use the forestay.  I have been at the helm for 17.5 hours and have stowed the sail and sheets.  There's a heavy swell and confused seas.  You need someone creative at the helm."
Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch) in his daily message, after reporting a damaged forestay.

 

December 12. 2008 at 20:33Rich battening down the hatches

"Planned to gybe mid-late afternoon as the wind shifted before the front, but on starboard gybe had a big lift, which may have precursored an early arrival of low. So gybed on it, and then the wind shifted again, so I'm heading off to the NE, not where I wanted to go, thought ENE, but here we are, not going to gybe twice again to save the miles, too much risk in gybing boat in 35 knots of wind, which is what  we have. Also, can't hurt to get set up early as the weather files have consistently underforecast the wind velocity, maybe by 10+ knots, so have to think that the low will be considerably windier than predicted so far at 45 knots.  Had several small ice rain clouds this am, it is pretty cold out. Many albatross around, grand, majestic, trying to push my mind to be calm in this weather like an albatross. Got a really good 60 min nap this am, went back for another after checking everything, and 30 seconds into it the pilot alarm goes off. Fortunately, the pilot defaults to compass, with this being a wind instrumentation problem I think. But it is back on and functioning now, just hard to know whether you can take off the old foul weather gear."

Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message

 

December 12. 2008 at 20:05Greatest distance over 24 hours

This evening, not only is Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac2) out in front, just under fifty miles ahead of Mike Golding, but over the past 24 hours, he is also credited with the greatest distance covered towards the finish.  Between yesterday at 19h and this evening he covered 442.9 miles