Vendée Globe

December 15. 2008 at 07:34Dee north of the Kerguelens

"It is just starting to get dark now and I am sailing in 40 knots of wind still. I say still because at 2300hrs last night, which is in fact dawn here the depression caught up with me and I saw 55knots of wind as the front passed over me. It was scary conditions, strong wind, big seas and the boat travelling ever so fast. Aviva handled it well and it was me that was a bundle of nerves sat, tense, waiting, holding on. If you had taken me from the boat back to land I probably would have been a little shell shocked, sat in the corner, rocking gently and muttering under my breath. But now I have overcome one monster and I have another night of strong winds to go before a brief respite and then another monster appears, hurtling me towards the next great cape of Cape Leeuwin in Australia. Just in case Aviva didn't think I had been through enough she let me know who was boss by throwing oil around in the generator space, which was messy to clear up.  Now the big decision today has been north or south of the Kerguelen Islands. It seems to be that when there is land on the course it draws Aviva like a magnet. The plan was to go south but the wind was not allowing that to happen and when I ran the routing to the north, I lost no time and was better placed for the next monster so north it has become."
Dee Caffari (Aviva) in her message last night

December 15. 2008 at 06:12Wishing you were here

"This morning had a really close look at two islands at the northern extremity of the Kerguelens, they look like the spectacular islands off the coasts of the UK, like St Kilda, having precipitous cliffs, grass, rock and being totally uninhabited by humans. Spectacular lenticular clouds sat above the summits of the islands. Around me there were many albatross, petrels and smaller birds, and I tried to take some photos of them, Also a lot of fish jumping, around the dimensions of medium sized salmon. At present the breeze is increasing steadily as a low approaches from behind. This is only indicated as 30 knots on the grib files, but according to Steve  White from Toe in the  Water and Jonny Malbon from Artemis, its packing a much bigger punch, up to 55 knots. This low and the next one barrelling along behind are part of the reason that I passed to the north of the Kergeulens, so that I could be set up a little further from the centres of the lows. Also to be out of the iceberg zone for a time is also a good thing, as other yachts spotted several in the area, that could not be spotted by satellite observation. The cold front should pass by tonight UK time, the morning here at 73E,  the longitude of Islamabad in Pakistan.  It is a bit disappointing to see Sam on Roxy catch up a lot of miles in the last 24 hours, I expected to lose some miles as she came up carrying the breeze, but not be overtaken on the ranking! All credit to her, she stuck to the routing and had good speed. At present conditions are starting to even out for us, so the mile losses should be stemmed. Good thing is that both of us are catching some much needed distance on the leader, the incredibly hard charging Jean Pierre Dick."

Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) in his daily message yesterday evening

 

December 14. 2008 at 20:05Greatest distance over 24 hours

Over the past 24 hours Sam Davies (Roxy) covered the greatest distance towards the finish.  Between 19h yesterday evening and this evening, Sam in 11th place, 835 miles from the leader, covered 388.5 miles. 
 

December 14. 2008 at 18:44Post storm hangover

"The low has almost passed but it has been a tough time of it. Last night and today the winds have been from every degree in the compass and I am exhausted from sail changes and manoeuvres since yesterday. The boat even stopped for an hour today with no wind at all. One hour later it was back blowing 30 knots again but from a different direction. I think I found the "eye" of that bad boy. The post storm hangover is on me today and I'm feeling very tired and drained. Normally it takes a day or two to recover from these storms but we are racing so little down time. I'm a little disappointed in the distance to the front but not surprised at all. Hopefully it will be my turn soon for some of those sailing conditions and fantastic speeds that we see coming from the front reports."
Derek Hatfield (Algimouss-Spirit of Canada)

 

December 14. 2008 at 16:26Vincent's worries

"My foot is still handicapping me.  I had to go out on the bow to hoist some sail and I rested on it.  I'm going to have to be careful, if I don't want things to get worse again. I'm still limping and it hurts if I rest on it.  So when the others were under spinnaker, I made do with the reacher.  By the end of the day I will have lost 10 or 15 miles.  We're waiting for another low to move in tomorrow with 45 knot winds.  But it's the ice, which worries me most.  Even if we haven't seen any, those further south must have been close as Mich and Sam saw some much further north.  It's incredible the difference from the first Vendée Globe races.  We see icebergs 10° further north than back then.  Even to the south of Australia, where the organisers put in place a gate for another reason, icebergs have been spotted at 51°30 and they're not coming from the Weddell and Ross Seas.  In my opinion, it's going to be pretty bad in the Pacific too..."  
Vincent Riou (PRB) talking to his shore team today

 

December 14. 2008 at 12:40A chilling experience

"Yesterday I saw my first iceberg! It is a sight that tears your emotions in two - half of you is in awe of such an amazing sight, with such intense blues and whites, this peaceful bit of nature floating in the middle of nowhere - whereas the other half is terrified! What if I hadn't seen it? If it had been night, and if I'd been half a mile to the South? These thoughts aren't worth considering. The iceberg was almost 100m long I guess, that is the part I could see.  Luckily my camera worked, and I got some good photos, so when I am back at home in front of the fire I can really appreciate the beauty. Until then, I hope that was the last iceberg I see this race."
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message


 

December 14. 2008 at 11:28Norbert past the Cape of Good Hope

"At 05h35 UTC, I passed the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope. At the same time, I took out  my cold weather gear.  Since yesterday, it has been fine, but i has been very cold. Under shelter outside, it is 6°C, and 9°C down below.  It was a sign that it was time to get some warm clothes on, as it's only going to get colder.  I'm still sailing ESE – Gate 3, then the Kerguelen Islands.  Now I'm busy at the nav desk writing, doing some photos and listening to music, while looking forward to my Sunday lunch. Fish and rice!"
Norbert Sedlacek (Foncia)

 

December 14. 2008 at 10:13Stamm in the Kerguelens this afternoon

Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) has just announced that he will be making a stopover in the Kerguelens.  He is in contact with his compatriot Dominique Wavre (Temenos II), who arrived yesterday, so that he can be guided  into the bay, when he arrives at around 14h or 15h this afternoon.

December 14. 2008 at 08:0862 knot gusts

"The winds were forecast for 30/35/40 knots the highest in a few places. So in the previous night, when I got to the 3rd reef, and the boat was going really nicely downwind, I rolled the staysail, but didn't put up the storm jib. So when the wind went to 45/50/55 knots, downwind, with the mainsail out, and after trying every angle of sail to slow the boat from wild surges to 22 knots, to reach, to broad reach, nothing would slow the boat, and I didn't think that in 50 knots of wind the mainsail would come down going downwind, and without the storm jib, we didn't have an option to go upwind and then drop the main. So we tore along at breakneck speed, highest gust seen at 62 knots, with few options.  Anyway, finally, near the end of the huge blow, having been up and desperately worried for 24 hours, with 18 hours of this blow, I remembered the picture of Bernard Stamm going upwind with 3rd reef, trimmed in, I tried that, and the boat finally slowed, and started to beat the daylights out of itself a little less. A difficult day for the boat and me. When the wind started to diminish, we were still left with 20' seas from multiple directions. I decided to take a look a the weather map, and saw to my horror, since all concentration had been on that big low, that there was another one right behind it. The barograph has just started to descend now for the next one. During the night I sailed northeast, to make as sure as possible that I would be on the correct side of that low to have at least downwind or reaching conditions, thus the jog to the NE."
Rich Wilson (Great American III)in his daily message

 

December 14. 2008 at 07:47Some great memories

"Hi, During the night, we had some wind, but it wasn't a surprise as forecast;40 knots.  Reached 45 knots as the front went over with the wind backing northerly.  So on my veranda I adapted the sail surface;3 reefs and staysail regularly surfing along at more than 23 knots.  At night manoeuvres out on deck are complicated; with gloves on you can't feel enough, but without them, you can't feel your fingers.  Will have some great memories.  That one is over and behind it there are strong winds and heavy seas. I'm leaving the Kerguelens to starboard with a  steady westerly flow, which will strengthen as a new low moves in on Sunday. Now time for a piece of hake and mushrooms and wheat with some soda water.  Shaving, cleaning and tidying up.  It's party time on Veranda."
Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas)