Vendée Globe

December 18. 2008 at 11:55Jonny past the Kerguelens

"Just to let you know that I passed the longitude of the Kerguelens at approx 0400 UTC. I was wall to the north and I have to say I am very happy to finally have cleared the islands.  It seems like I have been looking at them for a very very long time!  At least now I can move on to the east and towards home. We had a great nights sailing, fast with good waves for the first time.  The breeze has increased to 30 knots this morning, but the sea is still behaving and we are making some good progress.  Spent most of yesterday fixing the watermakers again – I was down to 3 litres, so things were desperate.  I have now made about 15 litres and adapted the water feed.  They seem to be working much better now, so fingers crossed. Onwards now to the next ice gate, and Christmas under Australia!!"
Jonny Malbon (Artemis II) in his daily message

 

December 18. 2008 at 09:58Sam takes a tumble

"I hurt myself last night, during the manoeuvres through the front. Am rather sore today, as a result. I was stacking everything, ready for my gybe, and at the time I was stacking a spinnaker in the aft section, under the cockpit. Unfortunately, as I was pulling on it, a sail-tie broke, and I went flying backwards, landing my elbow into a winch transmission box - a nice solid corner. It hurt SO much that everything went black, and I passed out! I woke up lying on my back, under the cockpit. The elbow was throbbing, from my fingertips to my shoulder. I could move it thankfully, but the pain made me sick. Because of these reactions, I called Jean-Yves Chauve, the race doctor, and he told me which (nice strong) painkiller to take.  The problem was - I had to gybe! I lay down for as long as possible (for the painkiller to work), and summoned my strength. I managed the gybe! Luckily the wind had dropped in the cold front but I had kept small sails, so the manoeuvre was easy.  Since then, Jean-Yves has helped me check the elbow by telephone to confirm that it is just a nasty big bruise, nothing more serious. My elbow is so SORE, but I know it will get better, so there is no worry. He said that the reason for my rather severe reaction to the shock is probably because I'm not eating enough - and I must try harder to balance the energy I use each day with enough nutrition. I need 6000 calories per day out here in the cold south. The annoying thing now is that eating is a movement that really hurts my arm - ironically! So, I will maybe try eating left-handed, although that is a sure way to ensure that I will be mostly "wearing" my dinner rather than  consuming it - especially in this sea-state! I can already hear you asking - YES - the winch transmission box is fine I didn't do it any damage!"
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message

 

December 18. 2008 at 08:23Port and starboard

"You're going to laugh, or smile at least. As I keep looking behind me through the door, I can't remember  which is port and which is starboard, green and red. You could say "Apart from a question of pride, it doesn't really matter, as you don't need to know!" But I do.  It is useful as the stern ballast tanks of which there are four, 2 on the right and 2 on the left are emptied and filled using 2 intakes, one on the right and one on the left and beside each of them there are 4 cords with a green and yellow ball on the end for starboard and a red and white ball for port. So it's simple in theory.  Except that as the boat is heeled over, we fill the windward tank from the leeward side, so at the moment for example, the starboard intake for the port tank. So I have to keep asking myself the question.  The strange thing is that at night it's easier as the navigational lights are on an I just take the ball with the same colour as the side I want to fill. In short, a simple thing becomes a real pain in the butt, just because I keep looking behind me.  What if I looked behind using a mirror and was colour-blind.  That would really get confusing."
Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) in his daily message

 

December 18. 2008 at 07:53Norbert's nasty squall

"During the night (Tuesday), Neptune sent me a nasty squall. There were no signs of it coming on the barometer, thermometer or radar, but the 20 knots suddenly increased by 20 knots. The autopilot was the first to inform me, so I tried to ease off the sails and steer by hand to get back on course. I managed to do that, but it was not easy. I had to reduce the sail, in particular the gennaker,  but that is easier said than done.  To sum up, I succeeded, even if the sail went for a swim, but I recovered it with hardly any damage.  Then the mainsail had to be lowered. I got into a real mess with the ropes.   It took me three hours to tidy up the sails and ropes. All's well that ends well."
Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch) in his daily message received yesterday evening

December 18. 2008 at 07:45Technical problems in the virtual Vendée Globe

Due to technical problems, the Virtual Vendée Globe is currently not accessible. We are doing all we can to resume normal service as soon as possible and offer our sincere apologies for this interruption

 

December 18. 2008 at 06:51Why Rich is going north

"Making fast progress with solent and 3 reefs in the main. Read Seb Josse's account of using his reacher and 3 reefs in the main, talk about front-wheel drive! So tried with solent and worked well. Lashed the two pieces of the broken titanium support railing together with vectran (non-stretch) 6mm line. The two exposed ends of the titanium weld are nasty sharp, and the opening between them had already captured the windward staysail sheet! Took a piece of sticky-back dacron tape and then wrapped it around the edges of the tubing after the lashing brought them together. Think it will do OK.
I remember on our New York - Melbourne voyage of 2001, I commented to Murray Lister who had been Chief Mate aboard New Zealand Pacific, the world's largest refrigerated container ship, when they rescued us off Cape Horn in November 1990 after our capsize and rerighting, about the beautiful arcing route that the clipper ship Mandarin had made into the deep south, skirting to the south of Kerguelen, and then back up to Melbourne, following the great circle route. Murray said that although their shortest route would have been the same, from Europe to Sydney, "even though we were in a 250 meter (815 feet) ship, we would never have considered taking New Zealand Pacific south of Kerguelen Islands." NZP rescued us back then so we'll take his advice now and go north of Kerguelen."

Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message

 

December 17. 2008 at 20:05Greatest distance over 24 hours

Over the past 24 hours, Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) sailed the greatest distance towards the finish.  Between 19h yesterday and this evening, the leader, currently 13,243 miles from the finish, covered 369.5 miles.

 

December 17. 2008 at 19:35Dolphins flying through the air

 "Today I have been overtaken by a depression travelling at 35 knots, and been dealing with all the windshifts as it passes by. Not particularly fast today as had some light winds ahead of the cold front, this low has had the boats behind seeing gusts of over 50 knots, so I will have to be careful tonight. The cold front has just arrived now, and I am on the look out for any squalls. Just a few birds this morning, but otherwise the quietest day yet in the Southern Ocean for seabirds. However, I did see a spectacular sight this morning of three dolphins about 400 metres back launching themselves out of 7 metre waves, appearing to be having a look at Bahrain Team Pindar from afar. They were travelling the same speed as me, about 17 knots, and followed for a few minutes, before going off for lunch. It was quite amazing to see them flying through the air, appeared like three torpedoes from the middle of the wave."
Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) in his daily message

December 17. 2008 at 17:04Loïck making slow headway to Australia

Loïck Peyron (Gitana 80) continues to make slow headway towards Australia under jury rig.  Forced to abandon the race since his boat was dismasted, he still has around 1800 miles to sail.    He talked about this unexpected voyage with his shore team today, "This situation isn’t very pleasant for a whole host of reasons, primarily because I’d really prefer to be racing rather than where I am. Without a mast it’s very uncomfortable to make headway, especially as there’s a steady wind at the moment – around 35 knots since yesterday – and the seas are big and very confused. Gybing under jury rig is pretty full-on… but luckily there aren't many manoeuvres to do. Fortunately I’ve got my big collection of books, so I’m trying to pass the time reading them. I’m also mulling over the light winds to come and on rigging up a third sail so as to make better headway in the light conditions."

 

December 17. 2008 at 16:29Wavre up against it

Dominique Wavre contacted his shore team this morning with concerns that the very large steel part  weighing almost 100 kilos which had been attached to his keel head was   not resisting the huge strains that are being imposed on it.  

The Swiss skipper reported this morning that the winds have been much more than forecast and that he has been struggling with an acceleration zone around the Kerguelens, and the skipper is currently dealing with a cold front  in cross seas and winds varying between 30 and 40 knots

Temenos II was reported to be sailing at slow speed with all his ballast tanks full in order to give the boat maximum stability, with both dagger-boards down the movements have been stabilised. Wavre has been managing to make headway at between 8 and 10 knots under storm sail and three reefs in the main. To escape these strong winds, Wavre has no choice but to head north, but the damage to the keel limits the point of sail he can choose.