Vendée Globe

December 20. 2008 at 09:16Arunta on station around 0930GMT

Favourable conditions on their passage  means that the Royal Australian Navy’s Frigate HMAS Arunta is expected to be on station ready to start the evacuation of injured Vendée Globe skipper Yann Eliès at around 0930hrs GMT this morning (Saturday).

The plan, which has been put in place in cooperation with the Generali Sailing Team managers who know the layout and handling of the Open 60, with Vendée Globe race direction, with the MRCC and Royal Australian Navy, is to launch a large RIB and to go on board Generali with a stretcher and spinal splint.
It has been recommended that the keel is canted to reduce the freeboard to make to easier to lower Yann into the RIB. 

Once on board the Frigate he will be assessed by the civilian doctor on board. There are full facilites should it be decided that an immediate surgical procedure is required.

Eliès will be taken to Perth military hospital.

Generali, the Open 60, will be left by the crew and the Vendée Globe race directors will continue to monitor her position. 
The mainsail with 3 reefs will be left up but they will furl the staysail. 
Doors will be shut and the helm tied off to allow the boat to drift.

A crew Jean-Baptiste Epron and Philippe Laot, from Team Generali, have left for  Australia to go aboard a motor launch which will take them out  to the area, and they will sail her back to Southern Australia.

December 20. 2008 at 06:53Rescue team expected this morning

The Australian frigate is due to reach Generali between 9h and 9h30 UTC according to Marc Guillemot, who was in contact this morning with the crew of HMAS Arunta. However, Sam Davies is is unlikely to be there before the rescue team. She is nevertheless continuing to sail towards the zone, while awaiting further instructions.

 

December 19. 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 12,430 miles from the finish, covered 389.6 miles.

 

December 19. 2008 at 19:19Derek in sombre mood

"It's a sombre day today as we all wait for news on Yann's condition and his pending rescue. I know myself I have gone over the scenario a dozen times trying to contemplate such a situation and it is a bit overwhelming. I know all the skippers including me wish these was something more we could do but he is in good hands and I can only hope that the situation will improve from here. The high pressue system over my left shoulder is trying to capture me so I'm sailing as quickly as possible to get past Kerguelen and onto the next gate. I am expecting some more wind tomorrow from the NW which will help the situation. It's a bit of a light day today so I'm taking the opportunity to tidy the boat up, transfer fuel into the tanks and take the errant sea water out of the boat. No matter now water tight we think the boat is, it never ceases to amaze me how much sea water finds its' way into the different compartments that otherwsise are usually bone dry."
Derek Hatfield (Algimouss-Spirit of Canada) in his daily message

December 19. 2008 at 18:43Paprec-Virbac 2 has her two rudders in place

Jean-Pierre has managed to refit his starboard rudder and to fix it in place.  This tricky operation, which involved glueing the rudder to the transom is now over. One job out of the way for the "surgeon", who carried out this delicate operation in several stages.
The repair to the helm will take six hours to dry, during which no strain can be placed on the rudder. JP is therefore heading  heeled over at 30° on the port rudder to avoid any strain on the starboard rudder. He is due to set sail on his route later in the day.  It remains a jury steering system. He will have to wait 24h to know whether the rudder will hold in rough seas.

 

December 19. 2008 at 18:02Leaky ballast and torn sail

"Out here on Bahrain Team Pindar it’s been a busy time, with gales, so sailing with 3 reefs in the mainsail at night. I had no rest until this morning when I grabbed a few hours of naps.  After that I went to look around inside the boat and remove some water that had been leaking through the front hatch. I found more than just water when I saw cracks in the inboard sides of both forward ballast tanks, just forward of the keel bulkhead. These act both to hold the ballast water in and more importantly as longitudinal stiffeners to the front half of the boat. The outboard sides of  the tanks are ok, so I have 50% of the longitudinals intact. Today been talking with Nick Black, Boat Captain and Andy Dore, our boat builder and we have all been in contact with the design office, to work out how to proceed. Firstly, how serious is it, and secondly, how to repair it at sea. Its going to be a big repair involving cutting a hole in the tank top so that I can repair both sides of the crack in the panel, and there is a lot of preparation work to get the surfaces ready to laminate.  Also whilst this is going on, I am still sailing the boat, keeping up the speed, whilst making sure that there is no slamming up forward to make the crack any worse. When I unrolled my  J2  tonight for a bit more speed, I saw that it has a big tear on the leech. This is the sail that is permanently lashed on so there is no chance to repair it. I hope that it will be ok for the upwind sections in the Atlantic when the 3DL Kevlar fibres should align themselves ok, and that it is just in running that the leech opens and the tear appears and grows. So no more J2 till Cape Horn, that was my favourite sail, and the most all-purpose sail I had.  Then I had a little struggle to get the watermaker to make water, and that took a couple of hours, as water is essential to keep me going to get all the work done! Got it eventually by using a half full ballast tank as the feed for the watermaker pump."
Brian Thompson in his daily blog

 

December 19. 2008 at 17:15Marc Guillemot throwing suppplies to Yann Eliès

Marc Guillemot has tried to throw some bottles of water, medicine and food to Yann Eliès (Générali).  Some amazing pictures can be seen on a video sent back by the skipper of Safran. Click here to view this latest film.

 

December 19. 2008 at 15:10The need to survive

"When the news came through yesterday my immediate thought was ‘oh no not another one.’ It makes me focus on survival. I just need to survive.  My biggest fear is illness or injury and Yann’s thigh bone break is one of the most extreme types of injury you can get. I can’t imagine how he must be feeling or what the hell he is going to do.  If that happened to me, I would have similar problems in reaching for the painkillers in the medical kit. These kits are heavy and they have to go somewhere – you can’t just leave them lying around. Mine is stacked on the shelf but it is not easy to get to. He is not even mobile enough to get a bag of stuff together for when he is lifted off. So that started me thinking about what stuff I would take if I had to be lifted off like that.  And what happens to the boat? It is a perfectly good boat – nothing wrong with it but it’s not like you can drop someone off on board and ask them to sail it back for you. And he’s not going to be able to get back out there and sail it back because he’s going to be in hospital for a while.  Everyone else has had a trauma or a problem that is manageable but to have an injury like that is heartbreaking. He has no option but to get off the boat and that is the most difficult thing of all."

Dee Caffari (Aviva) in her daily message

 

December 19. 2008 at 14:21Norbert remains cautious

"Today is an unusual day in the south -  wonderful blue skies, sea birds, a light westerly and occasional snow and sleet showers.  Fortunately we can see them coming on the radar, when it is working properly: Prudence remains the watchword to ensure the mast remains up.  In fact, there can be short, violent stormy gusts in these squalls, even if with their rain, snow and ice they appear harmless."
Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch) in his daily blog

 

December 19. 2008 at 13:24Sympathy from Sam

"I am torn between racing to Yann at a breakneck speed and not pushing too hard to risk damage to myself or Roxy. I know I must be sensible, and get some rest en route so that if I am needed I will be on form. I'm ready to do anything to help, as I’m sure any of the other skippers in this race would be.  The trouble is, as Yann cannot move and we are alone on our boats in quite big seas, there is little we can do other than offer company and moral support as we await the rescue. We are, of course, also on stand by to help if ever Yann’s condition were to deteriorate. I feel for Marc on Safran right now - being so close to a friend who is suffering so much, but feeling almost useless, is a tough situation to be in. At least Yann can now hear a friendly voice nearby which must be comforting and reassuring.  My thoughts go out to Yann’s wife Soizig and their family, who must be extremely worried to hear that their loved one is in trouble so far away from home.  Thankfully, soon he will be in very good care."
Sam Davies (Roxy) in a message sent this morning.