Vendée Globe

December 23. 2008 at 13:49Yann Eliès out of theatre

24 hours after arriving in Fremantle, Yann Eliès was operated on by Dr Scheryil at the Royal Perth Hospital. He left the operating theatre early this morning (French time). He came around from the anaesthetic and seems to be feeling fine. The Vendée Globe race doctor, Jean-Yves Chauve confirmed: "Yann was operated on to have a pin fitted to his femur, as planned. Examinations found that his ribs were not fractured, as the doctor aboard the frigate had thought. No other medical problems that have been mentioned could be confirmed." Some reassuring news for Yann's family , who will be paying him a visit, as they were due to arrive in Australia this morning. As Jean-Yves Chauve explained, Yann is going to have to remain patient for a few days, until an assessment can be made concerning his condition.
 

December 23. 2008 at 12:21The luckiest unlucky person

"I had somehow managed to continue to work the boat, convincing myself that “my" keel would somehow be OK. Whilst the engineers studied the problem and gave me some rather unconvincing assurances, I ran the boat with the keel at 80/90% cant, reducing the risk but making staying with the lead pack ever more difficult. With the shore team we decided that we would monitor the keel head cracks and make a final decision, “in or out of the race” at the W Australian ice gate. We either turned right and continued back down into the Southeast and the next gate or we keep going northeast retiring from the race, like Dominique and head for Perth.
Each and every skipper in the Vendee has a huge investment with their participation in this event, including myself. This is not simply a 90-day race but encompasses years of hard work and preparation. It is not an event so much as a way of life, to do it you have to live it for years prior to the starting gun. In this spirit, I was not about to quit easily and certainly not from such a competitive position in the race .But continuing was easily going to rank as the most stressful situation I have ever put myself in. Despite the wranglings I had basically made my mind up even before I put down the phone to Dominique – this is the Vendee, I am a serious contender – I want to continue!
So it’s a cruel irony that it is entirely possible that the mast breaking has inadvertently actually saved my life! Perhaps someone “up there” really is watching out for me? And quite possibly I am as I have always thought – the absolute luckiest – unlucky person on the planet."
Mike Golding (Ecover 3) talking in his blog about his feelings after Dominique Wavre's keel head problem
 

December 23. 2008 at 11:57Christmas comes early for Sam

"Day 43 is finished, and that means that Roxy is halfway through her record time of 87 days!!! I think we are pretty much halfway distance-wise too.... so it might be still be possible to break Roxy's record time from the last race! After a long night of "wallowing" and a lot of hard work by me to squeeze the maximum boat speed out of just a few knots of wind, we were rewarded by a lovely sunrise, and the first zephyrs of the "new" Northerly wind! This extra bit of wind, meant that I could leave the pilot to do the job and I managed to get a bit of sleep. Now, there is 16 knots of wind and finally the speedo is reading 15-16knots - AT LAST!!!  We are tight reaching, so the daggerboard is down and I can hear it "singing"! It is a sweet sound that I haven't heard for a while and as we accelerate, the pitch gets higher and higher! The objective now is to try and stay in front of the low pressure that is behind us! And finally, I have a confession to make (to my Mum.) She's made me a lovely Christmas cake, and today I gave in to the temptation and I have eaten a piece - a day early..."
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily blog
 

December 23. 2008 at 08:12Do albatrosses make mistakes?

"A few days ago, an odd event, thought an albatross made an aerodynamic mistake, starboard gybe, came in low to leeward under solent, in turbulence, flapped wings a couple of times, rare for an albatross, then looked as though it realized it couldn't bank to make the bow, and nose-dived into the water 2 meters off the side of the boat, then, after the boat left, it ran along the water to take off again, flapping its giant wings. Then I thought, maybe fishing for squid, can't imagine an albatross making an aerodynamic mistake. Until this morning, when, after some more work out at the end of the boom, I was in the cabin, standing behind the chart table, looking at the computer screen and instruments, when crash/bang, and whenever on a boat there is a new noise, its high alert for all human systems, then saw through the cabin window to the mid-deck, that an albatross had crash landed there. It scrambled to its webbed feet, trying to get a grip on the non-skid paint, got its wings out from underneath, started flapping, and climbed/flapped through the wire lifelines, and splashed into the water. I was definitely startled, but I think he was much more startled."
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily log
 

December 23. 2008 at 07:19Upside down world

"Nothing. Nothing at all. Not a lot at all. Nothing new. That was what happened last night to the south of New Zealand. We sailed as best we could, while waiting for windier times. In other words, we didn't do a lot. Sleep, tidy up, sleep, eat and trim. Time is slipping by and at night it is your day, so we sleep at day and chat to the world by night, as we're on the other side of the world. But in any case, our world is upside down anyway, so it doesn't make much difference!"
Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) in his daily message
 

December 23. 2008 at 06:38Repairs before the storm

"Another long day in the boatyard, worked all day yesterday, all night last night, then had 2 hours sleep at dawn before carrying on all day. Will probably go all night again and then I should be done, and can get some sleep, but actually feel ok. Been eating and drinking to keep up the energy levels. The wind is just starting to creep up to 20 knots and I am on double reefed main. Some of you may be wondering why I am going so slowly, and it is because I need the hull not to move and allow the crack to propagate further. Also now that I am more than half way through the repair, there is a lot of adhesive setting, and the steadier the boat, the more likely it is to hold in the correct position. It’s a bit like superglueing a broken plate – you have to hold it very still so that it can set. That’s the plan anyway, but it is far from perfect working conditions, so fingers crossed that the sheer amount of material added will overcome the lack of technical perfection. Another perfect sailing day today, but sadly I could not take advantage of it, but I did have a wonderful view of a pair of albatross this afternoon, circling the boat. They really are breathtaking animals, with their wings like a competition glider’s. Tomorrow big wind coming, and I will be monitoring the repair closely during the low. Tonight I got the big furling sails down and bagged up and am rigged and ready for the breeze to arrive. "
Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) in his daily message
 

December 22. 2008 at 20:05Greatest distance over 24 hours

Over the past 24 hours, Vincent Riou (PRB) currently in sixth place, 485.1 miles from the leader, sailed the greatest distance towards the finish.  Between 19h yesterday and this evening, he covered 368.3 miles.
 

December 22. 2008 at 19:11Dominique averaging 12 knots

Dominique Wavre (Téménos II) still has 1110 miles to go to reach Fremantle.  He talked to his shore team this lunchtime:

“This morning the wind filled in quite markedly and right now I have between 25 and 30 knots, accompanied by a fairly big swell of around 4.5 metres. I wasn’t expecting it to be this strong. I thought I would be a little more sheltered than this by being up in the north and I also imagined that the swell would calm down a little quicker. The sun is playing hide and seek with the clouds and the light and colours are superb today. From time to time I settle myself in the boat’s companionway with my coffee to enjoy the spectacle. By tomorrow I should have been able to hoist a little more sail area and make a pretty much direct course towards Fremantle. For the time being I’m managing to maintain a 12 knot average and the strong swell is pushing the boat along nicely. The keel is moving but there are no suspect noises or water ingress. According to the forecasts, the wind could climb to 35 knots. Squalls are likely, so I’m watching the horizon, though there’s no sign of them at present.”
 

December 22. 2008 at 18:34Jonny's Christmas tree

Like several other of the competitors have told us, Jonny Malbon (Artemis) is preparing for Christmas and in his latest video, shows us his Christmas tree... To watch the clip, click here and select Jonny Malbon.
 

December 22. 2008 at 17:27Surgery on Tuesday morning

As soon as the frigate Arunta arrived in Fremantle, Yann Eliès was transferred to the Royal Perth Hospital where he is due to be operated on on Tuesday morning (local time). Welcomed by members of his team and the Generali group, he is now waiting for his family to reach Australia. Tomorrow, Philippe Laot and Jean-Baptiste Epron will be going aboard a 35-metre fishing boat to head for Generali, which is still hove to in the Indian Ocean. "We should be able to set off tomorrow», confirmed Jean-Baptiste Epron, who reckons it will take 5-6 days to reach the position, 700 miles south of Australia… According to Dr.Yves Lambert, Yann's doctor, who has spoken to the surgeon at the Royal Perth Hospital, the procedure involves inserting a pin, as this is considered to be the best treatment of a broken femur. The fracture is neat enough to allow this type of operation, which is commonplace and is well tested, in particular on the victims of road accidents.