Vendée Globe

December 29. 2008 at 10:22Christmas over for Steve

"Since I wrote last, there have been some real highs and lows, I think for me the most extreme of the race so far. I have to say Christmas day was thoroughly miserable,  so much so I nearly wasn't going to mention it. I felt I was on a go slow at the back of the fleet on a broken boat, on the opposite side of the world to my family who I really missed, and I have come here to race after all not cruise, and it was very, very difficult at that moment as you see the leaders slipping away, those behind gaining on you as you feel you are just firefighting breakages all the time. Alone on a boat all emotions are heightened, so all of the above coupled with some very touching Christmas cards and a sad book for a present meant I was really struggling. I had to give myself a really good talking to and examine why I was here, what I have gone through to get here, and what the event meant to me. Sometime in the early hours of Boxing Day I awoke to a sharp cracking noise and thought the worst, that the boom had come off, but no, it was my small wooden Christmas tree which had come unstuck from the chart table and had hit the chart table all at once with a sharp crack right by my ear. I took that as a sign and packed it away and put Christmas and all of the associated emotions firmly behind me. So after having given myself a good kick up the backside I pulled my finger out and had quite a good run over the next period - maybe I tried a little too hard, the generator ripped off its mountings and is currently lashed down! Another job, but a quick and easy fix when it calms down in the next forty eight hours. I am absolutely fine now, and looking forward to getting past New Zealand, getting the boat mended and weather wise having a somewhat nicer time in the Pacific that we have had in the Indian Ocean. I want to try and get a few miles back on the boats in front of me by Cape Horn.."
Steve White (Toe in the Water) in his daily mesage
 

December 29. 2008 at 08:05A hard job

"For once, I'm going to talk about sailing. I know that's not really an original idea, but it is in the news. Today I lowered the mainsail to replace a batten and that is the first time I've had to do that on this boat. Eight years ago, I had to do that almost every day, changing them over, repairing them, as I only had 12. Up until the Azores I worked on them. In the end, I was an expert. I hoisted the mainsail in two goes, really annoyed. In fact, what is hard is not lowering the sail nor changing the battens, although it was the top one, it is getting the sail around the outside of the lazy jacks, as this requires patience and care. I had forgotten how good it was to see the job done. In any case, the Pacific is being kind to us for the moment with lots of sunny days, which is a change in the dark world we had on the other side of Tasmania. Perfect for some work in the garden this afternoon."
Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) in his daily message
 

December 29. 2008 at 07:24An inspiration to so many

"Despondent about Derek. After returning for repairs after the start, he had sailed brilliantly through the Atlantic, catching up many miles. He was relentless and had gained on our group of 2 (with Artemis) to make a group of 3. Brothers in arms through the last week of severe gales of 45-55knots each. Our group talked on the phone through these gales, and through Christmas. We were all in the same sea state that rolled Derek, so it could have happened to any of our 3, frightening. We will miss him from our little group. Derek's project is one of the great ones in the Vendee Globe. Starting with no sponsor, no boat, he raised money via a group of 10,000 supporters that he gained one by one by relentless pr work, he built the boat by himself, an extraordinary feat, he made hundreds of corporate presentations to no sponsorship avail until the very end, almost too late to help, no big shore crew, and on and on. He is a great ambassador for the Vendee Globe to Canada and North America. He has so much to be proud of with his project, even if he won't finish this race. Surely hundreds of thousands of people are inspired by his total effort, people whom he will never meet will change their lives because of him, and his retirement from the race does not dilute this impact one bit. Derek, I'm sure you'll be disappointed and discouraged by not finishing this course, but be proud of your total effort, be proud of the inspirational impact you will have on countless numbers of people. You're an inspiration to me for certain."
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message
 

December 29. 2008 at 06:50Brian halfway there

"I am very sorry to hear about Derek Hatfield breaking his top spreaders in a big knock down, he put in such a massive effort to get to the start line, then having to return, repair and restart again meant that he has then been having to battle storm after storm in the Southern Oceans, when the earlier boats got through the same waters with much better conditions. 24840 is the number. After moving the final ice gate the race committee have settled on this final race distance, about 1000 miles longer than the last race, or about 3 days further in sailing time. So doing some quick maths 24840/2=12420 which is half the course, and I have a mere 12203 to go to the finish, so I am now officially over half way! Last night I passed by 25 miles south of the Auckland Islands, home to tens of thousands of albatross and other seabirds, but with the thick fog I did not see the islands, and the seabirds did not see me, so out here I have unusually little company today. The night before was clear and I was able to see the glow of the Antarctic continent to the south, keeping a faint light on the horizon for the whole night, like the first tinge of dawn. Now, apart from some sub Antarctic islands, I have the entire Pacific Ocean in front of me, with Cape Horn as the destination, tucked away in the bottom right hand corner, 5000 miles away via the ice gates. Lets hope this second half of the race is faster than the first."

Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) in his daily message

December 29. 2008 at 06:02The monohull GENERALI lost at sea.

While Yann Eliès's health will have improved sufficiently to allow him to be flown home on Wednesday 31st December, the GENERALI monohull has been lost at sea.

As the medical teams were busy taking care of Yann following his accident, GENERALI launched an operation to recover the boat. 2 members of Team Generali arrived in Fremantle in Australia and looked for a boat to take them to the zone where the monohull had been abandoned.

On 23rd December, the Race Directors noticed that the positioning beacon on the GENERALI boat was no longer transmitting and were informed by the French Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (CROSS Gris Nez) that the COSPAS SARSAT distress beacon had been triggered. The GENERALI team was immediately informed.

Philippe Laot, the technical director of Yann Eliès's team and Jean-Baptiste Epron, a GENERALI crew member were able to set off in a fishing boat on Wednesday 25th December, but soon encountered very bad wind and sea conditions.

As they were on their way on Friday 26th December, they were told by the GENERALI shore team that the distress beacon had stopped transmitting. It was therefore no longer possible to identify the boat's position. The weather conditions worsened (7-8m high waves and cross seas) and the team was forced to call off the search.
 

December 28. 2008 at 20:05Greatest distance over 24 hours

Over the past 24 hours, Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) currently in the lead, 9957.2 miles from the finish, sailed the greatest distance towards the finish. Between 19h yesterday and this evening, he covered 361.2 miles

December 28. 2008 at 14:2524840

That is the final distance in miles for this sixth edition of the Vendée Globe following the decision to move the final Ice Gate further north.
 

December 28. 2008 at 12:15Dominique Wavre reaches Fremantle

At 8h30 local time, 23h30 GMT after sailing for just over ten days following damage to his keel head, Dominique Wavre (Temenos II) entered the harbour in Fremantle during the night with the help of some members from the Ecover and Gitana 80 teams. "I am relieved and proud to have managed to sail Temenos II here. We're a team and I really did all I could to take care of her, so I'm pleased to have arrived. Of course, it hurts giving up the Vendée Globe, and there will always be a degree of frustration, as the race goes on, and I'm looking ahead to the next one, but for the moment, it's a relief just to be here. We hope to put Temenos II on board a container ship in mid-January. The boat is due to arrive in Europe a month or so later. We will then get together with the designers, engineers and experts, to try to understand how and why the keel broke. It seems that Mike had a similar problem. We talked about it when I arrived this morning and we'll be working together to find a solution. In any case, we're going to have to find the means to be able to set sail again with a keel that we can totally rely on. We cannot make any concessions in this area, as the safety of the competitors depends on it.»
 

December 28. 2008 at 09:02An extra 450 miles

As the Ice Gates have been moved up, the initial theoretical distance for this Vendée Globe of 24,275 miles has been extended by 450 miles. That is why the distances to the finish have been modified this morning, as the East Pacific Gate is the final one the solo sailors will pass: the Great Circle Route is now around 24,725 miles…
 

December 28. 2008 at 08:39Most frightening period of sailing

"I am now the only one of the three in my area who has not been knocked down yet in the hideous conditions that we have.  I am anticipating it…..  but praying that I can avoid it.  As the breeze picked up yesterday, after about 3 hours of ok sailing, I dropped the main again, lashed the boom and carried on under staysail only.  I checked that the headsails still plugged in on the bow were furled as well as possible, with their furling lines tight and locked off, and I removed every line from the cockpit floor and stowed them in bags so they couldn’t get washed away.  I removed the stb steering foot chock and MOB lifebelt from the transom and stowed them below.  As  I was finishing this I looked out of the back of the boat at the most enormous pair of waves, towering about 30 feet over the back of my little boat – they were coming from opposite directions and smashed into one another with such force – breaking high and loud and violently.  with this I went below and closed both hatches tight, filled the aft ballast and looked at my options.  After about 1 second I realised that I had zero options other than ride out the next 24 hours and try and get through with minimal damage. I set about lashing anything I could find down below that could move, I stowed all the loose gear that was possible, and set my bean bag and nav station on the leeward side, so if I did get rolled I would have less far to fall.  The breeze built, but more importantly so did the sea state.  Every now and again we get on a wave and hit 20-25 knots, totally out of control, before we plummet headlong and at pace into the wave in front. At this point the boat stops and tonnes of water engulf the boat – slowly she manages to shake the water off and get going again, but how many times will she manage?  It has been relentless for us back here, and I am sick and tired of living in fear of the next wave, the next pooping or a knockdown.  Reading of Dereks plight last night does not help, and I hope he is ok.  Rich also had a couple of knockdowns during the night, so am I existing on borrowed time?  This is most certainly the most extreme, most difficult, most frightening period of sailing I have ever undertaken, and I shall be overjoyed when it is over…  I am ok, just fed up and worried.  I have done all I can to be safe, so must now be patient and hope…"
Jonny Malbon (Artemis II) in his daily message