Vendée Globe

December 30. 2008 at 06:30What a difference a day makes

"What a difference a day makes, it is really incredible. The wind has eased, and this mornings big squalls have been replaced with a gentle eighteen to twenty knots of breeze which is giving us a broad reach in beautiful sunshine with not a cloud in site - not one! It is incredibly bright outside and the sea is a rich mid blue flecked with small amounts of white here and there, the albatross look like they have been freshly bleached and positively shine. It is like I have rediscovered colour after days of grey - the red of the mainsheet and the yellow of the little tracker beacon lashed to the back of the boat are vivid as if seen as if through new eyes. I have been on deck for the first time in as long as I can remember without oilskins and not got soaked. I had one of the last tortelinis with two pots of tomato sauce and some of the cheddar grated on top, and a slice of bread, which is vacuum packed.   I finished up with a couple of satsumas, I have hardly any of those left now, and as the fridge (cockpit) is warming up they won't last long now. Suitably fortified I am now ready for anything. Now we are at the half way point it is strange to begin to see how things have been used up. I have used one of the big tanks of diesel, and I have one left and a full day tank with another eighty eight litres in it, so we should be fine. Most of the freeze dried main meals I like have gone too, and I am left with lots of rice dishes - I am not a good vegetarian and not that keen on rice! The wind is forecast to ease further, and I am going to take advantage of this and do some mending! The gooseneck and the generator namely, but in the meantime I am going to enjoy the sunshine and waste some diesel on listening to the stereo much too loudly!"
Steve White (Toe in the Water) in his daily message
 

December 29. 2008 at 20:34A busy night for Sam

"Just as I was contemplating my sleeping bag, there was a loud bang as Roxy hit something small, but solid. I know the sound and recognised that my rudder had popped up on the impact (to save itself) so I rushed on deck to make sure it was out of the water. It was the leeward rudder that had ejected, so now Roxy was careering dangerously all over the ocean as Chuck (the pilot) desperately tried to control us with the remaining rudder, which was only half in the water half of the time. To avoid all sort of wipeout I quickly dropped 3 reefs into the main and rolled the solent. Then I started on the rudder. It has a nice "war wound" to show for the impact, but nothing serious. Unfortunately it was the rudder that I have already repaired, so I had to do some un-bolting and 'DIY' before I could put a new fuse in and put the rudder back down. This took a little while, and the usual dunking in the back of the boat with my head underwater as the waves break into my workspace whilst I re-bolted the thing back together! All in 25knots of wind and the pitch black, of course. By this time, the wind shift I was waiting for had materialised and so I needed to gybe,  This was concluded with the shaking of two of the three reefs I had hastily put into the main earlier. By this time you can imagine how tired, hot and sweaty I was. But the wind was dropping, less than 25 knots and I needed Genevieve, the big gennaker. I considered my state of fatigue (very) and the fact that it was still quite "fruity" for the installation of Genevieve and decided that a couple of hours sleep would put me in better (and safer) form for the manoeuvre! So, I treated myself to the rest, and now Genevieve is in place, and ROXY is rocketing along - her old self again!"
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message
 

December 29. 2008 at 20:05Greatest distance over 24 hours

Over the past 24 hours, Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) currently in the lead, 9558.6 miles from the finish, sailed the greatest distance towards the finish. Between 19h yesterday and this evening, he covered 398.6 miles

December 29. 2008 at 18:12Unai heading for Portugal

After retiring from the race on 7th December, Unai Basurko (Pakea Bizkaia) is continuing to head up the Atlantic and is currently sailing off the Canaries. He now intends to stop in Cascaïs in Portugal on 2nd January to spend a few days there, which will allow him to get some more fuel, rest and study the weather before heading up the coast of Spain into the Bay of Biscay. His goal is still to sail all the way home to Bilbao, which he should reach in the first half of January.
 

December 29. 2008 at 17:37Derek explains

"I have just notified the race committee that I must officially retire from the Vendee Globe 2008/09. After the knock down and damage to the mast I continued to look for solutions to fix the broken spreaders while the mast is still standing. After considering all the options we have concluded that it is not possible to make a repair without outside assistance, which is not allowed in this race. I was hoping I would wake up and it was all a bad dream. It's time to move on with a plan to move forward. We have accomplished so much; building the IMOCA 60 in Canada, preparing and qualifying for the hardest race in the world and unfortunately being knocked out indiscriminately like so many others, among them some of the elite single-handed sailors in the world. At first I was devastated, not for me, but for those individuals and corporate sponsors that have helped us get this far. But in the last few days, their words to me of encouragement have shown me that we have nothing to be ashamed about; that we tried our best and played well. I'm not sure if we made a difference or not but I think you will agree that this type of event truly captures the imagination of the world. These thoughts have turned it around for me and now I'm ready to move forward. The immediate plan is to take the boat to Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It's just under 900 miles away and it will take me about 8 more days to reach port. If the mast is still standing when I get there, we will be able to remove it from the boat and fix the spreaders and the mast will be whole again. We have been in contact with other teams and preparing ourselves to ship Spirit of Canada home, saving all the wear and tear on the boat and crew. Once back in the northern hemisphere, we can refurbish the boat and prepare it for what's next."

Derek Hatfield (Algimouss-Spirit of Canada)
 

December 29. 2008 at 16:51Derek Hatfield officially retires

At 1527hrs GMT it was confirmed that Derek Hatfield's retirement from the sixth Vendee Globe has been received. Hatfield said:

" I have now considered all of the options for our continuing and have come to the conclusion that it is impossible for us to do so without assistance to help with the mast. I therefore must resign from the race effective immediately. I will continue to Australia and consider how we will repatriate the boat back to France."

December 29. 2008 at 15:15Sébastien Josse officially retires

At 14h01 today, The Vendée Globe Race Directors received an e-mail from the team director, Mark Turner officially declaring that Sébastien Josse was retiring from the race. He becomes the thirteenth competitor to retire since the start. Sébastien Josse decided on Monday morning to head for Auckland (New Zealand) because of his damaged rudder (see photo).
 

December 29. 2008 at 14:48Bernard Stamm on Reunion Island tomorrow

Currently  aboard the Marion Dufresne, Bernard Stamm is due to reach Reunion Island tomorrow with his Cheminées Poujoulat, which is also aboard the supply vessel.
"Since leaving the Kerguelen Islands with the Marion Dufresne, things have gradually calmed down. I’m getting my spirits up a little and I can start thinking and functioning again by looking a bit further ahead than the few minutes which follow each event. The boat has to be assessed and I’m going to analyse her as fully as I can, so I can learn as much as possible about what happened before, during and after racing. I was incredibly lucky that the Marion Dufresne was in the Kerguelen Islands when I arrived. Without that the boat would have been matchsticks. We don’t yet know if the boat can be repaired or not. We’re going to examine the boat and only after this will I be able to clarify what the next few months will involve."
 

December 29. 2008 at 11:45An unexpected visitor

"I passed south of Auckland Islands last night and had a pretty bumpy ride during the night time hours. When dawn broke I had a call asking for my position out here in the middle of nowhere in the Southern Ocean. Three hours later a call came again with a familiar voice and asked for my position again. Ten minutes later a plane was overhead and Dave Greenberg with three buddies were flying around Aviva and saying hi. It was awesome to hear a familiar voice and see people in the plane even if I could not see faces. It was quite murky still and the wind was gusty but I sat on deck grinning like a Cheshire cat. In 2004/5 on the Global Challenge, Dave was the winchman involved in the rescue of a sick crew member on New Year’s day. Then again in 2005/6 on the Aviva Challenge, Dave flew out off the South Island of New Zealand and collected some video tapes from me on Valentine’s Day. Now here we are again in his neck of the woods and he came and took some photos of me and Aviva. It was very cool and it seems that I am not destined to pass New Zealand without a visit from either a plane or a helicopter. Still it made Aviva happy as she is after all a kiwi!"

Dee Caffari (Aviva) in her daily message
 

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