Vendée Globe

January 03. 2009 at 06:27Derek reaches Tasmania

"I've just made landfall on Maatsuyker Island, one of the outer islands on the south coast of Tasmania. I have to round South East Cape and Bruny Island before heading up Storm Bay to Hobart. The landfall here has been a bit nerve-wracking as yesterday my GPS started operating sporadically and I have been expecting it to go down. I switched to the back up GPS only find it wasn't working as well. My backup to the backup is a hand-held GPS mounted in the window. It's working fine and gives me a position which I then plot on the chart. Now that I've made landfall I feel much better. It will be a long night of motoring up Storm Bay but I am looking forward to getting ashore."
Derek Hatfield (Algimouss-Spirit of Canada)
 

January 02. 2009 at 23:23Steve's nature lesson

"I had another day which was one of those that will stay with me forever - I can still see it clearly now if I close my eyes. I sailed very close by Campbell Island, which is three hundred and fifty miles from New Zealand. I would think that the island and it's outlying rocks form the last part of the cone of a volcano; the rocks around rise up vertically like tombstones from the sea, I was five miles away but I would say they were a great deal bigger than the Needles, and much more slab sided. Above about one hundred metres everything was completely blanketed by a thick layer of cloud, but it was spectacular and moody non the less, and the first land I had seen since Madeira, but the best part was the albatross. As I bashed upwind past the island in short, shallow seas, there were dozens and dozens of them, in fact just by looking behind (it was too wet to look forward!) I counted nearly forty, and if you consider the number in front and those lost behind waves, there were probably a hundred within my five mile range of visibility, and some of each one of all the species I have seen so far. Do you know, apparently for a long time sailors thought that they had no legs or feet and never landed, and sure enough their feet are difficult to spot, but occasionally they must get stiff or something and so they dangle them down and shake them so they look like they are made of jelly, then they put them away again! It is really quite funny. I have also seen one take off from the water - it requires timing and the help of a few handy waves. It is not the most fitting of manoeuvres for such a graceful bird, but he quickly recovered and tucked his rubber feet away, climbed, banked and turned back over the boat at speed as if to say "See, I can fly in a proper fashion!" 
Steve White (Toe in the Water) in his daily message
 

January 02. 2009 at 08:05Can't slow down

"Here we are again, 30 knots of wind, boat surfing to 18 knots under 2nd reef and staysail, so put in 3rd reef to slow the top end speeds to reduce risk, and it really didn't make any difference, the boat still surfs to 18 knots, perhaps more occasionally. Another front coming through tomorrow, then we'll gybe for the New Zealand ice gate. Hopefully we'll be past Auckland Islands for that so we don't gybe into them. Albatross coming closer to the boat now, but not as close as the one that crash landed on the deck. One circles from leeward, comes up heading aft on the windward side, and just hangs there in one position relative to the boat, amazing. When we finally gybe, it will be emotionally positive, as we'll be heading partially north, and then each successive ice gate is further north, so hopefully the weather will be more steady and perhaps a bit less wind."
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message
 

January 02. 2009 at 07:17Derek due in Hobart on Sunday

"I am slowly closing in on the coast of Tasmania with just over 300 miles to go to reach Hobart. The winds, albeit very strong, have been very helpful in helping me reach land. I am on starboard jibe with the wind from the south west at about 28 knots. It will clock around later today into the north west and decrease further to 15 knots for the week end. As best I can, I am predicting an arrival for Sunday in Hobart.  The mast seems to be stable enough on starboard but I will take it easier on port as that is the damaged side. The time seems to be long as I an anxious to get ashore, see the family and start working on going forward. I am watching the race from the sidelines and starting to miss the action already."
Derek Hatfield (Algimouss-Spirit of Canada) in his daily message
 

January 02. 2009 at 06:53Not enough wind for Sam

"I've got no wind! Or very little! To be honest, with my solid little Roxyboat, I'd rather have too much wind than not enough. Roxy's been caught up by another little ridge of high pressure and we're temporarily stuck! I'm doing all I can to squeeze every quarter of a knot out of her to keep wriggling along. It doesn't seem fair that the leaders have managed to run all the way with the depression and we're stuck wallowing out here! In fact it seems just about the worst for me here I have my own little bubble of no wind! Anyway, it should only be for a few hours and we will get going again! Just this morning I was in 25-30 knots of wind and surfing some of the South Pacific's finest waves! It was amazing, as I was preparing the big gennaker on the bow, and on each surf it was like I was flying, as only the back of Roxy was touching the water and I was several meters up in the air as we whizzed off at 20+ knots! I used to be a "bow chick" on fully crewed boats, so I'm used to the tough jobs up forward whilst speeding along, but the difference now is that there is no back-up behind me, and I am no longer trusting a skilled helmsman not to "wipeout" "chinese gybe" or "stuff it" on each wave, but Chuck - my famous autopilot. For us solo sailors, our autopilot is our best friend, but can quickly become our worst enemy if it decides to go wrong."
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her her daily message
 

January 01. 2009 at 22:45Aviva in a patch of weed

"The New Year has not bought any change in the weather conditions. The visibility may have improved marginally but the drizzle remains and the grey landscape stays unchanged. The weather has not been conducive to mainsail repairs so that job remains on the list, otherwise we push on to the next ice gate some 650 miles away. It is great having these milestones along the way as they help tick off the miles before the big left hand turn at the end of the Pacific. My New Year was spent with weed issues as I looked aft to see a brown stream from my leeward rudder. Upon investigation I saw a large amount of seaweed streaming from the rudder. It was huge and flat and brown. Anyway after bearing away and pulling at it with a boat hook we eventually disentangled ourselves. Sailing on Aviva for over 50 days now has meant that you know every noise and more importantly if there is a new strange noise. A low pitched vibrating noise had started and was intermittent. I checked the keel box, then the transom for the steering gear and the pilot. The noise was louder and only on the windward side but not directly related to anything. Looking over the back of the boat I saw now some more weed, but a different type streaming off the lower edge of the windward rudder. Slowing the boat down did not allow me access to the weed with my boat hook so I tried a different approach and heeled the boat over so the rudder would clear the water in between waves. After a few waves this proved successful, washing the weed from the rudder tip and stopping my vibration. Mission accomplished now back to sailing again."
Dee Caffari (Aviva) in her daily message
 

January 01. 2009 at 16:10Surfin' safari

You can see for yourself the fine conditions enjoyed by Sam Davies in the southern seas. In her latest video for the New Year, we see Roxy surfing along in pleasant weather. To watch the video just click here.
 

January 01. 2009 at 14:35He's got the power

"Out here in the Southern Ocean the lights are burning brighter on board Bahrain Team Pindar, as I have changed the alternator and the regulator on the charging system. Also have gone through every wire on the battery system and found some loose connections that may have caused the problems with the first alternator, which led to it failing after 50 days use. The alternator now installed is the original one, (that we replaced before the start for the brand new one), and it seems to be working OK. At the same time I am going to take apart the broken alternator and see if there is anything fixable in there, and at the least I will have some spare parts for the one currently installed. Never taken an alternator apart before so should be interesting, Happily whilst our global team were working on this project, our natural energy supplies from wind and solar were supplying enough power to keep the boat sailing down the course towards the New Zealand Ice Gate, which I passed through on New Years Eve at 163 30W. I now head for Ice Gate number 9. I had to minimise power consumption by switching off the computer and communications systems and most of the power went towards the autopilot. It is extremely foggy here and the solar panels are still putting in a little charge, but the wind generator is doing the majority of the work. As soon as there is any direct sunlight the solar panels put enough electricity to run the whole boat and more."
Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) in his daily message
 

January 01. 2009 at 10:43Information about the rankings

Some very strange figures can currently be seen in the rankings in the column concerning the distance covered in 24 hours and the distance between the competitors. This is due to the method of calculation based around passing the East Pacific Gate. A competitor like Michel Desjoyeaux, who crossed the gate at its western tip finds himself ranked according to the next reference point, while the others were still ranked in relation to this gate.  
 

January 01. 2009 at 07:15Sam's New Year's Resolutions

My New Year's Resolutions

Sail around the world
Take a photo of Cape Horn
Stop eating the Nutella out of the pot with my fingers
Do not fall asleep with the motor on charging the batteries
Sponge the bilges every day
Brush hair more than once a week
Eat more
But eat less chocolate
Cancel the above resolution as it is impossible
Catch up some miles on the leaders
Be nice to Chuck, the autopilot
Take no risks

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Sam Davies  (Roxy) in her daily message