Vendée Globe

January 09. 2009 at 09:03Steve, the pole dancing koala

"It was a great start to the day - a bit of steady breeze at last, all six knots of it! I cannot describe to you what a pleasure it was to hear the hiss of the water going past the hull again as I lay in bed, it seemed an age since I had heard it last. At least the calm conditions have given me chance to complete the repairs; the gooseneck is now well and truly held in place with a fairly serious piece of composite engineering and some fairly serious dyneema lashing wound bar tight with a couple of Spanish windlasses below decks to two strong points on the keel. All the nasty cracking noises have stopped now, and I have a great deal of confidence in the repair. The generator is lashed down to some carbon dowels fitted to the bearers, as one of the mounts had ripped its bolts out and another had just sheered. I had a keel moment too. Down the side of the empty fuel tank on the starboard side, I caught sight of a dirty great bolt, and had a horrible thought that it must have been one of the draw bolts that go through the keel foil and it's socket inside the boat. I couldn't stand it any more, and I removed the tank and had a look - everything was fine. I think someone had just dropped a load of bolts down the side during the refit."

"When the sun came up and the breeze became steady, eventually it became spinnaker time. I got everything rigged and went for a hoist, but I could feel bumps as I pulled on the halyard - I thought I had damaged the top block, so down it came, and up I went instead! It is the one thing I don't like doing alone, but boy do you get a kick out of getting down on deck again afterwards! The breeze had come up and the boat was pitching and as I clung on for dear life like some sort of pole dancing koala. I really began to wish I had worn my crash helmet! All was OK up there, I just think everything had got dry, but on the way up I saw that where we had been sailing with gennaker and staysail, when we only use very little halyard tension, the halyard block had twisted and gradually sawn through the inner forestay! It is about seventy five percent through, so it was a very near thing indeed. So the rest of the day comprised four trips up to the second set of spreaders as we sailed along with full main and "Toe in the Water" kite. My arms and legs are like lead after all that I must admit, and my elbow feels like it has been injected with grit, but it will be OK tomorrow."

January 09. 2009 at 08:59New time for the radio session

Please note that the radio session with the solo sailors will begin with the French competitors today at 10h30 UTC followed by the English-speaking sailors at around 11.10 UTC.
 

January 09. 2009 at 08:08Akena rocks

"To motivate everyone aboard my veranda, I have found the perfect music on my i-pod for each manoeuvre: Dj ZEBRA, a bit of Star Wars and Joey Starr remixed: anyone with sensitive ears should avoid Noir Désir and the Doors ina remix. I've also got Ac/dc, Deep Purple, Red Hot, the Clash, Joy Division and some surprises (The Virgins, The Hives), some French classics (Boris Vian, Aznavour…) Available now in your record shop! In a few hours, I'll be passing the final Pacific Gate. There are some beautiful clouds, some rain, some birds, but you guessed that. Next time I'll bring my best camera. It's now been 60 days! I don't know whether that is long or not."

Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas) in his daily message. 
 

January 09. 2009 at 07:52Rich past the New Zealand gate

"Finally passed the eastern end of the New Zealand ice gate. There is a big high pressure system to the north and the next gate is ENE, but the wind is mostly west and therefore pushing us closer to the no wind area of the high. Set the reacher last night but kept the first reef in the main as I think it is more stable for the unstable downwind conditions we have with lightening wind and trying to sail deep to avoid the high. Tried to get a bit more sleep in these calmer conditions. Spoke with Jonny Malbon as he made his way toward the North Island of New Zealand. He was in better spirits as he understands that his difficult decision was the right decision."
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message
 

January 09. 2009 at 07:28Derek's work continues in Hobart

"Here is a recap of events since my last filed report regarding landfall on the southern tip of Tasmania. I was able to motor the last 80 miles or so across the south side of Tasmania and then north to Hobart, arriving around 3 a.m. Sunday morning. A rigid inflatable with staff and volunteers from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania met me at the mouth of the Derwent River and assisted with getting me to a slip at the yacht club in Hobart. Sunday and Monday are just blurs in my mind as I slowly cleared the fuzziness out of my head and started to adjust to land again after 50 some odd days at sea and the shock of the retirement from the race. Slowly we are starting to work through the different options with regard to the way forward. I have been in contact with the mast builder in North America and we have determined that we need to take the mast out of the boat and do a thorough check of the masts and rigging. Some of the composite rigging has been compromised by the sharp edges of the broken spreaders so we will have to order some new cables before the boat can go sailing again. The logistics of how to get the boat home is more problematic and will take a while longer before we can make a decision on how to do this. "
Derek Hatfield (Algimouss -Spirit of Canada) in an e-mail this morning
 

January 09. 2009 at 06:55Sam preparing for Cape Horn

"60 days! That's amazing - time goes so quickly in one sense I can't believe that we have been out here for two months, but at the same time it seems so long ago that day we left the channel of Les Sables d'Olonne! So much has happened since! Today I have been sleeping, after my last two days of eating lots, my body has changed request to one for lots of sleep! I think my body is trying to tell me something! Luckily the conditions have allowed me the time in my sleeping bag, lots of 60-90 minute sleeps with a few manoeuvres in between,some tidying of Roxy, and obviously the important weather and strategy work. I'm trying to plan a route past Cape Horn that is safe and fast, staying away from the lee shore, the islands and the ice, and dodging a little secondary low that is going to pass over us! I am a bit worried as I am starting to talk to my Roxyboat!! I never thought it would come to this, but today I found myself talking to her, telling her off for going to fast!! Oh dear, is this the first sign of madness? It can't be too bad - I even heard that Bilou calls his boat his "baby"..."
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message
 

January 08. 2009 at 20:20Yann Eliès's physiotherapy

Contacted during the weekly French Vendée Globe special, Yann Eliès gave us his news today, saying that he had turned the page and was now looking towards the future and thinking of his racing career. He has a busy physiotherapy schedule: getting up at 7h00, swimming pool at 9h00 for walking in the water, walking exercises at 11h30, physio at noon, ice session at 13.30. He hopes to begin to put down his left leg in February and be back on his feet in 6 months. He talked about taking part in the Figaro Event, but has other projects that he will be discussing with his partner, Generali. Before that, he is going to have to be patient to become completely mobile again.
 

January 08. 2009 at 11:30Starry starry night

"A very successful boat repair day yesterday. Fixed the crack in the transom with shaped plates on the outside and inside of the hull and bolted together - sikaflex as a glue on the outside and epoxy on the inside. That seems to have stopped the noise of crunching nomex as the crack flexed, and with the amount of material I added I think that should be good till the finish. Also went halfway up the mast with the climbing gear, just before sunset to check chafe on the lower shrouds and made  some extra taping of some worn sections of cover. It was my smoothest mast climb so far in the Southern Ocean, my third and final one I hope. So they were the two most important jobs, next is to get the primary pilot system working again, before the wind kicks back in later today. The wind is forecast to fill in from the SW soon and that wind should take me half way to the Horn, once I can pass this gate. Good news is that the moon is getting bigger and it has just set, the skies have cleared slightly and above me I can see the constellations of Orion, the Southern Cross and arcing across the sky right above the mast is the milky way, with just near it, the faint outline of the Clouds of Magellan. That has made this rather frustrating night a bit brighter. Saw a satellite moving rapidly across the sky and realised that is the only man made thing I have seen, apart from Aviva, since entering the southern ocean. I have not seen any plane contrails here, nor any ships. It really is a wild place, and hope that it remains so. Soon it will be light, I should try to get a little sleep in, but strangely not tired at all, it might be the adrenaline from going up the mast earlier, or some quirky effect of the epoxy, though I hope not!"
Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) in his daily message
 

January 08. 2009 at 10:03Vincent and Jean about to step ashore

Vincent Riou's monohull with Jean Le Cam on board is due to arrive in Puerto Williams, the Chilean naval port, in the next few minutes. PRB entered the Beagle Channel this morning under tow by the patrol vessel Alacalufe, with the NW'ly winds set to strengthen this afternoon. The two skippers are set to step ashore at around 9.30 GMT and will be talking shortly on a live radio link-up with Vendée Globe HQ in Paris.  
 

January 08. 2009 at 08:02Raphaël continues across the Pacific

"It's a nice day and the sun is out, so I was able to recharge my batteries to 83 %. It was a difficult decision to take, but I shan't be stopping at Stewart Island. I obviously need to repair my mainsail halyard. While that problem remains I shall be sailing under reduced sail, which means I will take ages to reach Les Sables d’Olonne! The thing is if I stop on Stewart Island, I'll be even further behind Norbert, and will be crossing the Pacific alone… If there were any problems, there would be no one to come to my aid. If I decided to stop after the Horn, the distance lost to Norbert won't matter as I'll be near the coast and rescue teams. I just hope the halyard holds out until then. The news of Jean Le Cam also influenced my decision as it proves that the quickest help can come from a fellow competitor"

Raphaël Dinelli (Fondation Océan Vital) in an e-mail last night.