Vendée Globe

January 11. 2009 at 14:40Jean-Pierre due in Auckland tomorrow evening

Three members of Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2)'s shore team have arrived in New Zealand to welcome their skipper. He is expected to arrive on Tuesday morning (local time) or Monday evening (GMT)
 

January 11. 2009 at 10:47More sail woes for Dee

"It is the stuff nightmares are made of. I woke from my slumber and saw a slow boat speed and immediately dropped the ballast tank. I couldn't decide if south was better than heading east, but one thing was for sure, I couldn't actually head the direction I wanted to go in. "I went on deck to take a look around. The dawn was just breaking so it was light enough to see everything. I was looking at my mainsail, which has been a concern for the whole of the Southern Ocean, and I noticed some more sail flapping in the breeze. My shoulders slumped and as I continued to look I realised with horror that it wasn't the layer that is blowing away daily but the layer on the good side of the mainsail. In fact the only layer of mainsail left! I cursed, gybed quickly and dropped the mainsail to the third reef. I grabbed my sail repair kit, which is now running extremely low, and spent an hour patching the tear in the cloth. With the forecast set for the winds to increase and knowing that moving the sail up and down cannot be good for the cloth I have elected to remain at three reefs and keep my fingers crossed. If it can just get me to the Atlantic then I can choose a route with no scary wind and nurse my sail home. My biggest fear now is will the sail last the final big blow from the Southern Ocean depression before I turn left? So miles won and miles lost, the important thing for me is to stay in the race."
Dee Caffari (Aviva) in her daily message
 

January 11. 2009 at 07:15A ripping tale

"The wind is fairly turbulent and annoying, as it varies in strength and direction depending on the clouds in the squalls. In one squall as I furled my gennaker, I tore the top of my "day" oilskins. It felt like someone was pulling me back in the cockpit, but no, I was all alone. It was the grinder handle. So I had a bit of a tumble and ripped off the pocket of my lightweight oilskin jacket. You can laugh about it afterwards, but at the time I did wonder who was grabbing hold of me. Between the squalls, I shaved. Salmon and peas for lunch today, as it's Sunday. That will leave a nice smell in the veranda..."
Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas) in his daily message
 

January 11. 2009 at 06:51Sam's obstacle course

"Roxy and I are negotiating the obstacle course of the approach to Cape Horn! I had forgotten about coastal navigation, life is so easy out in the middle of nowhere! The obstacles are: drift ice to the South, The Chilean Coast to the North, the last known position of VM Materiaux, and there are two islands on the approach to Cape Horn, one to the North (Islas Ildefonso), one to the South (Islas Diego Ramirez). We are sailing downwind, so that means we have to gybe our way in to Cape Horn and zig-zag through on the best course. Easy said, less easy done, in 30, gusting 45 knots of wind and 5-7m seas! A gybe is quite a challenge, and during the manoeuvre, the boat, her sails (and her skipper) are more vulnerable to the power of the sea. This is where I am so grateful for all the training I have done in the last two years. So, now that hard work pays off, and I'm not intimidated by gybing Roxy into Cape Horn in these tough conditions, however I respect the power of the sea and I am taking great care with every manoeuvre I make."
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message
 

January 10. 2009 at 13:10A scare for Jean-Pierre

"There was a bit of a scare last night at around midnight, when the boat suddenly bore away after being hit by a wave in the wrong direction. The pilot didn't cope and the boat gybed. Paprec Virbac 2 went over on her side at an angle close to 70 degrees. From the outside, it was probably quite a sight to see. I was down below and leapt out of the cockpit. This required a rapid response, which is not easy with just one rudder. I tried to bear away using the damaged rudder. Fortunately, there wasn't much sail up and I was able to steer and take care of the staysail sheets at the same time. On my third attempt Paprec-Virbac 2 responded and then I had to gybe again, hoping that the rudder wouldn't be too far out of the water. With three reefs, it just about worked. I eased off the windward runner and pulled on the helm. The boom swung around and the staysail filled with wind on the right side: a successful manoeuvre."
Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) on his way to Tauranga after abandoning the race

January 10. 2009 at 12:46Another twenty days?

The leaders have now completed three quarters of the Vendée Globe. Out of the 24,840 theoretical miles of the course, Michel Desjoyeaux now only has 5500 miles left to cover. He reckons he will be spending around twenty days more at sea, which would mean he would arrive in Les Sables d'Olonne on the last weekend in January. This is also confirmed by the calculations made by Sylvain Mondon of Météo France.
 

January 10. 2009 at 10:35More repairs for Brian

"On the final run in to the Horn, the ice gate is behind me and there are 1500 miles to go till the Atlantic. It feels like I am getting close now after the long tour around Antarctica. But it’s not going to be quite so easy… Last night I was getting Bahrain Team Pindar all ready for the winds to come, putting all the sails below before they became soaked, draining any water out of the boat and giving it a good checkover. I went into the bow compartment, through the watertight door, then through the final door to the crash box forward. All looked ok, and on my way back I checked all the bulkheads for damage, but on checking the reinforcing longitudinals on the floor, I found another crack, very similar to the one in the water ballast longitudinals. I saw another important repair coming on, and now with a very sparse supply of materials. I devised a repair plan that should work, just using bolts to attach shaped floorboard pieces either side of the cracked longitudinal. If that does not hold, I can add some precious sikaflex or epoxy filler. Currently I have everything prepared and just waiting for a bit more information before choosing how to get everything bolted up. Sikaflex can take movement but is not very strong, whilst epoxy is very strong but cannot take any movement before it sets, and using just bolts leaves you options and saves adhesives for later, but is the weakest. Weather is moderate at the moment, though there is a swell from forward of the beam that is not helping to calm the motion in the bow and allowing the crack to move slightly. As I get nearer to the Horn the winds will pick up so should be a classic rounding with plenty of breeze. However, the quicker I get there, the less strong the winds will be so it has been frustrating going slowly over the last hours, as I spend time nursing the boat and doing another repair. I am keen to get going again!"

Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) in his daily message
 

January 10. 2009 at 07:12Time to push hard

“Going for West Pacific Ice Gate. Intense low north of the high that O'm in has been sitting there, perfectly formed, but grib files showed it originally moving slowly, then dissolving against high. I didn't really believe that, and latest grib shows that it will continue south, and eventually overtake this area with east wind, (strong). That would be bad, so going hard to try to get to ice gate and escape likely ESE’ly into tail of west wind before that happens. We'll see. I don't generally push this hard, but now is the time.”
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message sent during the night
 

January 10. 2009 at 06:54Sam counting the miles

“I am counting down the miles to Cape Horn now! I have had a "calm" morning - less than 20 knots of wind! Sometimes it harder work when there's less wind. As the wind dropped off this morning, and after gybing to get a better sea state, I had the usual wrestle with Genevive (my big gennaker) to get her out of her bag and up into use. So I have had another lovely afternoons sailing, gliding down the huge Pacific swell! It really is amazing how so much of the front of the boat flies clear of each wave as we take off on each surf! When Roxy is on a big surf like that, the bow wave comes out from the keel area (as the bow is clear of the water) and there is a big fountain of spay shooting out from the beam instead of the bow! The wind increased and a few 30-knot squalls have passed over Roxy. I managed to get Genevive rolled back up and this time she folded obligingly into her bag, and I stacked her to windward! In the last couple of hours I have had a big 45-knot squall, which was pretty impressive. It was twilight, with the huge full moon, and I could see it coming, so I was on deck, having taken the 2nd reef, wondering if I should roll away the solent... it was a bit late! But in the end the 45 knots didn't last too long, so Roxy stayed under control, but I think I got a speeding ticket for that one! The wind will build and stay squally and unstable for my run in to Cape Horn, so the sailing is probably not going to be quite so ideal from now on, but there's not long to go now!”
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message during the night
 

January 10. 2009 at 06:35Bilou on today's radio session

We should learn more this morning about the situation concerning Veolia Environnement, which hit a sea mammal on Thursday. Roland Jourdain will be one of the skippers featured on the radio session at 10.30 (GMT) and will offer us a summary (in French) of what happened. He is due to give us a run down on the damage that resulted from the collision and tell us about how his repairs are going.  We will of course bring you the main details of what he says later on the website in English.