Vendée Globe

January 22. 2009 at 06:45Dee busy with her sail repairs

“Well I tried and it took me ages, so you can imagine my disappointment when it kind of failed. Yes, just for a change I am talking about my mainsail. The wind was forecast to go light and I knew this would be my opportunity. I was nervous as I had gained so much ground on Pindar and I didn't want to slow my boat down. However, I had to take advantage of the slow conditions and light breeze so I dropped the main and started my wrestle with my 6 metres x 4 metres of code 5 sail material. I began to stick it to the area on my main where the damaged fibres are, the idea being that I will put a layer of material over the damaged area on both sides to protect the fibres in this spot. It took me three hours, lots of tape, some epoxy resin, some sikaflex, some cursing and a lot of patience. That does not include the hoisting and lowering numerous times to get to all four corners. Eventually I decided I could hoist, but unfortunately by the time I got to a full hoist the top area had come unstuck and was already falling away! The theory is correct but I now need to hope it stays where it is until I do the other side and then I think I am going to have to try and secure it again. I will probably have to stitch the corners. I did, in an extreme measure, try the skin staples from my medical kit but they didn't work. Anyway, the good news is that I am at a full hoist with my mainsail for the first time in ages and I have now been able to put a bigger headsail up in these light conditions, which is great. I know once I gybe and pick up the south easterly breeze I will need to do the operation again on the other side but until then I just need to keep Aviva moving. As for me - I am physically exhausted and now going to have a well earned shower and change of clothes!”
Dee Caffari (Aviva) in her daily message
 

January 22. 2009 at 06:15Yes we can...

“Staysail and 2 reefs in the mainsail, sea reducing, cold, blue sky /squalls from time to time, reaching. Got 2 naps in this morning. Transferred fuel from main tanks to buffer tank for the next week. Weather should be consistent for next 24 hours then perhaps lighter wind. Read President Obama's Inaugural Address. Brilliant. Recommend it to all.”
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message
 

January 21. 2009 at 08:13PRB back in France in late February

Vincent Riou’s team reached Ushuaïa a week ago. Since then, they have been busy with the monohull preparing to load her on the cargo vessel. PRB had her keel removed on Monday. The four members of the team have been stacking sails inside the boat to ensure the boat is well balanced before she is lifted by crane. The daggerboards and boom have been wedged in place for the long voyage between South America and Europe. The cargo boat is due to leave on 25th or 26th January and the voyage is set to last around 25 days.

January 21. 2009 at 07:16The full distance for Norbert

“Today I had real problems with my canting keel but I was able sort it out. Anyway it was a tricky situation when the keel cable from the starboard side got stuck on the winch. I tried to clear it by using another winch but in the end I had to fix a 3 tonne belt as a "brake" and cut the cable directly on the end of the keel head. So you see, even this problem cannot stop me from sailing the full distance. I am looking forward to having my birthday just one or two days before passing Cape Horn. So Neptune send us some decent weather !”
Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch) in his daily message
 

January 21. 2009 at 06:58Sam finally finds the wind

“Well, the red socks and the whistling finally found the wind, as Roxy hooked into the cold front at last. The wind comes with free unlimited rain. Roxy and I have been rinsed all day in torrential rain. It's actually quite nice because it's warm rain. I even got some of my favourite clothes and handwashed them in the water that was running off the mainsail. There are lots of happy people on board Roxy - me because there is wind, Lucky the duck because he loves the rain, and my salad sprouts enjoyed a little time on deck in the rain too. The wind is pretty erratic, going from 10 to 38 knots, so I have been reactive with my sail changes, especially anticipating the big gusts and reducing sail beforehand. So I spent a lot of time on deck in the rain and it's the first time my hands have been soaked in fresh water for ages. They were all shrivelled up like prunes! I think that I will need a very special manicure after this race to try and turn my sailors hands back into girls hands!”
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message
 

January 21. 2009 at 06:35Crowded waters off Rio

«A line of squalls 250 miles south of Rio. Several stars can now be seen in the sky, so maybe there will be some sunshine today? There ‘s a lot going on around here, oil rigs, fishermen, cargo vessels. The radar and detection system is on all the time. Sea temperature: 26°C. Wind = 20 knots from south east. Choppy seas, but in regular direction.»

Marc Guillemot (Safran) by e-mail this morning

January 21. 2009 at 06:21Brian kept busy

“Conditions are rapidly warming as I climb NE’ward. I was working on some repair projects down below and realised that I was getting very overheated in my thick thermals. It’s even fine on deck in bare feet today. It is getting back to Bahrain weather! Now almost at the latitude of Buenos Aires and out of the Roaring Forties. The miles have passed very quickly since the Horn. When I was sailing in the Southern Ocean, the distances were so vast and the sea so empty that it was hard to measure your progress, now its easy, with Argentina and soon Uruguay and Brasil on the port side. I can tick off the cities, provinces, and countries along the way on the digital chart. Over half way to the next big meteorological feature, the SE trades which sit reliably just to the north of Rio. All the way from the Horn to these tradewinds, the South Atlantic can be a lottery and so far myself, Dee and Arnaud have been filling up our bingo cards very well. But there is a slow section tomorrow, where I need to struggle through a light airs transition zone to reach a new wind that is blowing from almost the opposite direction to the NW wind that I have now. Then a couple more days of steady sailing till the final transition near Rio to the tradewinds. But to have done two-thirds of this section on the same weather system is very fortunate and it has been relatively gentle conditions for the boat.”

“Last night had another interesting repair job before I could charge the batteries. The clutch problem that I had fixed two days before, reappeared, and it did not make sense that it would need readjusting so soon, so there had to be something else wrong. Sure enough, on taking it completely to pieces I saw that a screw in the clutch plate had worked loose and destroyed the clutch. So, over a few hours, I removed the hydraulic pump, then the clutch assembly, them remounted the pump. The pump won’t work anymore without the clutch, but it is only the back-up keel motor and so long as the electric keel pump keeps working, I will be OK. Or I will be hand pumping the keel like Bilou in second place! It was an interesting job as it was interspersed with sojourns on deck to reduce sail, as the wind increased steadily over the period from 20-35 knots. Now its back to 15-20 knots. Next major job after ensuring power is to get weather data and I was also working last night trying to get the Iridium Open Port working again. Whilst working on the iridium, I found a corroded plug on the long time non-functioning Fleet 77 satellite system and I am working on this now by crawling like a contortionist into a 12 inch high space at the very stern of the boat, to make new connections with crimps. If I can get at least one of these systems working it will really help me avoid the light wind areas in the South Atlantic and pick the correct course across the Doldrums, as well as sending images back.”
Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) in his daily message
 

January 20. 2009 at 07:08Sam's holiday heaven

“Another frustrating 24 hours on Roxy! We are still running into the windless zone and I can see Safran zooming up behind.... DON'T LOOK BEHIND YOU! So I am trying to look forwards to find the way through to the trade winds, as Roxy can't wait to get going fast again! These last days have given me time to check the gear and sails, and as far as I can see, everything is in great shape to get "sending it" as soon as conditions permit! Today has just been ideal cruising holiday conditions - blue sky, sunshine, turquoise sea, calm, 8 knots of wind, 28deg air and water temp.... just holiday heaven. I wish I could somehow put these conditions into a box and save them for when I'm on holiday! As I write this, Roxy is gliding along under a starry sky with the code 0 doing 5 knots in 4 knots of wind- not bad! I have been growing little bean shoots, as an attempt to have some vitamins and minerals from fresh food, and tonight was the first harvest! I had salad with my dinner. Just delicious. Although I have been taking so much care of my little seeds for the last few days they have almost become my friends as I nurture them and see them grow, so I felt slightly guilty when I ate them this evening.”
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message
 

January 20. 2009 at 06:50Equator - done and dusted

«That’s done and dusted! At 6H14'10" on Tuesday 20th January 2009, Foncia crossed the Equator for the second time in this Vendée Globe. I don’t think I paid the toll on the way down, as there was no one in the booth. This time they made up for it and charged me double!”

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) in his daily message
 

January 19. 2009 at 15:24Steve talks about his repairs

“Last time I wrote I thought I was in the clear and on the last lap, but there were a couple of what I hope will be the final twists before I round Cape Horn at about 2100 GMT tonight; the first was when I looked up out of my window at first light and saw the rig twisting. Normally this is because when you go downwind with the sails eased too far they can push on the spreaders which is a bad thing, but I don't sail like that, and when I saw some really funny saggy creases in the main as well then I knew I had a problem. I dashed out on deck to look and the main was not attached to the track at the top, the top car, the headboard car, had broken! I got the main down in a hurry because once one car goes, they can all go like a broken zip. There are fifteen cars that run up and down the track on the back of the mast which the mainsail goes up and down on. Each car has sixty to eighty little plastic ball bearings in to help it run smoothly, but the headboard cars remained jammed on the track up at the top spreaders. The sea state was really chaotic, and it was actually difficult to stand up on deck with no main to steady the boat, so after some deliberation I decided a mast climb could wait until after Cape Horn and flat water. I tried to rig up various things to snag the cars from on deck but they are designed to be smooth and snag free, so that wasn't going to happen, so then I pulled another car up on the halyard and tried to tap them and see if they would come down - all that happened was I sent them further up the mast, above the top spreader and into the real "No-mans Land" where it is difficult to climb because there's nothing to hold on to. I was pretty despairing at that point....then I had some inspiration! After trying to get them down all day, why didn't I just send them up out of the way? There is spare track at the top, so that's what I did, and there they will stay. There is no damage to the track itself luckily, I think the cars had got distorted and pinched the balls onto the track tightly enough to stop gravity doing its thing! I spent the rest of the night taking the main off, taking all the cars off, and putting two new cars on at the top for the headboard, and putting them all back on again. The boat was rolling like a pig, and no matter how careful I was there were balls everywhere - it was a bit like one of those games you used to get at Christmas where you have to get several balls into several holes all at once!

Then I found that the aluminium plate which forms the bottom bearing of the gooseneck had broken free where it is welded to the mast base, so I had to winch and beat that back into place and bolt it through the deck (drilling through 10mm of aluminium and 15mm of solid carbon with a blunt drill from underneath with the boat rolling was not easy!) but by 0600 we were up and running with two reefs in again, and I went to bed! ”
Steve White (Toe in the Water) in his daily message talking about the damage he suffered this weekend