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11:54 AM Thu 8 Jan 2009 GMT
At 0145hrs GMT this morning the Chilean Navy patrol vessel Alacalufe took PRB under tow after the fourth placed Open 60 dismasted last night only eight miles after the Cape Horn light.
At the front of the fleet Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) and leader Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) are now separated by over 250 miles west to east and Jourdain is now effectively further north, but still computed to be second by 105 miles.
According to the Chilean Navy PRB was taken under tow at around 0145hrs early this morning and is making about 10 knots towards Port Williams, home of the 33 metres patrol vessel Alacalufe which attended to Vincent Riou and Jean Le Cam last night after PRB's compromised rig gave up in 25 knots of breeze some 8 miles NW of the Cape Horn light.
The duo had been joking only hours earlier about making Vend?e Globe history as the first ever duo to pass Cape Horn on the same boat, when they believe the temporary lashing which they had put in place to support the broken port outrigger gave way and the mast tumbled over the side. Riou has not been able to start his engine for some time, and due to their proximity to the islands, there was insufficient time to set a jury rig, although they have retained the boom.
Making around 10 knots under tow, PRB is due to reach Port Williams at around 0845hrs GMT this morning.
Based around the distance to finish calculated using the theoretical route, Roland Jourdain seeems to be well placed to challenge Michel Desjoyeaux. 250 miles further west, the skipper of Veolia Environnement is already 20 miles further north than the current leader. The two are not tackling the small low-pressure systems off the coast of Argentina in the same way and with a lead of only a hundred miles the position of Michel Desjoyeaux does look tenable, racing in 20-25 knots of SW'ly winds. The fight is on and there will be plenty of opportunities for tactical plays with major upsets possible. Armel Le Cl?ac'h (Brit Air) is experiencing much quieter weather and is heading due north at 12-15 knots after rounding the islands off the tip of Patagonia.
Sam Davies, who can expect to be promoted to fourth place when PRB's expected retirement is announced, has had to replace her boom vang overnight, and is making steady progress again now with Cape Horn 1000 miles ahead of her now. She is taking a southerly route, only 100 miles north of a set of well tracked icebergs. Behind her Marc Guillemot (Safran) has a deficit of about 390 miles but has indicated again that he is minded to stop again to repair his mast track. In effect he has a net 50 hours of time compensation over Sam to be subtracted and may spend some of that trying to be repair his mainsail luff track for the climb up the Atlantic.
For once the Pacific is peaceful too. Brian Thompson, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar) is making a steady 9-10 knots and was about 130 miles from the SE Pacific gate, the final one, at 0400hrs this morning.
Dee Caffari, GBR, (Aviva) is back up to speed this morning in better breeze but has lost out to Arnaud Boissi?res (Akenas Veranda) overnight who is 28 miles ahead. Steve White (Toe in the Water) struggles to escape the clutches of the a high and this morning was only advancing at 1.5 knots but had reported again that he will be taking opportunities presented to work on the re-calibration of his auto-pilots.
At the trailing edge of the fleet, Rapha?l Dinelli (Fondation Oc?an Vital) is also stuck in light airs off Stewart Island as is Norbert Sedlack (Nauticsport-Kapsch), who can look forward to a quiet day, giving him time to give his boat a thorough inspection, but will scarcely reflect on the fact that leader Michel Desjoyeaux is now this morning closer to the finish in Les Sables d'Olonne than they are to him.
Rapha?l Dinelli (Fondation Oc?an Vital) in an e-mail last night.'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.'
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message.'Today brings yet more sad news about PRB dismasting It really is not fair. Vincent does not deserve this after saving Jean. I am so sad for the two of them. On board Roxy, things have been 'challenging' me all day. First of all the Fleet 77 stopped working. I chased that down to a faulty Voltage converter which has suffered from the extreme conditions by succumbing to condensation inside it (I discovered on dismantling it). I tried to dry it out, but no luck yet. It is in the engine box as a final attempt. As I packed away my electricians tools, I went on deck for a check around, as the wind is dropping.
I discovered the first reef line badly chaffed through. So then I put on my 'monkey' equipment, with a 'riggers' hat on and scrambled out to the end of the boom to fix the rope. In fact, this one is a temporary repair in the form of a bowline to get us into the Atlantic where I can do something more 'neat'! I didn't want to spend too much time out on the end of the boom, as although the wind is not too strong, there is a nasty swell which was flinging us around a lot. Just as I had put away my rigging kit, as we got to the end of a surf there was a loud bang, and the boom fired into the air. The vang cable had broken neatly in two. I was very lucky it hadn't happened ten minutes earlier when I was on the end of the boom. So, I got the rigging kit back out, and luckily I have a spare vang cable pre-made, so I got to replacing it. The spare is not as solid as the original, so once the vang was back in place I settled into being a rigger for the afternoon and preparing a better cable so I have another spare ready to go on. I will put this new one on in the Atlantic.'
0400 HRS GMT. Rankings, Thursday 8th January 2009
(FRA unless stated)
1. Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) at 6126.8 miles
2. Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) at + 104.7 miles
3. Armel Le Cl?ac'h (Brit Air) + 720.5 miles
4. Vincent Riou (PRB) + 865.5 miles (no abandon received yet, but under tow)
5. Sam Davies, GBR, (ROXY) at + 1895.3 miles
Selected International
7. Brian Thompson, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar) at + 2873.4 miles
9. Dee Caffari, GBR, (AVIVA) at + 3158.7 miles
10. Steve White, GBR, (Toe in the Water) at + 4060 miles
11. Rich Wilson, USA, (Great American III) at + 4899.7 miles
12. Norbert Sedlacek, AUT, (Nauticsport-Kapsch) at + 6022.8 miles
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