 |
9:36 AM Thu 5 Mar 2009 GMT
Ten knots boat speed this afternoon and 1230 miles from the finish, heading just north of east, things are definitely looking altogether rosier for Rich Wilson on Great American III.
He is not out of the woods yet, and is into that nervous stage of care and consolidation whilst trying to make the best speed for the finish, but the American skipper should reach Les Sables d'Olonne Sunday or Monday and should be accorded a huge welcome.
Wilson has made 221 miles in the last 24 hours, mostly towards the target.
Meantime Raphael Dinelli is making slow but steady progress in his compromised state on Fondation Oc?an Vital. The Sablais skipper is making between 4.5 and six knots as has 1700 or so miles to reach his home port.
And Norbert Sedlacek is as good as his word, knocking in 200 plus mile days in the NE'ly trades on Nauticsport-Kapsch and he is due to finish around the 15th or 16th March..
Rich Wilson reported this morning:
'Last night we sailed with solent and 2 reefs in the mainsail, and we were going fast, averaging 12.5 knots, in the middle of the night, it seemed as if things were getting a bit more activfe, and I went to the 3rd reef, and just when I was doing it, it got really windy, so when I finished there, I rolled up the solent and rolled out the staysail.
I didn't understand what was going on, so when it got even more active, i.e., the boat taking off on 18 knot surfs, i rolled the staysail back up and just went with the 3rd reef in the main, fired up the computer, to look at the weather situation to try to understand what was going on. What had happened was immediately apparent, we were making such good time, that we had sailed across the top of the curved isobars, had caught up with the northwesterlies, and were getting a heading wind shift which would make the
boat go faster from its deep broad reaching. Once we slowed a bit, in a few hours, we settled back into the top part of the high. I, however, was so tired that I just fell hard asleep at the chart table, and every time i woke up, i thought about rolling out the staysail, but found some reason that it would be better to wait, for daylight, for another weather
forecast, for the seas to go down, for the wind to go down, any reason at all. Finally did roll out the staysqil, then we got lifted a bit, which suggested the whole system was moving, and so we gybed to get closer to course, and to get hopefully headed down to the course.'
Latest ETAs
Based on this morning's weather charts and positions, M?t?o France has come up with the following ETAs for the next three boats.
- Great American III: Saturday 7th March or Sunday 8th March
- Fondation Oc?an Vital: Thursday 12th or Friday 13th March
- Nauticsport-Kapsch: Saturday 14th or Sunday 15th March
Derek Hatfield forced to make a pit stop in New Zealand.
Determined to sail his monohull back to port alone, Derek Hatfield set out from Hobart aboard Algimouss-Spirit of Canada six days ago. He has been suffering upwind conditions with a lot of slamming, but it is a problem with the autopilots that is his major concern today.
'The first night proved challenging when the autopilots would not drive the boat under true wind setting so it was difficult to get any rest or to work on the other systems on the boat. The autopilots have still not been resolved after 6 days at sea and we are now without wind instruments so the decision has been made to make a stop, this time in New Zealand to try once and for all to sort the electronics out before setting off again. Alone in the southern ocean is not a place to be when the boat is not completely sorted, the conditions here are unforgiving and these boats are so finely tuned that if you leave yourself exposed for any length of time something will break.'
PRB in her home port .
As planned, Vincent Riou's PRB returned to her home port earlier this week. The boat was unloaded from the cargo vessel on Saturday evening and thanks to the help of the crew the operation went smoothly. At 21h30, PRB was lowered into the water in the commercial harbour in Lorient, then taken to the submarine base, where she spent the night. The following morning the team delivered PRB to Port La For?t. The keel of the boat, which was also transported by the Russian cargo ship, was due to arrive in Port la For?t later.
www.vendeeglobe.org
by Vendee Globe media
|
|
Lord Howe Island Windy Point, NSW
Foiling - Wind Wing Foilboards
Kitesurfing - Kites
