 |
10:39 PM Sat 3 Jan 2009 GMT
For the leaders, Cape Horn is starting to feel within grasp and the home stretch within sight. For those behind, 12,000 miles must surely still feel an awfully long way to Les Sables d'Olonne, with sail damage affecting several British boats.
For the leaders this Vend?e Globe remains a race of speed and tactics, but for the chasing pack it's now a race of attrition.
The front duo are looking to reach Cape Horn, the last great 'gateway' of the course, in the next day or so. Meanwhile those at the rear of the pack have yet to make their way across the Pacific Ocean, which has wreaked as much havoc as the Indian and Atlantic Oceans before it.
At the front, Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environment) has had a strong day, climbing back 20 miles on Mich Desj (Foncia) from his overnight lead. Behind them Vincent Riou (PRB) has also held steady in fourth place, having overtaken Armel Le Cl?ac'h (Brit Air) last evening.
Sam Davies (Roxy, GBR) reported that she made a promise to her friend Sebastien Josse when BT retired, that she would not go for boatspeeds over 17 knots! Sam, in sixth place, seems to be in danger of breaking that promise, holding averages of 16.5 knots over the past 24 hours to score the highest mileage of the fleet.
For some, nearly two months at sea is starting to show - both in the skippers and in the boats. In this morning's radio sessions Jean Le Cam's voice on VM Mat?riaux couldn't hide his tiredness, or his eagerness to finish with the Southern Oceans and get around the Horn to head for home.
Others are made despondent by recurrent or worsening problems: Jonny Malbon (Artemis) is facing a serious delamination to his mainsail, as the Kevlar fibres, taffeta and Mylar film separate, leaving the Artemis team pondering their options with more than 12,000 miles to go. Dee Caffari (Aviva, GBR) is facing a similar problem, watching her sail disintegrate despite attempts to fix it with any tools she has to hand.
News from those whose race has already ended: Derek Hatfield (Algimouss Spirit of Canada) has made landfall in Hobart, and Unai Basurko (ESP) has safely arrived in Cascais, Portugal.
9th - Dee Caffari (Aviva, GBR):I've had a bit of a blustery 24 hours. I found myself 47 knots and in the lulls 25 knots. It's been quite hard to get the sail plan right, and huge waves, so a little unsettled. I'm down to three reefs and a staysail at the moment. The wind's probably averaging 35 knots, but the lulls are making me feel pretty underpowered.
I'm probably on the worst gybe [for the mainsail] at the moment, because the whole damaged area is pushing into the lazy jacks. It's falling apart but I think that it's something that every few days I'm going to have to repair. I'm getting through my sail repair kit quite quickly. It's quite frustrating because it's the only thing that's wrong, and I'm quite anxious about it, especially if there's any breeze.
12th - Jonny Malbon (Artemis, GBR):We're in the process of trying to work out what our options are. It's pretty badly delaminated, the scrim on the port side seems to have indiscriminately fallen off the sail so there's obviously been an adhesion problem. We've been relying on the taffeta on the starboard side to retain the structure and strength of the sail, and unfortunately now the taffeta seems to be detaching itself from the fibres. So now it's turning into a string vest, and unfortunately once those fibres start coming off the situation becomes critical.
It's getting worse and worse and worse. I simply cannot repair that sort of damage, I've never seen anything like it before, I don't have enough materials or glue or I haven't got enough hands. So the situation's becoming a bit depressing and I've worked so hard to be in this race and be in 12th position and we're not looking good.
We're expecting a front to come through, looking at 30-35 in the gusts, so I'm just going to be sailing as safely as possible during that period, and whilst that's going on I'm in touch with the shore team and the sponsors and we're looking at all possible options. We've got to work out what's safe, what's feasible and actually how we're going to continue.
It's not nice to hear anyone else having the same problems, and it makes me quite angry that something that's so completely out of our control is going to have some bearing - not just on my race, but on other skippers' races.
We've got a slight charging issue, I don't think the batteries are holding their charge. That in itself isn't an issue, but that becomes an issue of my mainsail disintegrates completely and I have to try and finish the race under jib. If I'm adding two weeks onto the race then my fuel calculations are way out, and the knock-on effects are serious. My starboard board will be a problem - if I haven't got a daggerboard and no mainsail it's going to be pretty difficult to go upwind.
The other issues are completely manageable, but throw into the mix that the mainsail is on its last legs and it changes the complexion of quite a few things.
I'd be concerned if I run out tea bags, but I grossly over-ordered! But there's nothing else that's an issue on a supplies perspective.
13th - Rich Wilson (Great American III, USA):We gybed last night after another 44-knot squall and then a hailstorm, just to get out of the deeper south and head towards the New Zealand ice gate. Just about 2 hours ago we sighted land, Adams, the first I've seen since the Canary Islands, so kind of a nice moment. I've been trying to sail very low - I did not want to go north of these islands because if the front came through a little sooner then we would have a lee shore.
It's certainly been interesting to see land, I think the last was 9,000-10,000 miles ago. Just before it got dark I could see the profile of the islands, and you can see the albatross symbols on the chart so maybe there's a rookery. It also turns out there's a bay named Coleridge Bay, which brings up the question of whether Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner down here, so that's one to think about.
www.vendeeglobe.org
by Vendee Globe media
|
|
Lord Howe Island Windy Point, NSW
Kitesurfing - Twintips
Foiling - Components (Wings,Masts,etc)
