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10:49 AM Wed 4 Feb 2009 GMT
Time is simply dragging for some, for others the spur is simply getting closer to the finish, but many of the remaining Vend?e Globe skippers have their primary goal now getting home as quickly and safely as possible, such is the spread of the fleet now, and the distance between the remaining boats.
The exceptions are probably Sam Davies, GBR, (Roxy) and Marc Guillemot (Safran) who have a fight on their hands, but even Davies admitted last night that she is looking forward to getting back to a long shower and home comforts.
Armel Le Cl?ac'h had a rough night as he bent to the task of making the final 1000 miles to Les Sables d'Olonne on Brit Air to secure second place, working through the spicy Atlantic low pressure systems. In big seas and winds over 40 knots Le Cl?ac'h has eased back early this morning to around 12 knots but was making 16-17 knots through yesterday evening and the first part of the night. He was 460 miles to the SW of Cape Finisterre this morning and had 840 miles of his Vend?e Globe course to sail. At current averages that leaves him 60 hours sailing time, and appears set to have good breeze to the finish, so might be expected Friday afternoon/evening.
Sam Davies is now 178 miles ahead of Marc Guillemot and has continued to gain the same profit on each ranking. Guillemot is now towards the SW corner of the high pressure system and has remained with some 340 miles of lateral W-E separation between Safran and Roxy, while Davies noted last night that she is preparing to take on the difficult section of her course, dealing with the lighter winds as she seeks to sail the shorter distance through gentler and more capricious breezes.
While Davies noted that the comforts of home are starting to appeal more, so Brian Thompson, some 430 miles behind Roxy, is most focused on maximum speed from Bahrain Team Pindar without exacerbating any of his existing problems with the boat. The upwind trade winds conditions are bone-shaking, jarring, uncomfortable and monotonous for the skipper but are likely to further expose any weaknesses in the boat which Thompson has done a great job keeping in the race and which was never designed with the Vend?e Globe as its primary target.
Dee Caffari, too, on Aviva has a big gap in front and behind. 420 miles to Brian Thompson and 560 miles to Arnaud Boissi?res on Akena Verandas and she is just modulating the stress on her boat as best she can, preserving her mainsail wherever she can.
Steve White may be in some of the most pleasant sailing conditions of the race, a complete counterpoint to the weather at his home in England, but he is certainly feeling that underlying frustration, the inevitable let down after a first venture into the Big South, when 11-12 knots in baking sunshine on Toe in the Water, feels not only pedestrian but - without the challenge of a rival within 500 miles - positively monotonous.
Rich Wilson (USA) dealt yesterday with a 'potential game-ender' - when his self steering failed - but is back dealing with his next low pressure and will be relieved to reach the lighter trade winds in a couple of days time, a break from the South Atlantic conditions which has been intense and frustrating for him.
While Raphael Dinelli (Fondation Oc?an Vital) should stop in the next hours just north of Port Stanley in the East Falkland island to make his repairs - re-reeving a mainsail halyard and attending to other niggling issues including his battery system, so Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport Kapsch) is due at Cape Horn in the early afternoon, the final Vend?e Globe racer to exit the Pacific Ocean.
15:00 HRS GMT. Rankings
1 . Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) finished after 84 days 3 hours, 9 minutes
2 . Armel Le Cl?ac'h (Brit Air) at 841 miles to finish
3 . Sam Davies (Roxy) at 1257 miles to second
4 . Marc Guillemot (Safran) at 1435 miles to second
5 . Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) not computed but polled OK
6 . Dee Caffari (Aviva) at 1894 miles to second
7 . Arnaud Boissi?res (Akena V?randas) at 2341 miles to second
8 . Steve White (Toe in the Water) 3273.1 miles to second
9 . Rich Wilson (Great American III) at 4689 miles to second
10 . Rapha?l Dinelli (Fondation Oc?an Vital) at 5834 miles to second
11 . Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport - Kapsch) at 6270 miles to second
RDG . Vincent Riou (PRB). 3rd equal. 30 boats started.
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