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10:12 AM Mon 12 Jan 2009 GMT
As Les Sablais skipper Raphael Dinelli (Fondation Oc?an Vita) eased slowly across the International Date Line at 180 degrees yesterday afternoon it marked the return to the western hemisphere of the final member of the Vend?e Globe fleet.
The lead of Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) is now very close to 300 miles as Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) in second place, continues to diverge west towards the Brasilian coast.
Fifth placed Marc Guillemot (Safran) is very close to Cape Horn.
Working upwind, on a direct, straight course in strong NE'ly breeze Michel Desjoyeaux watched Foncia slide under the '5000 miles to go mark' this morning knowing he now has a with a handy lead of very nearly 300 miles over his friend and fellow Port La Foret skipper Roland Jourdain.
While the 2000-2001 race winner looks to be on course to become the first skipper to win solo racing's most coveted prize twice, he knows only too well that there are no certainties in this rarefied sporting world, and only when the Les Sables d'Olonne finish line is in sight might he let his guard down.
Jourdain is working to a much more westerly course, closing towards the Brasilian coast as the leading duo negotiate a small, but quite active low pressure system which is giving them some stiff headwinds. The Veolia Environnement skipper, third behind Desjoyueaux and Ellen MacArthur in the 2001 race, said yesterday that his repairs are complete and his Lombard design is back close to full strength for the final 20% of the course.
Armel Le Cl?ach in third may now feel more assured that a podium place can be his. Slowed through the light winds of a high pressure system, the Brit Air skipper is emerging steadily from the gentler breezes and has picked up speed making 10 knots after a slow night where his speeds averaged just six knots and he lost nearly half the gains he had made over the previous 48 hours, but he has over 1100 miles on fourth placed Roxy.
Sam Davies was due to be getting some well earned rest. As she noted during the night 'my sleeping bag is in my sights'. There has been no respite for the British soloist who her French rivals call the 'Pink Flamingo'. After a tough 48 hours on the edge prior to rounding Cape Horn yesterday morning, Davies was trapped in light winds in the transition between the Pacific and Atlantic, making less than 5 knots for several hours. She had to work progressively back up her sail-plan, shaking out her reefs and unrolling progressively bigger headsail to drag Roxy out the sticky zone, only to have to reverse the procedures - shortening sail again as she emerged into the brisker Atlantic winds. Davies is on course to pass east of the Falklands Islands.
Behind her Marc Guillemot (Safran) will round the rugged, rocky Cape this morning, probably around 0830hrs GMT, and is them expected to set a course to try and make repairs to his mainsail track at the Falklands. He has been quickest over the last 24hours, despite sailing with three reefs in his mainsail, and was regularly hitting over 20 knots as he closed on the Horn this morning.
The trio of Aviva, Akenas Veranda and Bahrain Team Pindar have seen Brian Thompson, GBR, making the best speeds and continuing his advance away from his compatriot Dee Caffari and her French companion Arnaud Boissieres. Akenas Verandas is at about 33 miles ahead of the yellow hulled British boat.
Steve White continues to keep his foot flat down on Toe in the Water, having some excellent spells through the night, making over 16 knots averages in the small hours, with 350 miles to the SE Pacific gate.
Norbert Sedlacek, AUT (Nauticsport-Kapsch) has been battening down and heading north as he prepares to be hit by an active, deep low pressure system which is predicted to give winds to 50 knots and big, short, steep seas. He reported last night that all was in good shape aboard.
Meantime British skipper Jonny Malbon nosed Artemis II into Auckland harbour, New Zealand at around 2330hrs GMT last night while Jean-Pierre Dick will join him this morning with the wounded Paprec-Virbac II, and was making the final 30 or so miles across the Hauraki Gulf this morning.
Steve White describing his boat in an e-mail.'My boat is pretty untidy at the moment! After I had finished the repairs here was some mast climbing to do, so there are still a few things out of place. Basically, I live in the bit between the mast bulkhead and the companionway bulkhead, so a space of about four metres long by over
four and a half wide at deck level - the ballast tanks down each side make it quite narrow. In the middle, where I am sitting now is the nav sation which faces forward, on a sort of 'vee' bunk / seat across the boat. It is too short to stretch out on fully and has no sides, so it is difficult to sleep soundly here because you don't feel secure, but it is therefore ideal for catnaps! At the chart table I have a stuck down mouse with a ball in the top - you spin the ball rather than moving the mouse - much easier when the boat is bouncing around.
The camera charger and my i-pod sit in an ice cream container glued down with sikaflex. I still have my Christmas CD and a Patty Griffin CD which were both presents, and my elephant pencil case Kim bought me when I did my RYA Day Skipper in 1996! Another thing which has never left the chart table is my stereo manual, every day I learn something else about it, it is so complicated! Next to the stove, right by the door is a deep locker with my camera, nurofen, instant energy things from MX3, nail clippers and a torch, kitchen roll etc all ready for immediate use. Below the stove is a draw of sailory type things - needles and palm, tape, almanac, batteries, mini socket set, passport, binoculars and other stuff like that.
Below the sink are my pots and pans and the orange plastic salad servers that I keep taking off the boat and which somehow keep getting back on! There is a bunk on each side of the boat; you sleep with your head by the companionway bulkhead so you can see the instruments, and your feet go forward and stop level with the chart table. I sleep on the low side and stack my spares on the high side, that way the weight distribution is good, and I don't fall out of bed when the boat heels suddenly. That would be a bad thing as the floor is wet all the time - I have many leaks! I have some art too; on the ceiling is a mural by Didier Becet which is fantastic! It shows penguins, gulls and flying fish, big ones in the centre and smaller ones all around the edges in little groups wearing sou'westers and other things, some dancing, some 'chilling out', and the flying fish have fantastic expressions - some human and some are definitely pure flying fish - they do have expressions believe it or not! I like it best because you see something different every time you look. Also there are little drawings of bats in strategic places - my nickname is Bat, and Kim draws them here and there so that I remember she loves me - very important!'
0400 HRS GMT. Rankings, (FRA, unless stated)
1. Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) at 5026.8
2. Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) at + 298.2 miles
3. Armel Le Cl?ac'h (Brit Air) + 791.7
4. Sam Davies, GBR, (ROXY) at + 1807.1 miles
5. Marc Guillemot (Safran) at + 2056 miles
Selected International
6. Brian Thompson, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar) at + 2833.6 miles
8. Dee Caffari, GBR, (AVIVA) at + 3019.7 miles
9. Steve White, GBR, (Toe in the Water) at + 4201.6 miles
10. Rich Wilson, USA, (Great American III) at + 5121.2 miles
11. Norbert Sedlacek, AUT, (Nauticsport-Kapsch) at + 6434 miles
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