Credit: Mark Lloyd
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Credit: B.Stichelbaut/Bleue Salee
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Credit: OnEdition
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The Vendee Globe arrives only once every four years and it continues to be the highest profile event that OCD boats are involved in. Plenty has been written of the fantastic line up for this race and the background of the sailors in it and so we can’t let the event slide without doing the occasional review on our news page. We are now into the early days of the third week, day 16, on today’s radio vacation third place Jean Pierre Dick on Virbac puts one OCD boat’s performance in perspective as well as providing a view a little further down the course as the South Atlantic high blocks the passage to the Southern Ocean. "The wind shifted earlier for Loïck and Sébastien. They accelerated before me. I think now I have the same wind as them and am picking up speed. Further to the west, Golding is sailing very quickly. I'm going to have to keep an eye on the English fireman.
Today I have a lot of strategy to work on. I'm going to be spending a lot of time at my chart table studying the weather. Things can change quickly, but none of the weather models seem to agree. There is a huge high blocking our route, so we're going to have to watch that. The route we decide on is a gamble about the future. Everyone is heading south. There are no other options for the moment as the situation is not clear. Apart from that, everything is fine on board: I got some rest to deal with St. Helena and I'm looking after my boat before we hit the south." Ecover 3 After turning back some forty five minutes after the start to re-cross line after being judged a premature starter Ecover 3 has been making steady progress back up the fleet. Mike Golding remarks in his most recent radio vac. that he is pleased with progress and speed on Ecover 3, but only one position matters: "I'm well positioned in relation to my direct competitors and its nice passing boats, but the only boat I ever look at is the lead boat because everyone else is just in the way to the lead boat, that's the goal." "The reality is that anyone of this lead group is in a very strong position now to potentially win the race." "The boat is up there in speed and performance, we've been quick all the way down the track even on the downhill sections we've never really lost any noticeable ground on the leader other than regular compressions and extensions so I think the boats got the potential to do very well we've just got to hope pray that it all stays together and we can complete the course." Presently placed sixth in terms of distance to finish, twenty miles behind Jean Pierre’s Virbac, in terms of latitude, only leader Gitana and second placed BT are further south than Golding. Sailing website www.thedailysail.com offers an alternative waypoint position based on current weather and fleet positions that places Golding in fourth place. 1) Gitana 80
2) BT +32
3) Virbac Paprec 2 +47
4) Ecover +52
5) PRB +70
6) BritAir +70
7) Generali +92
8) Veolia +93
9) VM Materiaux +127 The reality though is that the South Atlantic High is blocking the path and there is the potential for a re-shuffle and some catch up by the boats in the next group. Temenos 2 Dominique Wavre after an unscheduled return to sort out a charging problem on the day of the start, Dominique is another OCD skipper who has been showing impressive speed and has been steadily closeing with the leading echelons. The middle group had a far faster doldrums passage than the leaders and this has allowed them to close the gap to around 250 miles. This is likely to continue to decrease as the lead group enters the clutches of the high. Temenos is in a tight grouping which includes Safran and Pindar. It will be interesting to watch each boat’s progress in the differing wind conditions over the next week. Dominique reports from onboard: “We’re sailing close hauled, full and by, on port tack bound for the coast of Brazil. We have around ten knots of breeze but there’s already a fine little chop and the boat is beginning to slam. From tomorrow onwards the seas should be bigger with more wind, but it’s not really that nasty, just uncomfortable.” Aviva The sailing has now settled down onboard Aviva after a storming start and display of good speed and seamanship in the first night’s storm that continued down towards the Canaries with Dee matching Figaro and Vendee Globe veterans boat for boat in the top half of the fleet. After passing through the Canaries and taking a more easterly route contact not unexpectedly was eventually lost with the lead group allowing Dee to concentrate on her long term game plan and to race against those boats in mid fleet. Not least of which fellow female competitor Sam Davies on Roxy with whom Dee ‘took virtual afternoon tea’ with over the vhf just before the doldrums. With a long way to go, no problems onboard, Dee will be nursing her steed through the tough upwind conditions of the moment and continuing her way up the learning curve on her new OCD 60. There’s 20,000 miles left on the race track and doubtless Dee and Aviva will show there colours again before too long. Her latest diary entry shows her in good form having just made her seventh crossing of the equator. Editor note: previously 2 x BT Global Challenge (Challenge 72), 2 x Single-handed round the world (Challenge 72), 1 x TJV (Open 60), 1 x BtoB (Open 60). ‘Greetings from the Southern Hemisphere! At 0957hrs GMT this morning, I crossed the equator for the seventh time and toasted Neptune with a bottle of Champagne Mumm. It was a little warm but it was all I could find in my mini bar! As a present I gave today's ration of Haribo sweets to Neptune, which in my book is a pretty big deal but I am asking for a safe passage over a long distance, so it was fair. ‘The afternoon and evening has had me work quite hard with reefs going in and out as I battle my way past nasty black squall clouds as we continue to sail on the wind south. The weekend chores have had to take a back seat and wait for better conditions.' Spirit of Canada After suffering storm damage (including the loss of his wind generator) and electrical failure in the first night of the race, Canadian Derek Hatfield returned to Les Sables D’Olonnes to make repairs. Re-starting on the 14th November he finds himself in a major game of ‘catch up’ without the motivation of close competition. Add to this he still has to deal with some electrical charging problems that haven’t completely gone away. It’s interesting to here him on the radio vac. talking about the balance of pushing hard and using up more charge, therefore requiring more fuel verses backing off slightly and looking at the big picture. It’s also causing him to spend more hours out in the sun hand steering his yacht. The radio conversations with all the skippers give a better insight than mere words into the day to day mood of the skippers and they make great listening over a fresh coffee while catching up on emails in a nice dry and warm office. Take for instance these two excerpts only twenty four hours apart: "Yesterday was practice day for the doldrums. A weak low pressure system seems to be crossing in front of me and the result is that for 24 hours now I have had very light winds. A very frustrating day indeed as I never sleep during the slow times as I don't want to miss any opportunities to take
advantage of the wind. I must say I'm feeling a bit unlucky with the weather systems that I have encountered so far in the race. I must get my head into the weather files a bit more than I have been but this is a double edge sword; more computer time, more energy consumed. Oh well, I think I'm whining a bit too much here, I just need to get on with it. My turn with the good luck with the weather will come." Derek Hatfield (Algimouss-Spirit of Canada) And today :
"Approaching the doldrums now and I'm hoping that I will have as good a passage as the fleet did ahead of me. From the weather files, I might just get a break and make it through quickly. (Knock on wood). It was a great night last night, very dark but steady 19 knots of wind and good speeds. Today I have all the sail up that I can find (mainsail and gennaker) and have been making good speeds towards the equator. I hand steered for 2 hours this morning and will do the same this afternoon. I'm feeling the heat from Jean Baptiste who is right behind pushing hard to catch up. He is providing me with some motivation to pick up the pace now that I sort of come to grips with the energy problems. All good stuff, as they say. Take Care
Derek"
Derek Hatfield (Algimouss-Spirit of Canada) is currently in 25th place, 1487 miles from the leader.
For more information and to follow the Vendee Globe go to: www.vendeeglobe.org
www.avivaoceanracing.com
www.dominiquewavre.com
www.mikegolding.com
www.spiritofcanada.net
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