Knock downs
Wednesday November 10th 2004, Author: Kate Jennings, Location: France
Positions at 1900GMT
Pos | Boat | DTL | Lat | Long | Spd | Crs | Spd | Crs |
Instant | 4hr av | |||||||
1 | PRB | 0.0 | 33 54.00' N | 17 45.88' W | 15.3 | 214 | 16.3 | 207.0 |
2 | SILL ET VEOLIA | 12.8 | 34 06.40' N | 17 42.16' W | 16.4 | 210 | 17.0 | 202.0 |
3 | HUGO BOSS | 24.9 | 34 06.04' N | 16 38.96' W | 17.4 | 210 | 16.3 | 200.0 |
4 | VMI | 40.4 | 34 17.32' N | 16 17.28' W | 13.1 | 178 | 15.7 | 197.0 |
5 | ECOVER | 40.6 | 34 32.68' N | 17 30.16' W | 17.1 | 228 | 15.9 | 204.0 |
6 | BONDUELLE | 43.6 | 34 28.40' N | 16 19.88' W | 14.1 | 207 | 14.9 | 201.0 |
7 | TEMENOS | 56.8 | 34 27.24' N | 15 46.24' W | 10.2 | 194 | 16.8 | 183.0 |
8 | HELLOMOTO | 98.3 | 34 55.04' N | 14 43.88' W | 15.5 | 193 | 15.5 | 194.0 |
9 | VM MATERIAUX | 107.5 | 35 33.88' N | 15 43.52' W | 11.2 | 199 | 14.1 | 200.0 |
10 | VIRBAC-PAPREC | 112.1 | 35 29.80' N | 16 09.16' W | 17.2 | 204 | 12.3 | 208.0 |
11 | SKANDIA | 114.2 | 35 37.32' N | 15 57.44' W | 15.1 | 202 | 15.0 | 197.0 |
12 | PRO-FORM | 128.9 | 35 28.48' N | 14 49.36' W | 13.0 | 198 | 14.3 | 190.0 |
13 | ARCELOR DUNKERQUE | 140.4 | 35 53.28' N | 15 42.80' W | 14.8 | 197 | 14.5 | 197.0 |
14 | OCEAN PLANET | 154.0 | 36 01.68' N | 15 17.80' W | 9.2 | 194 | 12.8 | 197.0 |
15 | UUDS | 183.8 | 36 36.32' N | 15 34.08' W | 12.9 | 189 | 13.2 | 189.0 |
16 | ROXY | 292.3 | 38 10.80' N | 14 13.84' W | 13.0 | 188 | 11.4 | 185.0 |
17 | MAX HAVELAAR BEST WESTERN | 296.5 | 38 17.32' N | 14 22.72' W | 12.0 | 190 | 11.4 | 187.0 |
18 | AKENA VERANDAS | 297.4 | 38 06.72' N | 13 36.36' W | 10.2 | 172 | 10.7 | 182.0 |
19 | BENEFIC | 333.2 | 38 50.68' N | 14 01.84' W | 12.0 | 187 | 11.7 | 188.0 |
20 | BROTHER | 379.3 | 39 45.92' N | 14 32.80' W | 12.4 | 230 | 10.5 | 222.0 |
The atmosphere in the Open 60 fleet in taking part in the Vendée Globe is one of sheer pleasure in the superb, rather wet, downwind conditions experienced ever since the start.
Later today the boats are set to past Madeira, meanwhile the fleet has been enjoying instantaneous speeds nudging 18 knots.
At 1500 GMT Vincent Riou on PRB and Roland Jourdain on Sill et Véolia were the leading duo with Alex Thomson's Hugo Boss third.
In the conditions several competitors have reported their boats being laid over, their masts touching the water either as a result of being over-canvassed in big gusts, accelerating down waves or through their rudders kicking up after hitting debris in the water.
The front runners are soon to pass to the west of Madeira where they will have to watch for the effects of wind shadows. The consensus is that as the frontrunners fall into lighter winds the further they sail away from the high pressure system to their north, so there will be a concertina effect in the fleet allowing those behind to catch up.
In the lead since leaving the Bay of Biscay Vincent Riou on PRB was in good spirits and made it all seem very simple during this morning's radio vacation. “All’s well - gliding along. I haven’t been helming much: it’s wet outside and I don’t like the water! I almost have to force myself to go on deck and helm just to check that everything’s balanced as the boat really just sails itself in these conditions. Managing sleep is easy right now and I’m getting 5/6 hours a day in 30 minute chunks and I’ve still got fresh food for a few days.”
In second Roland Jourdain was clearly having a ball with plenty of action aboard Sill et Véolia. “I’ve been doing some elegant 'live' freestyling with the rudder kicking up at one point and throwing me into an emergency gybe forcing me to furl in everything and then hoist it again," commented Bilou. "The boat went over on its ear for about 4-6 minutes at 90 degrees - it’s been a long time since that happened. It looks like it’s going to slow down up front at a certain point and conditions are going to change in a couple of days.”
Following his sail wrestling antics yesterday Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss is back up to third. Thomson reported this morning that all was fine aboard Hugo Boss other than some electronics problems. At the time he was sailing with one reef and a code 5, “swimming” in the cockpit and preferring to be “up with PRB with a bit more westing.”
Behind Thomson, in fourth position it has been a difficult night for Jean le Cam who also encountered a UFO (unidentified floating object) last night. "I was sleeping when the rudder kicked up after hitting something... Result : the boat went out of control and gybed. The time it took to sort out the mess I had to reduce speed and virtually go backwards to push down on the windward rudder and keep control of the boat." The fuse system on the rudder worked well: Bonduelle didn’t suffer any damage, but Jean Le Cam lost some time on his adversaries.
The battle for fifth position is on between Sébastien Josse on VMI and Mike Golding on Ecover, the British skipper slipping down into sixth position at 1500 GMT by 0.1 miles. Golding. While the front runners are pushing flat out, Golding is happy to err on the side of caution sailing under full main and his smaller Code Eco headsail. “I am pretty happy with where I am. The trouble is when the sea state is this bad, you can take off on a big wave and it can go a bit pear-shaped. It is still early in the race and I don’t want to rag anything. I am in keep-it-together mode still.”
Saying this has still seen 25 knots. There have also been a few minor breakages and on board although the job list Golding has started has just five items on it. This is good he says - normally at this stage there might be 30 on it.
Jean-Pierre Dick on Virbac, is currently lying ninth. Like many of the competitors Dick is wondering whether or not he should be going hell for leather from the word go or take time to find his bearings to avoid tempting the devil and run the risk of damage which could well put paid to a circumnavigation he has spent the past three years putting together? Dick makes no secret of the strategy: "The race got off to a flying start and it’s clear that everyone wants to be in the lead. I really didn’t want to run the risk of breaking stuff in the first few miles. Knowing just how far you can push your machine is one of the most difficult things to judge. I’ve erred on the side of caution - perhaps a little too much - but I’m really conscious of wanting to avoid gear failure. You have no choice if you want to make it to the finish and the race has only just begun".
Equally his voyage to date has not been without incident: "Last night, the boat took a great nose-dive and before you could say Bob’s-your-uncle, my freeze-dried dinner had hit the radar screen. I had the genoa up and one reef in the main at time. I don't dare to imagine what would’ve happened had I had the gennaker up !" No damage done to the Open 60 Virbac-Paprec and Jean-Pierre is pleased to have got away with one broken batten - which he has since been repaired.
Other significant progress in the fleet has come from Patrice Carpentier on VM Matériaux who has climbed up into 10th position with Skandia's Nick Moloney on the warpath now just 10 miles behind him.
At present the wind is still blowing from the northeast at 20/25 knots and though the fleet appear to be on a motorway down towards the sun, it is badly laid and the conditions aboard are very wet. The averages are very good with 13 of the 20 boats having covered over 300 miles in the past 24 hours, with today's record going to Roland Jourdain with 370.8 miles at an average speed of 15.5 knots.
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