Vendee Globe update

News from the boats

Roxy skipper Sam Davies reported in from the high seas this morning, having just lost 13th place to fellow Brit and one time Mini Transat competitor of hers, Brian Thompson on Bahrain Team Pindar.

“Obviously the start was quite bumpy and the first night in the Bay of Biscay was pretty tough with about 35 knots coming through," recounted Sam. "Then it dropped off and then we had the big front which went through early Monday evening. I saw 55 knots in the gusts with the front and when it went through there was a huge wind shift - through 90degrees. I was hiding inside the boat, because it was too dangerous on deck.”

Matters were made worse when Roxy encountered a big ship and she was forced to crash tack…”But we made it through.”

Now conditions have abated. “We’re surfing downwind in the sunshine which is a nice change,” Sam enthused. Yesterday she says she saw another 60 on the horizon and realised that it was Dee Caffari on Aviva and so called her up on the VHF. “It was nice to talk to someone who had been through what I’d been through - nice to see that she had made it through more or less unscathed.” The two held a ‘virtual tea party’ on their respective boats. “We both put the kettle on at the same time. I think it’s because we both come from the Miranda Merron school of sailing. We both then got buzzed by the Spanish coastguard plane. He was trying to talk to us - a very sociable man...”

As to her position Sam says she is happy. “Obviously the first 48 hours were pretty much survival, just getting through it, although I wanted to get through inside the fleet which I managed to do. I am quite happy with my position relative to the leaders. I am managing to hang in there with Dee and Pindar and those boats that are around me. We are a little slower but I seem to be sailing a little bit lower.”

As Roxy moves down the east side of the high and the wind veers north, she is expecting to gybe and this she estimates will happen in the next 12 hours or so. The time to gybe will depend upon the tactics for the islands (Madeira and then the Canaries) coming up and if they wish to pass east, west of them or in between them.

Sleep-wise Sam said that she barely got more than 10-15 minutes for the first couple of days. But now that conditions have settled - despite having just hit 22 knots down a big surf - she has managed to catch up on her sleep. “Last night I just sailed with genniker and one reef to keep the boat safe. I knew I needed to get a bit more proper sleep, so last night I was into full-on sleep accumulation.”

To make matters worse she was feeling slightly debilitated having left Les Sables d’Olonne with a cold.

Sam is a big fan of the Yop yoghurt drink and until last night had been surviving on that and ham sandwiches and pasta salad made by her mother. Last night she had her first hot meal of Thai Chicken curry.

A bit more grumpy-sounding than the ever radiant Sam, Mike Golding said he had had a "bit on this morning". While the wind was beginning to stabilise it was still waivering between 14 and 23 knots - so should he be under genniker or spinnaker? At the time he radioed in he eventually admitted to being under spinnaker. “Overall it is fairly consistent now but there is still a nasty little sea running which is making it tough for the autopilot.”

Like Sam, Golding last night was trying to bank some sleep after a trying opening 48 hours to this Vendee Globe.

He is also continuing to fix the unspecified problems that occurred to the boat in the bad weather. “Frankly I am not able to do much about many of the items, because they are not the right conditions to do that.” Generally any items that need his attention he has been trying to fix immediately to prevent a job list building up. “Otherwise the boat systems are fine and everything seems to be alright. I have had various things go down - its just that everything got a bit shaky during the gale and a few things had come lose.”

From on board Bahrain Team Pindar, Brian Thompson confirmed that things were looking up. “We have much nicer conditions than the first couple of days which were frankly quite horrendous. We’re going downwind now, making good pace.”

It seems that only British boats get things caught around their keel in the Bay of Biscay for like Jonny Malbon yesterday, Thompson reported that his boat had ensnared a large clump of weed . He had also had to deal with a problem with the water ballast. “Now we have resolved those, so the speed is picking up, which is really good.”

Thompson was relieved to be through the bad conditions of the first 48 hours. His aim had been to conserve the boat. “I was especially trying to avoid the big waves on the second night. Since then the stuff on the keel and the ballast, that slowed us down more than it should have done and it was only after the second night that I found those issues out.”

Thompson reports that at present he is living on fresh food and hasn’t had to touch the freeze-dried yet. “And I’ve been trying to drink lots. It’s been a pretty active first couple of days and everyone used up a lot of calories with all the activities - reefing and not sleeping. So it is a good time to recuperate and make some miles down the track. They are really good conditions now.”

Most pleased to be talking this morning was Toe in the Water skipper Steve White. After getting 11th hour funding for his campaign that allowed him to buy several new sails, along with much other necessary gear in order for him to be able to compete in the Vendee Globe, the first 48 hours at sea had been horrendous. In addition to the weather, he experienced a small fire on board, diesel spillage down below, generator problems and a list of carnage.

In addition to this White has injured his elbow and has the same cold Sam Davies has.
Yet while he spoke about his catalogue of disaster, he was rivalling Davies in the perkiness stakes.

“I had been living on adrenalin for the past week and to leave through the canal with all those people was unlike anything I’d experience in my lifetime,” he said of the start. "It was incredible and it gave me an enormous lift. As soon as I got going and I went downstairs, and saw the chaos where things had been chucked downstairs, the breeze started to build and adrenalin wore off and then we had the problems with the fire and diesel all over the place and the generator, then all of a sudden you realise how tired you are. I have been absolutely exhausted over the last couple of days. And the cold doesn’t help...but every so often I stick my head out of the hatch and there’s nobody around and I can’t believe it. I am sailing around the world on my own!”

One of the more petty incidents was the keyboard for his computer falling into the water beneath his chart table and now failing to operate. As a result he has been unable to get on line to download weather information, although he has been able to get race positions and so has just been following the leaders.

And yet White is currently lying in 16th place, batting well above his average. “That is a bit of a surprise. I wasn’t expecting that, but it is early days yet. I am trying to not break anything.”

Part of the reason is certainly due to the new sails North France conjured up for him in record time prior to the start. “I couldn’t credit how horrible the old ones were until I got the new ones. It is just a dream. I am putting reefs in much later. The boat is faster and higher than it was. Having a new spinnaker gives you a not more confident because you know it isn’t just about to explore. We have a lovely Cuben fibre genniker which used to belong to Jean le Cam which North France cut down for me and it is just a fantastic sail. It is ever so light. I’ve had it up for quite a long time, although I have just changed to spinnaker. That has been a really good sail. All that stuff really helps.”

Toe in the Water is in good shape after the severe weather of the second day, as he explains. “It wasn’t that bad. It was a fairly unpleasant sea state, but we have been through a lot worse than that with this boat and with its previous owners, Josh [Hall] or Emma [Richards]. We are lucky that the boat is built to do the race many times and have a long life and it is as tough as old boots, A few pieces might fall off, but not even that happened this time. I am quite fortunate for that fact.”

Elsewhere in the fleet Sebastien Josse continues to lead having sailed more than a knot faster than his fellow frontrunners over the last four hours. This is believed to be due to Josse finding better pressure on the east side of the course.

Safran skipper Marc Guillemot admitted to a small disaster on board when the boat bore away and gybed while he was working the genniker on the foredeck. This took him more than three hours to sort out.

The reason why Roland Jourdain lost the lead overnight is that Veolia Environnement hooked something on his keel and has been trying to get it off.

Back at the start port, Les Sables d’Olonne had one more arrival this morning with Alex Thomson and Hugo Boss limping in on the 10am tide to assess and hopefully repair the structural damage on the port side of the boat. The boat is expected to be lifted this afternoon.

Also in LSD, Derek Hatfield is in the process of repairing and Algimouss Spirit of Canada’s electrics and autopilot system with the help of Pindar and several other shore teams. However his team have also discovered some damage to the mast track which they are trying to repair. The team are also in a financial crisis, so any donations to their cause can be made here.

Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty’s Groupe Maisoneuve is also in LSD now having returned to fixed the cracks on the deck and cabin top around the main bulkhead area. These issues are expected to be repaired quickly and he will be underway again soon.

Meanwhile Bernard Stamm and his Cheminees Poujoulat should be restepping their mast this morning with a view to setting sail again, back on to the race course this evening. Marc Thiercelin’s dismasted DCNS, the newest Open 60 in the fleet has arrived in La Coruna in northwest Spain under jury rig.

Following the dismasting of his Groupe Bel on Monday, so Kito de Pavant is nursing his monohull back towards Les Sables d'Olonne at an average speed of 5 knots. Groupe Bel is expected in the channel sometime Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Before then the Groupe Bel shore team will rendez-vous with the boat this afternoon, to resupply her with diesel so that she can make it to LSD under engine power.

"I won't write a book about this Vendée Globe, it only lasted 28 hours!" wrote de Pavant. On Monday towards the end of the afternoon when the mast broke in the storm, Groupe Bel was in fourth position. "Towards 16:00, the wind changed abruptly. There was no time to say 'phew', the jib was pulled violently the wrong way, resulting in a change of tack with ballast on the wrong side, trimmed in the opposite direction, and the keel canted the wrong way. Groupe Bel ended up lying at 90° in the water. No panic. I centred the keel and resumed sailed. I still had to transfer the ballast and the ton of equipment from port to starboard. I was holding the right rope and the wind changed. Now, everything ought to improve, she'll slide through the water faster and faster and I'll be in the leading group. The northwesterly came back even stronger this time, 25 knots upwind, and the sea was huge Under a cloud, the wind increased, Groupe Bel's speed as well. At the chart table, I felt the boat rise on an steep wave, then I felt her go down to the bottom of the trough. A deafening noise was preceded by a deathly silence: The mast had broken into several pieces without explanation. My adventure had abruptly come to an end."



Jonny Malbon reports from Artemis :

Well, what a baptism of fire it has been for me and the boat. The departure from Les Sables d’Olonne was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had, and it will be very difficult to top. I have to say I was filled with trepidation, fear and every other emotion as the boat left the dock, but the huge crowds gave me a real boost and took my mind off the job at hand albeit temporarily.

Saying goodbye to Blandine (my girlfriend) was soooo hard; she was very, very strong considering how public our final few words were. Once she and the cameramen had got off and we motored out of the harbour, the reality set in hard. It was a nervy time for me before the start, my first solo start, and very changeable conditions. It was so hectic though that it did not really give me time to think, and by the time we had made the sail selection and positioned the boat in a lane the clock was ticking hard for the boys to get off. They did right on time, but we did not even have time to say goodbye.

The last four minutes shot by and then BANG, I was off. I managed to switch my head into sailing and off I went. Unreal!!

The weather at the start was not too bad, but in the back of mind I was worried about what was in store over the next 24-36 hours. As the breeze built and the sea state got worse, I said to myself that I just had to get through it. I was very cautious in how I sailed and ended up with four reefs and the storm jib, the smallest sails that I have. The boat was slamming so hard, and we were still doing 9-10 knots into the head sea,

Just prior to the cold front – the system that was bringing with it 45-50 knots and a horrendous sea state – the breeze picked up and was gusting at 47 knots. The sea state was enormous with spume being blown from the top of massive breaking waves. The wind was tearing through the rigging, and it was truly unpleasant. It seemed to take forever for the front to go through and bring with it a change in wind direction.

When it did, it was very abrupt – the pilot did not cope very well, so I had to steer. There was a very brief lull in the wind, and I tacked. The sea state was horrendous; again we just kept slamming so hard, the rig shaking and the keel wobbling for about 10 seconds. I felt each and every wave, and just kept my fingers crossed that nothing would break.

Eventually the wind eased long with the sea, and I was pointing at Finisterre. We had survived relatively unscathed except for lots of water down below, and some damage to the traveller system which I only discovered yesterday. As the weather improved I started to tidy up, and get back on track. I was pretty disappointed with where I was in the ranking, but relieved that I was still out there. It was quite sobering to hear how many people had problems; I’m not surprised it was absolutely hideous. Luckily it seems that no one was injured, which is great news, and my heart goes out to those who have had to retire



We had scraped through, but I had a lot of clearing up to do! It was while I was tidying up that I noticed we were trailing a massive load of thick knotted rope. About 40 feet was streaming from the back of the boat and it seemed to be caught round the keel. I hove-to and slowed the boat and managed to grab it with the boat hook. It was 2 inch thick 3 strand poly and floated luckily. I knifed one section and then prayed I had got the right part which I had, as slowly it released its grip from the keel. Thank god, as I really did not fancy going for a swim!

We were off again, but only temporarily as a huge squall cloud threw some rain and wind at me for a while, before leaving me parked up (no wind) for about an hour! Anyway that passed over finally and we were off. As I type I have cleared the Finisterre lanes and life is more comfortable except for the occasional squall – just had one with 26 knots in it. Got to focus on trying to catch some miles back up now, and try and climb up the leader board.

That’s all for now

Cheers,

Jonny