Back into the north

He crossed the Equator this morning, but already Michel Desjoyeaux could be out of the Doldrums

Tuesday January 20th 2009, Author: James Boyd, Location: United Kingdom

Image above courtesy of Expedition and Predict Wind

Positions at 0930 GMT

Pos	Skipper	Boat	Lat	Long	Spd	Crs	Spd	Crs	Dist	DTF	DTL
					1 hour av		4 hour av		24 hrs
1	Desjoyeaux Michel	Foncia	0 44.36' N	31 59.42' W	10.3	4	11.2	4	148.3	3202.7	0
2	Jourdain Roland	Veolia Environnement	5 12.98' S	32 08.60' W	10.3	13	10.9	4	274.7	3538.8	336.1
3	Le Cléac’h Armel	Brit Air	16 38.47' S	34 31.02' W	9.2	353	10.3	1	217.7	4230.4	1027.7
4	Guillemot Marc	Safran	28 34.05' S	45 36.98' W	12.3	48	12.2	36	269.8	5127.5	1924.8
5	Davies Samantha	Roxy	30 07.28' S	41 54.01' W	5.1	40	5.9	5	131.9	5131.4	1928.7
6	Thompson Brian	Bahrain Team Pindar	40 21.64' S	46 08.01' W	14.2	44	14.2	45	337.2	5776.1	2573.4
7	Caffari Dee	Aviva	41 32.09' S	46 43.05' W	13.3	43	13.5	50	335.4	5851.3	2648.6
8	Boissières Arnaud	Akena Vérandas	42 02.24' S	48 26.00' W	10.2	20	10.6	42	271.8	5912.6	2709.9
9	White Steve	Toe in the Water	55 01.40' S	64 19.51' W	6.6	30	8.6	45	264.5	6901.5	3698.8
10	Wilson Rich	Great American III	48 37.62' S	102 20.32' W	10.8	156	10.5	152	240.4	8363.6	5160.9
11	Dinelli Raphaël	Fondation Océan Vital	45 53.89' S	139 04.66' W	9	74	8.8	82	202.6	10091.3	6888.6
12	Sedlacek Norbert	Nauticsport-Kapsch	45 54.45' S	139 22.12' W	8.6	75	8.2	79	198.5	10103.4	6900.7
RDG	Riou Vincent	PRB
ABD	Le Cam Jean	VM Matériaux
ABD	Malbon Jonny	Artemis
ABD	Dick Jean-Pierre	Paprec-Virbac 2
ABD	Hatfield Derek	Algimouss Spirit of Canada
ABD	Josse Sébastien	BT
ABD	Eliès Yann	Generali
ABD	Golding Mike	Ecover
ABD	Dejeanty Jean-Baptiste	Groupe Maisonneuve
ABD	Peyron Loïck	Gitana Eighty
ABD	Stamm Bernard	Cheminées Poujoulat
ABD	Wavre Dominique	Temenos II
ABD	Basurko Unai	Pakea Bizkaia
ABD	Beyou Jérémie	Delta Dore
ABD	Thomson Alex	Hugo Boss
ABD	Bestaven Yannick	Aquarelle.com
ABD	Thiercelin Marc	DCNS
ABD	de Pavant Kito	Groupe Bel

Having covered just 111 miles in the last 24 hours, so the entry back into the North Atlantic has been a difficult one for Vendee Globe race leader Michel Desjoyeaux, who only crossed the Equator at 0514hrs GMT this morning.

Desjoyeaux encountered the first squalls and unstable winds of the Doldrums at 2°S, when normally typically one expects to find them at 4-8°N. After a very very slow day yesterday, much of it spent becalmed, so Desjoyeaux appears to be back up to speed this morning having averaged 6.8 knots on the overnight sched and 11.2 between this morning's scheds, and this is despite the satellite wind radar picture that still indicates there to be more Doldrums ahead for him, in fact until he reaches 2°N.

Meanwhile Roland Jourdain on board Veolia Environnement is steaming up from astern, passing Recife overnight and having covered 274 miles in the last 24 hours had closed to within 336 miles of Desjoyeaux at the latest sched. Jourdain is taking a route slightly to the east of Desjoyeaux but whether this will allow him to make a faster passage through the Doldrums remains to be seen. The wind satellite images indicate that the Doldrums on this route could start even further south, but conversely could end at the Equator rather than 2˜N.

Behind them Armel Le Cléac’h on Brit Air continues to sail up the Brazilian coastas he attempts to get around Recife. At present he is 222 miles short of the latitude of Salvador with the northeasterly trade winds building.

Sacre bleu! Between the last two sched Marc Guillemot on Safran has overtaken Sam Davies on Roxy to take fourth place! Cunningly Guillemot has taken a route much closer to the Brazilian coast than Davies where he has found better pressure and this continues to be the case as Safran zooms north having averaged 12 knots between the last two scheds - twice as fast as Roxy.

However this could be shortlived, as Davies holds the usually more favourable easterly position which will make it easier for her to lay Recife - this race is far from over.

It should also be remembered that the third to fifth places in this Vendee Globe will be skewed by the redress awarded to all three boats for going to the assistance of either Yann Elies or Jean le Cam. Guillemot's Safran for example is now only 900 miles from BritAir, however the redress amounts to 82 hours for Guillemot, 32 hours for Davies and 11 hours for Le Cléac’h. At Safran's present speed of 12 knots, his redress amounts to 984 miles. So Safran could still take third place, despite making two unassisted pit stops to repair his mast track and being permanently compromised by sailing with two reefs in the mainsail.

For this group the trade winds are currently fading with the St Helena high in its 'drifting down towards South Africa' phase as a shallow depression forms over San Paolo. On Roxy Sam should see the wind back to the NNE and build later today , at which point she may choose to tack east, while Safran could suffer in light winds around the depression.

Meanwhile as they approach the latitude of the mouth of the River Plate, so the tussle continues between Brian Thompson on Bahrain Team Pindar, Dee Caffari on Aviva and Arnaud Boissières on Akena Vérandas.

Between the last scheds Thompson has been keeping up the best speed (in fact the best of all the boats) averaging 14.2 knots, but despite her tattered main, Caffari is close behind having reclaimed seventh place off her French rival, who is starting to feel the age of his 10 year old boat (the former Sodebo/ VMI). At the latest sched 135 imles separate these boats down the race course.

At present this trio is still enjoying strongish WNWerly breeze to the south of a giant ridge that is forecast to evolve into the main south Atlantic high pressure system by the end of the week.

Yesterday Dee reported: “It’s a little wet and wild at the moment, but all good and going in the right direction, but it is a little full-on. We knew that the wind was coming and we should have it for about 24 hours, which would be good for progress.

"I have paid the price for maybe trying to keep up with the boys too hard because I have lost another section of taffeta, so my mini-main is even more of a string vest than it was before, but I am dreaming that ventilation in the main is maybe the way forward.

" Aviva has just been on fire. She is on a mission. I have actually had to elect to make the decision to sail with breeze while we have it, and to stay with the guys while I can, and work on the theory that we will all get to lighter airs at about the same time and so we will all slow down at about the same time. And it will be that time then that I can lose less miles. So I am pretty pleased that I am managing to hang in there even with the main which is a little poorly.

"We are hoping that we can keep the Trio together. The funny thing is that I have probably been no further than 100 miles from Akena since the Equator on the way south and ever since we caught up with Pindar we have all hung out together so it is amazing to think we have done all those miles together. And so, certainly the party at the end of this is going to be impressive.

"I spilt my morning cup of tea. The sea temperature has gone up 6 degrees overnight.
I have looked at my keel box literally since the first keel issue was mentioned in the southern ocean, I have checked my keel box area at least once a day, every day, without fail. And I am pleased to say that my keel is all good.”

Congratulations goes to the hero Steve White and his Toe in the Water, who rounded Cape Horn at 2030hrs last night. The latest sched shows he has taken the more prudent course to the south of Isla de los Estatos and avoiding the Strait of Le Maire.

“I am so happy to be here, happy to have made, happy to all the troubles we had behind us, happy to have got here in one piece,” said White last night off Cape Horn, “When I was thinking about it before this was really just a mark of the course I was looking to get to as quickly as possible, but now I am here it is living up to its reputation. I have 43 knots of wind and have seen 58, but it has moderated a little. When you get to the (continental) shelf it was amazing. Just big vertical walls of water. You go up one and just smash straight back into the back of the next one. And when I came to gybe it was the first time that I have gone done the full round up broaching straight upwind and having to let everything off to get the boat back on her feet.

“And, yes, there is that ominous feeling, it is oppressive and lonely and you can’t help but reflect on all those square riggers years and years back. It must have been really incredibly miserable going past here on them, you kind of wonder if it was worth it for a ship load of tea-bags!

“I guess you probably would feel short changed to be here if it was calm or easy, but I am certainly looking forward to getting round the corner into some flatter water and getting the foot down after them in front. That is the aim and I really want to catch them and I really think I can do it. With a bit of luck they’ll be caught in the Doldrums.”

Back in the Pacific Rich Wilson on Great American III still has 1345 miles to go to reach Cape Horn at the latest sched, riding the strong northwesterlies ahead of a front.

Yesterday Wilson reported: “At one point I could hear some water sloshing around in a compartment which us under the cockpit and that is usually sealed up and dry, and so I had to go back to the lazarette through the little tunnel into the back of the boat. It was pretty violent back there when the stern is jerking around, whenever the wave hits the stern and knocks the boat, you are just rattling around inside it. I had to wear a helmet back there and I am glad I did.

“ We have been continually bailing since yesterday since the storm abated, just going through the compartments. There was a couple of buckets of water in the bow compartment, but I think we are in pretty good shape.

“So we are right on the track for a waypoint which we have 1550 miles to go to (Cape Horn), off the plateau of Tierra del Fuego there, we are making good time.

"We have an instrumentation problems, back sailing how we all grow up, looking at the windex at the top of the mast, and the autopilot is fine on ‘compass’ but I think what is going to mean is I won’t be able to sail downwind under true wind angle, which normally you’d be able to do and set for maybe an hour and 15 minutes or so and get a nap, and instead get up every 20 or 30 minutes and check everything is OK.

"I keep thinking about how any of these boats survive the beating they take.

“It’s going to be a great day for the United States for a variety of reasons. Barack Obama is a really smart guy, and certainly the most calm politician I have ever seen in the US. He just does not get rattled, and I think that will help a lot in calming the mood of the country and the world, and that will help towards some rational decisions. There are a long, long list of things that have to be worked on, but it will be a good day for the USA tomorrow.”

Sam Davies reports from Roxy:

Hello!

As predicted, today has been a day of very light winds. In fact, I think I got my record slowest speed with an average of 2.78 knots for 4 hours! I am not proud of that at all. It has been pretty frustrating, and very tiring, as I have been fully concentrated on sail trim and course changes to try to keep going as fast as possible in the conditions. It is impossible to get rest when it is like this!

So, I made the most of a dry deck (very rare in this race) and got to work with the Sikaflex to seal up the worst of my leaks. I'm not proud of the aesthetics of my job, but I think it will be effective! When the swell had calmed down a bit, I climbed up my mast to do a quick check, and when I say quick I mean quick as the sails were flogging around making it pretty hard to hang on! But the few things that I wanted to take a look at were all OK, which is very reassuring!

Once back on deck, the wind started to fill in, and shift, so I gybed, stuck in a sail change from Code 0 to gennaker, and by the end of all that I can safely say that I am totally knackered! The plus side is that now the sea temperature is good, I can have a shower at the end of a tough day, and Roxy is now back on track at 10 knots boatspeed.

And now for the best news of the day: I had my CHRISTMAS DINNER today!! Finally it was calm enough to cook and serve the special Langoustine Bisque that Romain had given me for Christmas dinner. It was delicious, with croutons aux algues (hopefully not the kind I found on my keel) and "la rouille", even though the presentation left a little to be desired - it was served in a tupperware box, with a plastic spoon!

Desert was a Suchard Rocher, and the temperature is just right for eating chocolate at the moment - not too cold so that it's too hard, but not yet warm enough to melt. I wonder if I should make the most of the conditions and eat more chocolate before it gets too hot? I will be disappointed if I finish with chocolate left over.....

S x

Derek Hatfield reports from Spirit of Canada

Hello from Spirit of Canada

It's been a busy week for Patianne and I here in Hobart as we deal with the many issues surrounding the repair of Spirit of Canada. On Wednesday, we took the Open 60 around to the inner harbour and with the help of INCAT and the port authourity; TAS Ports; took the mast down with a crane. The mast is now safely stored in one of their warehouse facilities and will be there until we put it back up in a few weeks. On Friday, after dealing with the Customs paperwork, I shipped the broken pieces back to Composites Solutions in the Unites States and they will fix and/or replace the spreaders. It is a real testament to CSI and their carbon mast manufacturing ability in the fact that the mast is still standing. The mast did a lot of wobbling on the 1000 nautical mile sail to Hobart but remained intact. The five pieces of synthetic rigging that were damaged by the flogging spreaders have been packaged up as well and sent to Navtec in Connecticut for repair. We continue working on the long list of smaller repairs on the boat to bring Spirit of Canada back into fighting trim.

We also continue to work towards a plan to ship the boat home but there are many logistical and financial hurdles in order to complete this option. Our preference is to ship the boat to save the wear and tear on the boat but the cost of shipping the boat north is $110,000. We will continue to look for a sponsor to help finance this option. Obviously, it can be sailed back to Canada and that is why we are fixing the mast and getting the boat ready to sail so that this option is available. The repair bill for the mast, rigging, sails and assorted repairs and logistics alone will be around $80,000. Since the retirement from the race, we have received approximately $22,000 in donations from individuals and corporations wanting to help get us home so we need to raise another $58,0000 to bring the boat back to sailing configuration.

I'm following the race now when I can and I must say that it's tough not being out there racing. As you can imagine, it was a real shocker to have to quit the race so suddenly and I am still recovering from it. The ocean is indiscriminate in its dealings with sailors and constantly reminds me that you cannot fight the elements but only learn to deal with the conditions. The blow of the retirement is even harder knowing that we were performing well and might have had a decent result given a finish. The attrition rate for this edition has been difficult and many of the incidents will have to be discussed by the organizers, skippers and sponsors going forward. IMOCA is already planning the next discussions and the evolution of the safety rules for the future of the class and the boats.

I wish all of the remaining skippers good luck on their drive to the finish line.

We are still struggling here a bit logistically as we cannot secure permanent accommodation and access to the internet. That being said, we are making good progress and the Spirit of Canada Team is totally committed to getting the boat back into racing configuration and moving forward towards being back out sailing again.

Take care,
Derek