Swiss double

Stamm and Wavre return to Les Sables d'Olonne in the Vendee Globe

While the start of the Vendee Globe under way more or less without incident (Mike Golding was six or 15 seconds early depending upon who you believe and Pindar were late getting their crew off) the first few hours of the race has already claimed two casualties, both Swiss, one minor and one not so minor.

First to turn their bow back towards Les Sables d'Olonne was race veteran Dominique Wavre. Shortly after 1500 GMT the Temenos skipper informed race HQ that he was returning to port to resolve a charging problem. The blue and white hull of his Open 60 arrived back in Port Olona at around 1700 as the Swiss skipper waited for a replacement 'box' used to control his charge management was delivered down from Lorient three hours away. Temenos set off from Port Olono at around 2145 GMT

The second casualty sadly was Brittany-based Swiss skipper and Velux 5 Oceans double winner Bernard Stamm, who suffered collision with a fishing boat. Following the disastrous incident that Hugo Boss suffered just over three weeks ago this seemed incredible.

We understand from one of the Cheminees Poujoulat's spokesmen that Stamm has spotted a fishing boat, but was certain the fishing boat had spotted him (in addition to navigation lights, Open 60s are obliged to fit AIS (automatic identification system) and so would have been spotted on the equivalent gear on the fishing boat). The fishing boat wasn't on a collision course, and didn't represent a threat so Stamm had gone below to carry out some navigation. It is unclear of whether Open 60 hit fishing boat or the other way around, but clearly the fishing boat changed course as the outcome was a broken bowsprit on the Swiss yacht. The bowsprit has snapped half way along its length and Stamm has been in contact with his team via his Transat Jacques Vabre co-skipper Tanguy Cariou to discuss ways of making a possible repair in the fastest time. Stamm was not hurt in the collision and Cheminees Poujoulat's rig is still intact. The forward end of the bowsprit is presumably still attached to the boat via the bobstay and the genniker downhauls.

Cheminees Poujoulatis due into Les Sables d'Olonne at 0200-0300 local time. A problem for Stamm is that the wind is picking up with the approach of the front and while the entrance to the harbour is negotiatable with regard to the tide at this time, it may not be when it comes to the swell. Fortunately Stamm, a former merchant marine is one of the best seamen in the fleet.

At the 2000 sched Marc Guillemot and Safran had taken over the lead from Seb Josse and BT, with Kito de Pavant on Groupe Bel just astern to the northwest - so a 1-2 for Guillaume Verdier and co-designers Marc van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot Prevost. Guillemot is currently most southerly by de Pavant is most westerly. Both are on a course just south of due west.

After an impressive start - guess who is the top British boat? None other than Dee Caffari's Avivain 9th position. Big respect.

Positions at 2000GMT

Pos	Skipper	Boat	Lat	Long	DTL
1	Safran	Marc Guillemot	46 18.11’ N	3 18.23’ W	0
2	Groupe Bel	Kito de Pavant	46 20.72’ N	3 20.56’ W	0.1
3	Veolia Environnement	Roland Jourdain	46 18.60’ N	3 17.32’ W	0.8
4	Foncia	Michel Desjoyeaux	46 21.44’ N	3 19.96’ W	0.8
5	Paprec-Virbac 2	Jean-Pierre Dick	46 22.16’ N	3 20.45’ W	0.9
6	Gitana Eighty	Loïck Peyron	46 20.27’ N	3 17.54’ W	1.3
7	Brit Air	Armel Le Cléac´h	46 22.64’ N	3 20.12’ W	1.4
8	BT	Sébastien Josse	46 20.72’ N	3 18.24’ W	1.4
9	Aviva	Dee Caffari	46 21.58’ N	3 11.08’ W	1.7
10	PRB	Vincent Riou	46 21.88’ N	3 18.70’ W	1.8
11	Generali	Yann Eliès	46 21.35’ N	3 18.07’ W	1.9
12	Delta Dore	Jérémie Beyou	46 23.11’ N	3 19.20’ W	2.2
13	Hugo Boss	Alex Thomson	46 22.41’ N	3 18.49’ W	2.2
14	Cheminées Poujoulat	Bernard Stamm	46 22.78’ N	3 17.32’ W	3.1
15	Bahrain Team Pindar	Brian Thompson	46 24.54’ N	3 18.95’ W	3.1
16	DCNS	Marc Thiercelin	46 23.12’ N	3 16.42’ W	3.8
17	VM Matériaux	Jean Le Cam	46 19.32’ N	3 11.00’ W	4.8
18	Maisonneuve	Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty	46 24.24’ N	3 15.00’ W	5.2
19	Roxy	Samantha Davies	46 20.56’ N	3 10.40’ W	5.9
20	Artemis	Jonny Malbon	46 29.35’ N	3 05.08’ W	6.6
21	Aquarelle.com	Yannick Bestaven	46 27.28’ N	3 15.40’ W	6.7
22	Algimouss Spirit of Canada	Derek Hatfield	46 24.14’ N	3 12.07’ W	6.8
23	Akena Vérandas	Arnaud Boissières	46 26.65’ N	3 10.53’ W	9.1
24	Ecover	Mike Golding	46 20.14’ N	3 03.35’ W	9.8
25	Pakea Bizkaia	Unai Basurko	46 24.53’ N	3 01.64’ W	13.1
26	Fondation Océan Vital	Raphaël Dinelli	46 28.16’ N	2 58.73’ W	13.2
27	Great American III	Rich Wilson	46 29.20’ N	3 04.36’ W	14.1
28	Toe in the Water	Steve White	46 32.98’ N	2 54.07’ W	15.2
29	Nauticsport-Kapsch	Norbert Sedlacek	46 36.94’ N	3 04.12’ W	18.5
30	Temenos II	Dominique Wavre	46 30.15’ N	1 47.34’ W	60.1