British sailor Alex Thomson is once again at the front of the
Vendée Globe fleet after successfully hunting down arch rival Armel Le
Cléac'h in the Southern Ocean. Four days after French sailor Le Cléac'h
moved into pole position in the solo non-stop round the world race,
Thomson reclaimed control once more as the epic duel between the two
skippers continued. The pair were this afternoon neck and neck as they
rocketed east, less than a mile splitting them from the next waypoint
and with just seven miles of lateral separation.
Hugo Boss skipper Thomson, the only British sailor in the race, had been reeling in Le Cléac'h's Banque Populaire VIII
since the French skipper passed him on November 27. Le Cléac'h
initially drew out a narrow lead of around 30 miles but was unable to
fully capitalise because the weather conditions were not right for
foiling. Despite boasting a broken starboard foil, lost in a collision
with a floating object some 12 days ago, Hugo Boss has been the quicker of the two boats over the past few days.
The record-breaking pace both boats have
been exhibiting since the race start in Les Sables d'Olonne, France, on
November 6, seems set to continue thanks to favourable weather
conditions in the Southern Ocean. The story couldn't be more different
for all but a few of the 16 skippers still in the South Atlantic. After
enduring almost two weeks of painfully light winds, they were today
being tested by breeze of up to 35 knots from a depression.
“We’ve gone
from one extreme to the other in a short space of time,” said an
exasperated Stéphane Le Diraison, this afternoon in 17th
place with winds of up to 30 knots and building. “Yesterday we were in
the high. I’m now ahead of the front and things are starting to get
rough. The wind is strengthening, the seas are building and the sky is
clouding over. I’m finding it hard to sleep, because the boat is so fast
and there is an incredible amount of noise. IMOCAs are boats that are
noisy, shake you up and sound as if they are cracking.”
American Rich Wilson, around 130 miles to the north west in 20th place on Great American IV,
was in a similar situation. “It's noisy, the boat's vibrating all the
time, and then there's a motion to it which is this sort of jittery,
erratic movement like a freight train going down hill out of control,”
said Wilson, who at 66 is the oldest skipper in the fleet. “You've got
to hold on all the time, and how you sustain that stress especially at
night in the dark is just really hard. It's not comfortable physically
or mentally – at least for me it isn't.”
Morgan Lagravière, who was forced to retire from the Vendée Globe on November 24 due to rudder to his yacht Safran,
has left Cape Town bound for France. Vincent Riou, who also retired to
Cape Town, is tipped to leave later this week after fixing the keel
bearings on his yacht PRB.
Quotes
Pieter Heerema (No Way Back): “It was a
rough night and right now it's rough. I'm in the middle of a front so
there's a lot that's happening. I'm getting a big squall coming over
right now. I have winds of around 35-38 knots and it's changed direction
so the waves are coming from all angles. It's very uneasy going, with
all the banging, smashing and water coming over the deck. It's very
humid outside but also inside the boat. It's not the kind of weather
you'd prefer to see. 35 knots is too much – this boat is much faster and
happier when the wind is 25 knots. We will have to pass this – there
will be more over the coming few days – and then I hope in a few days we
will be in a more stable wind environment. With these waves I just
don't want to go full speed because there's still a long way to go and
my goal is to arrive back in Les Sables with the boat and myself in one
piece. Moving around the boat is difficult, eating is difficult, but
we're managing…”
(www.vendeeglobe.org)
(www.vendeeglobe.org)
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