The battle for fourth to sixth places in the Vendée Globe is set
to go to the wire. Jean-Pierre Dick, Yann Eliès and Jean Le Cam are
expected to finish within hours of each other. But, even though Dick was
holding a lead of just on 50 miles over Eliès and 86 miles over popular
veteran Le Cam, there is no certainty at all that he will be able to
hold on to fourth and so, at best, repeat his fourth place finish of
2012-13.
The trio which are due
to finish into Les Sables d’Olonne on a mythical 80 days around the
world schedule are forecast to run into lighter winds for their last
night at sea. Already Dick (St Michel-Virbac) had slowed to 11 kts while
Eliès was still two knots quicker. Le Cam meanwhile should benefit from
the improving wind angle which may allow him to cut the corner, sailing
inside the curve of his rivals’ course.
There is a considerable
possibility of upset. Several times, JP Dick has expressed his
frustrations that his race has not gone better. After building a new
generation, foiling IMOCA he had been tipped as a possible winner and
certainly harboured an expectation that he would better his fourth place
of 2012-13. Dick looks set to finish some six days faster than in 2013
and Le Cam some eight days faster than his last Vendée Globe.
If he can gain a place in the final run in to the Nouch buoy finish line, Le Cam would also equal his fifth place from the last edition. It would seem that the skipper likely to be happiest, might be Eliès who will finish his first Vendée Globe and so lay to rest memories of his 2008-9 rescue south of Australia when he broke his femur. Speaking to Vendée Globe LIVE today Dick, feeling pressurised by two three times winners of La Solitaire du Figaro, confirmed that he cannot wait for the end of his race to come: “I really want to finish now and more particularly in fourth place. Finishing fifth or sixth would be hugely disappointing. I’m going to be the first to move into some lighter winds, so those behind will narrow the gap. It’s like that almost every time. Just as in the South Atlantic, when I had four days of light airs. Yann and Jean caught me, whereas I previously had a lead of 300 miles. I’m going to have to remain cautious until the finish, particularly as those behind me have the experience of the Solitaire du Figaro and this is the sort of situation they do well in. Between them, they have won that event six times! I am enjoying this final part of the race with good speeds and on a good boat.”
If he can gain a place in the final run in to the Nouch buoy finish line, Le Cam would also equal his fifth place from the last edition. It would seem that the skipper likely to be happiest, might be Eliès who will finish his first Vendée Globe and so lay to rest memories of his 2008-9 rescue south of Australia when he broke his femur. Speaking to Vendée Globe LIVE today Dick, feeling pressurised by two three times winners of La Solitaire du Figaro, confirmed that he cannot wait for the end of his race to come: “I really want to finish now and more particularly in fourth place. Finishing fifth or sixth would be hugely disappointing. I’m going to be the first to move into some lighter winds, so those behind will narrow the gap. It’s like that almost every time. Just as in the South Atlantic, when I had four days of light airs. Yann and Jean caught me, whereas I previously had a lead of 300 miles. I’m going to have to remain cautious until the finish, particularly as those behind me have the experience of the Solitaire du Figaro and this is the sort of situation they do well in. Between them, they have won that event six times! I am enjoying this final part of the race with good speeds and on a good boat.”
It
was a visibly tired, but elated Jérémie Beyou (Maître COQ) who
described to a crowded Vendée Globe LIVE audience his feelings about his
third place finish, and the huge welcome he received on Tuesday night.
Beyou stated that he will be back to challenge for a fourth victory in
La Solitaire du Figaro this summer wearing the colours of Maître CoQ,
but he will move on to look for a new, bigger sponsor or group of
sponsors to challenge for the win in 2020: “I’ve been with Maître CoQ
for five years. Early on it was hard. In June I’ll be doing my final
race with them – the Solitaire du Figaro. We have talked about what
follows and my goal for the next Vendée Globe doesn’t correspond to what
they can offer. So I’m looking for a new partner with higher ambitions.
I don’t want to aim just for third place, so I want different means, a
different boat, like Armel has managed to do with Banque Populaire. It’s
the end of a great adventure but also new doors will be opening. All
the work we have done with Maître CoQ will help. We have a great team in
place that must stay together to aim for a win in the Vendée Globe.”
Of his choice to retro-fit foils to the
former Banque Populaire which finished second in the 2012-13 race:
“Three foilers in the first three places… We didn’t have any technical
problems with the foils. I hit the port foil and the leading edge was
affected, but no serious damage. So the modification was successful. If
you look at Seb’s problem, it may seem that such a choice is dangerous,
but we didn’t have anything like that. And the boat was faster. 17 knots
of wind and the boat does 18 knots. Sometimes you have to be careful
using them. Sometimes you worry, but sometimes you push hard using them.
If I finished third, it is largely due to the foils. I may not have
been faster than SMA, but that was down to sail choices. The figures
speak for themselves and we saw that in comparison with our rivals.”
Beyou
completes the Vendée Globe podium. Alex Thomson, the British skipper,
finds himself between first and third placed skippers who sailed against
each other at the age of nine in Optimists, who grew up as close
friends on the Bay of Morlaix and whose career trajectories have scribed
parallel curves since they were little: “I prefer to talk about Armel.
I’m 40 and he’s 39. We started out together when we were 8 or 9 on
Optimists in Morlaix Bay. He has won the Figaro twice, and now the
Vendée Globe- an incredible career path. I could never have imagined
thirty years ago, we would be where we are now. We have been lucky to be
able to earn our living with our passion. We are both privileged. In
Morlaix Bay there was perhaps a magic potion, something in the air… the
weather conditions, support, teachers, trainers. Then there was Nicolas
Troussel too and Yann Eliès not far away in St. Brieuc. There was the
political choice to support sailing in these places.”
Of Elies he said: “I was watching Yann
Eliès in the south. I got the feeling he was holding back a bit, but
after his previous experience… He wanted a competitive project and it’s
incredible that he even returned to this race. I’m not sure I would have
had the strength to do that after going through what he went through
before. I’ll be here tomorrow to hear what he has to say, because what
he has done is incredible.”
And of his race Beyou concluded: “The
weather determines the final outcome. It was a very fast trip down the
Atlantic. 78 days represents a couple of days more than the boat’s
potential. Because we encountered some horrible calms particularly on
the way back between 4° S and 4°N. Alex didn’t really have the Doldrums.
Jean-Pierre neither. We saw Thomas Coville and now Francis Joyon
getting records, but it’s either very fast or very slow. We’re going to
have to change our idea about the weather patterns because everything
seems to be changing.”
Nandor Fa was crossing the equator this
evening returning to the Northern Hemisphere on Spirit of Hungary lying
in a solid eighth place, while Pieter Heerema is on course to become the
first Dutch solo skipper to race round Cape Horn. Nandor Fa: “It is
fantastic for me to be getting to the Equator. It is always a big task
to be getting across the Doldrums and for me at the moment it seems like
my luck is in. I have wind all over and I am doing 13kts of boat speed
in not a lot of wind. I am one degree to the equator and going well in
the Doldrums area. I push myself and this is a big jump, a big step for
me. The heat is always hard for me. It is 32 degrees in the cabin and if
I go out it is difficult because of the temperature.”
Quotes
Romain Attanasio (Famille Mary-Etamine du Lys):
“It’s an incredibly good feeling to be back in the Atlantic. I’m over
the moon. It feels like home, even if I have never been here before. The
Southern Ocean is magical, yet hostile. I was told it would be surfing,
but in the end, I had difficult conditions. I have a small leak in the
stern after my hull delamination in South Africa and today is the first
day my hands haven’t been cold from mopping up the water. Those ahead of
me are finding it hard to get back up the Atlantic, but we have better
conditions here. The next 1000 miles will be downwind in good winds. I
lied to my friends before the race saying I had only spent 25 days alone
at sea before. In fact, it was only sixteen! In the third week of
racing, I started to feel time dragging, but then I got back in the
rhythm. My son left me a chart in the boat and wrote we’ll see you on 5th February. So now, I have added a 1 in front of that…”
Nandor Fa (Spirit of Hungary):
“I am a 63 year old guy and in in my head, in my mind I have a
fantastic future, I am planning a new boat, I am planning how that boat
would sail faster and safely, how to be aggressive, but my body is not
like it was 20 years ago and not even the same as two years ago, I feel
my age. And so my dreams and the facts are two different independent
things. Of course I am dreaming. I have a lot of experience I would like
to do it, but really, truly I don’t think I would. My plan is to be
with my family and to be with my wife, to hug my wife and my children,
my grandsons, and to just to do nothing for a few days. That is what I
think about now.”
Conrad Colman (Foresight Natural Energy):
“I'm still a long way from the actual Doldrums but I feel like I'm
getting a good warm up. First I had the calms and now the squalls. Since
sundown yesterday I have been sailing upwind against a constant deluge
of isolated black storm clouds and their associated rains and wind
shifts. I haven't slept more than a few minutes at a time as I set my
alarm for a 20 minute nap only for the boat to lean over heavily as the
stronger wind announces the arrival of a new cloud. The cloud passes,
the boat stands up. We're now under powered. Adjust the sails. Back on
track, all ok. Maybe I can sleep now? Ah, what's that? The stars wink
out ahead, blanketed by the next cloud. Here we go again!”
(www.vendeeglobe.org)
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