Conrad Colman on Foresight Natural Energy crossed the Equator
back into the northern hemisphere this morning at 0845hrs UTC in tenth
place in the Vendée Globe solo round the world race. This is another
important milestone for the Kiwi-American skipper as he also negotiates
the Doldrums. Colman looks like he is being blessed with a relatively
straightforward passage of the ITCZ, the Doldrums, racing slightly east
of north without too many squally clouds around. The weather models
suggest he should hold on to mainly E’ly winds until he emerges into the
NE’ly trade winds.
As he completes his third racing
circumnavigation Colman is attuned to the need to stay extra vigilant
for the climb north up the Atlantic back to Les Sables d’Olonne. “The
ocean might seem empty and limitless at times but I know there will be
lots of traffic as I approach Europe. I have come a long way and dealt
with all kinds of drama from Mother Nature and so now I am doubly
attentive to avoid any many made mischief. Radar on. Eyes outside the
boat until the finish line,” Colman told his team today.
Sébastien Destremau (TechnoFirst - faceOcean), in 18th
place, had a slow and erratic course after passing Cape Horn yesterday
but was making 8 to 9kts northwards this afternoon looking to pass to
the east of Staten Island this evening. The French skipper passed close
to the hostile, lonely rock island to ensure he could get his best
possible view. “When I was a little bit down a few days ago my brother
Jean-Guy he said ‘look mate go there and look at it straight in the eyes
and say ‘G’day Mate’. I am turning left after this and going home,”
said an emotional Destremau at the Horn yesterday.
Almost exactly 1500 miles in front of Destremau, in 17th
place, Pieter Heerema the Dutch soloist on No Way Back has been
enjoying himself in unexpectedly beneficial conditions. After many
problematic and frustrating weeks early in the race when he fought many
battles with his autopilot systems, often speaking of possible points to
stop his race, Heerema is on great form, enjoying good speeds and much
more at one with his boat – the final foiling IMOCA in the race.
“I am
enjoying myself,” Heerema said. “Lady luck is grinning at me with a big
smile. The weather is much more than the GRIB files. In fact I was
worried that last night I would be flogging around and drifting but I
had to take in two reefs and put the small jib on. I was flying. Now it
is a bit up and down but it is great, the sea is almost flat. The swell
is long and with me. So every few seconds I am picked up by a velvet
hand and pushed forwards, accelerating big time. Last night I spent
hours in the cockpit just getting the balance of the boat, really
enjoying myself, completely forgetting I wanted to get some sleep.”
Six hundred miles SE of Rio the match
race between Spain’s Didac Costa and French skipper Romain Attanasio is
unrelenting, the competitive edge between the two is complemented by
regular VHF conversations between them. Upwind in very light airs Costa
is about eight miles ahead. American Rich Wilson on Great American IV
nearly 350 miles north of the chasing duo is finding his way finally
into a light E’ly trade wind to the NE of Rio and was making a steady
eight to nine knots this afternoon. He is still losing miles to the
race’s youngest skipper Alan Roura on La Fabrique, 158 miles to his
north in 13th place.
Fabrice Amedeo (Newrest-Matmut) admitted today he harbours little hope of catching back up with 11th
placed Arnaud Boissières (La Mie Caline). The skipper from La Chaume in
Les Sables d’Olonne, who is on his third consecutive Vendée Globe, is
120 miles ahead of the journalist turned ocean racer Amedeo who said
today:
“We have finally picked up some wind, which is allowing us to
make headway north. I could see I was a couple knots slower than I
should have been. I looked around at everything thinking I had an
ingress of water or some other problem. I couldn’t see anything. I tried
taking the boat backwards. I used my camera. In fact, I had a net
caught in the port daggerboard. It was caught up in the daggerboard
housing. I had to attach myself and hang upside down under the boat to
see what was going on. I had to raise and lower the daggerboard several
times to free it. So I lost a lot of ground to Arnaud (Boissières).
Since then I’ve been back up to speed and am feeling much better. We
have a straight line course for 3000 miles to the Azores High on the
starboard tack with the trade winds in the Southern Hemisphere, then the
Doldrums that I hope won’t be too unkind to us and then, after that the
trade winds in the Northern Hemisphere although there are still some
questions about the Azores high...”
In 12th place Amedeo admits
he will run low on food and is already undertaking a basic rationing
system: “I am resting a lot, as I have to ration my food. The quantity
is limited and so I’m not getting all the calories I need, so feel
tired. I’m not feeling energetic when at the winch. So I’m trying to
save up my energy and enjoy myself. It’s not going to be much fun at the
end of the race. I contacted the Race Doctor, Jean-Yves Chauve, who
gave me some advice. I have three meals a day, two meals using
freeze-dried food and then for breakfast, what is left over. Meat paste
or sardines without anything to go with them for example. After
breakfast I still feel hungry. You learn from your mistakes like this.”
Nandor Fa (Spirit of Hungary) in eighth place is negotiating the Azores High pressure but should hook into the south east of an Atlantic depression which will give him a fast passage into Les Sables d’Olonne were Fa is anticipated between February sixth and seventh. Meanwhile Louis Burton has 880 miles to finish to secure seventh place on his Bureau Vallée.
Nandor Fa (Spirit of Hungary) in eighth place is negotiating the Azores High pressure but should hook into the south east of an Atlantic depression which will give him a fast passage into Les Sables d’Olonne were Fa is anticipated between February sixth and seventh. Meanwhile Louis Burton has 880 miles to finish to secure seventh place on his Bureau Vallée.
Quotes
Rich Wilson (Great American IV):
“We are almost up to the latitude of Rio de Janeiro, which will be a
good milestone. After we get there, we’ll have to go through a series of
areas where there may be quite a few oil rigs. We have them marked out
in a broad region on the chart, so will have to be on high alert for
about 75 miles or so, south to north. In the early evening the breeze
dropped right down to zero. We had only had 5 or 7 knots of wind anyway,
but it was out of the east and was supposed to be out of the northeast.
Suddenly, we had southwest winds, 2 – 3 knots, very bizarre. The boat
went in circles for 3 hours, and it was very frustrating. Finally, after
4 hours of circles, the breeze started to come in from proper
direction, and we got 5 knots of wind. When you have zero, 5 is quite a
lot. You can sail on that, going in the right direction. It was very
frustrating, to have that happen, in the middle of the GRIB files that
were just showing consistent winds. Getting past Rio will be a good job,
a good milestone. Then, it will be on to Salvador, that will be the
next milestone, then Recife will be next. Then, the Equator!”
Jordi Griso (team manager for Didac Costa):
“The St. Helena high is leading to light winds at the moment. There is
very little wind, but all is well on board. He’s enjoying having Romain
Attanasio close by. They have more or less been within sight of each
other for two or three days. They have talked to each other several
times over the radio. Didac has in theory enough food for 105 days. We
added in some more food in case he had problems, so he has enough for
110. So unless there is a major upset, he should be fine until the
finish. His code 0 is damaged and each time he uses it, he has to carry
out repairs afterwards, but apart from that he doesn’t have any major
problems and he is feeling positive. The presence of a rival alongside
means he is in race mode.”
Pieter Heerema (No Way Back):
“There are all kinds of little highs and lows, dancing around each
other. This is the birthplace of the lows which get sent off towards
South Africa and into the circular movement around Antarctica. They move
around a bit. What I am trying to do is stick my nose between a high
and a low. It does not look too aggressive and if I can do this I can
maybe be squeezed into the trade winds in three or four days. My food is
getting a little bit boring. I am slowly running out of things,
especially breakfast things. I am looking forwards to anything fresh on
shore, nothing fancy, fresh salad, fresh fruit, anything like that I
would kill for it.”
(www.vendeeglobe.org)
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