In the ongoing duel up the South Atlantic at the front of the
Vendée Globe round the world race over the last 24 hours Alex Thomson
has made a small, but valuable gain against his French rival Armel Le
Cléac’h. As the pair raced eastwards at the latitude of Rio and just a
little northwards, the British skipper of Hugo Boss has been able to
close gauge, reducing the north-south lateral separation by some eighty
miles.
The leaders have been
sailing east to sniff out the trade winds. Despite sailing on port tack,
the side on which he has no foil and so has less lift and traction than
his rival, Thomson has had a better more lifted wind angle which has
allowed him to angle slightly more northwards. Le Cléac’h (Banque
Populaire VIII) should be first on to the ‘making’, more profitable
north-going tack this afternoon, touching the trade winds first.
Once
both are on the same northbound tack, Thomson’s strong side, Le Cléac’h
should gain for the coming 18-20 hours as he enjoys the benefits of a
slightly strengthening and more lifted breeze. But once both are into
the same trade wind breeze this should be closer to the British
skipper’s sweet spot and he should be quicker, once again be able to
redress the balance in his favour.
Unexpectedly
rough conditions, gusts to 60kts, have this afternoon placed Conrad
Colman in a tough position in one of the most remote area of the Pacific
Ocean. Colman so skipper on Foresight Natural Energy has been slowed
this afternoon at around five to six knots, suffering a problem with his
standing rigging which he will need to wait until the worst of the very
active system diminishes before he can take stock. The strength and
activity of the system was not apparent on some models yesterday, the
race forecast for today announcing:
“For Nandor Fa and Conrad Colman the
depression they are sailing in does not completely correspond to the
weather models from yesterday. It is more active and slightly further
east than expected, which has complicated the task of the Kiwi skipper.
Winds are blowing in a range from 45 to 55 knots with gusts in the 70s
until 1700hrs UTC in the Southwest quadrant of the depression, which is
the exact place where Conrad was early this afternoon. Conditions should
then improve from then on”
Louis
Burton’s race so far has been most remarkable for its quiet,
under-the-radar consistency. The solo racer from Saint Malo on Bureau
Vallée has seemingly been blessed with steady conditions all the way
across most of the Indian and the Pacific. He is due to round Cape Horn
late tomorrow night for his first time. Burton started the last Vendée
Globe but hit a trawler off the Portuguese coast and had to retire. He
has sailed more than half of his race in splendid isolation, 1000 miles
ahead of Nandor Fa and now 1200 miles behind the duo of Jean Le Cam and
Yann Eliès. He knows his boat well, the Farr designed ten year old
former Delta Dore, making his IMOCA debut in 2011 when he took fifth in
the Transat Jacques Vabre with his brother Nelson.
In 18th
place, Sébastien Destremau expects to pitstop close to Hobart on
Tasmania tonight or tomorrow as he seeks to check his rig and rigging
fully before venturing into the Pacific for the first time with his 1998
built IMOCA TechnoFirst-FaceOcean which started life as Josh Hall’s
Gartmore. Destremau had to replace the rig just weeks before the start
of the race and only managed to sail from the Mediterranean to Les
Sables d’Olonne with his new mast before starting.
Quotes
Didac Costa (One Planet One Ocean):
“A difficult week comes to an end. The low to the south of Australia
put the boat and me to the test. Every nm earned had a high cost, with
accumulated fatigue for the equipment and some damage. Apart from the
problem I already have with the sails, I have the added one of the
autopilots now. You can imagine how important these are to solo sailors.
Within the different parts that make up the autopilot, there is one
that especially suffers wear after several weeks of sailing: the
mechanical arm (piston and motor), that never stops working to maintain
the course. Something similar to what happens with the sails on board
has happened with them. They have begun to give worrying signs of wear.
When I was replacing the original arms for the spare ones, I had an
electronic problem that left me without autopilots for a few hours. It
happened when I had been two days with any sleep and the solution was
not so obvious. The relief was huge when I managed to fix it, because I
had quickly found myself in an extreme situation: without autopilots,
exhausted... Down here a small problem can quickly become a big
problem.”
Romain Attanasio, Famille Mary-Etamine du Lys: "Yesterday
was a horrible day and I really went mad. I had worked so hard to catch
Didac and there I was at a standstill. He made it through this
transition zone, while I got caught. Today, I have got going again. I
have done a lot of work on the boat, cleaning her up and repairing
things. Ahead of me there’s a huge low forming. In fact, being slowed
down yesterday means I will avoid the worst of that, which is no bad
thing. Michel Desjoyeaux once said that the Vendée Globe is one big
problem each day and that is true. Today I have a problem with the
autopilot. I need to change one of the wires. A couple days ago it was
my wind instruments and yesterday I repaired a batten and a halyard. You
have to deal with these things before it gets worse. I knew the Vendée
Globe was tough, but not how tough. When I look at how much I have left
to sail, I find it hard to believe. I can’t wait to be in the Pacific.
I’m 4000 miles from Cape Horn.”
Jean-Pierre Dick, StMichel-Virbac:
"It’s been complicated over the past 24 hours as I have had winds in
excess of 40 knots. I entered an area of low pressure and am trying to
cross the centre. I had to take in some reefs. It’s been tiring as there
are lots of manoeuvres to do. It’s frustrating to do so much work and
not be fast. Yann (Eliès) and Jean (le Cam) have narrowed the gap. The
wind is now down to twenty knots, but will gradually strengthen and I’ll
be upwind, which means a lot of work out on the deck, trimming and
changing the sails. It’s not very easy, although I don’t have any major
problems on the boat.”
Pieter Heerema (NED) No Way Back:
“I am just past the south of Tasmania and it is all going well. As
always you prepare a little for the New Year and then the wind got up
and I was busy and the boat was bouncing around and so there was no New
Year and no party. The last two days have been tough weird winds with
gusts, not particularly strong but with big, big winds. I can only sail
on compass mode. And so you cannot go too far from the tiller or the
push buttons. That keeps you busy all the time. The wind will increase
steadily over the next day or day and a half. In a couple of days I will
have 30-35 knots behind the front of a depression. I have one of these
new fast boats and it is a bit sad I have not been able to let it
perform like it should. It has new development foils which are really
superb but I have not been able to show that because I have had these
problems. Only now can I start to put the foot down and go a little bit
faster. I will speed up a bit but mostly I will try to stay wise and
prudent.”
(www.vendeeglobe.org)
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