This afternoon, there are four skippers left at sea in the
2016-2017 Vendée Globe. Romain Attanasio (Famille Mary – Etamine du Lys)
is expected to finish midday on Friday. Conrad Colman (Foresight
Natural Energy) is only 163 miles from the finish, and although under
jury rig is making 6.8 knots towards the finish. Eve though the NW’ly
wind will continue to veer northerly during the night and become lighter
at times later in the day tomorrow, the Crazy Kiwi hopes to arrive on
Friday night. For the remaining skippers, it is harder to make any
predictions about their arrival times.
Dutch sailor, Pieter
Heerema (No Way Back) is currently sailing eastwards 1200 miles from the
finish at the latitude of Lisbon, but a long way out in the North
Atlantic, where another low pressure system will be chasing him. He
needs to remain ahead of this new weather system and finish on Monday or
will have to spend a few more days weathering out this storm, which is
set to sweep across the Bay of Biscay. As for tail-ender, Sébastien
Destremau (TecnoFirst faceOcean, he still has 2675 miles left to sail
before completing the Vendée Globe.
Romain Attanasio, Famille Mary - Etamine du Lys "As
far as the weather is concerned, it’s not too bad. The front passed
over this morning. I’m heading straight for Les Sables d’Olonne at good
speed. I think the wind may ease a little, but it should be fine to the
finish. I’m crossing the route taken by cargo ships and they are coming
in every direction. The seas are quite nasty with a lot of waves
breaking over the deck. I have got two reefs in the mainsail. I could
sail with just one, but I’m thinking of my gooseneck fitting. The seas
should calm slightly. I’m trying to push as hard as I can and should
finish at midday, but it will depend on the wind. I think I’ll come
straight in to the harbour afterwards.”
Conrad Colman (NZL/USA) Foresight Natural Energy: “It
is good now. I feel like I am almost there. It is grey and overcast but
blowing from a perfect angle, maybe at 15kts and I am on a broad reach.
And I am heading directly towards Les Sables d’Olonne, that is
exciting. It is great. I see an ETA for possibly tomorrow night (Friday)
but it is incredible to finally feel like I am counting down the final
miles. That is so exciting. Yesterday I had the Spanish coast on the
horizon in between the patchy cloud and severely limited visibility. I
had very little wind and had oily, black seas. But in the middle of the
night the wind started to build and now I have this weather which looks
like it is going to bring me home. I am only just managing to stay even
in terms of energy consumption. Some of the solar panels were damaged
when the mast came down. So I have the solar capacity to keep the boat
ticking along. With the pilot I have wound right back and in the easy
conditions I am able to replace what I am using. I am really low on food
right now I have just two biscuits left from the liferaft. I want to
see my family and friends, but the thing for me is to eat something
fresh. © Conrad Colman (DR)I
am hungry all the time. And I am having to sleep a lot and to bundle
myself up because I don’t have the energy to keep myself warm. At the
same time as my energy is going down my own excitement is going up. So I
am managing to stay functional. I am in a good mood and happy to be
here. I am a happy kind of guy. But this is not how I wanted to finish
my Vendée Globe. Losing my mast has complicated my life in many, many
ways, mainly for the future of the boat and my campaign. At this point I
cannot do anything about the future. All I can do right now is to do my
job, to try and knock down these final miles as fast as I can and even
thought I am disappointed to have lost the rig and to have lost so many
places in the race I am pleased to have overcome the challenges which
have presented themselves, and not to have thrown in the towel when the
mast came down with 700 miles to go. And to have the prospect of
finishing tomorrow. There is a bit of a balance there. Most of all I am
looking forwards to be able to relax and to have the sensation of it
being done. For 109 days I have been wound up pretty tight with serial
problems with the boat, and just sailing the IMOCA 60 solo. So I am
looking forwards to letting my hair down and relaxing.”
Pieter Heerema (NED) skipper No Way Back:
“I am good but at the moment I am preparing the boat a bit because in
24 hours I could be in a lot of wind. And if not 24 hours then in 36
hours I will be in a lot of wind. And in the meantime I need to push and
push because in 36 hours time there seems to be a second low coming in
to Les Sables d’Olonne on Monday, and if I am not in time to miss that
then I will have to stay out of the Bay of Biscay and would have to ride
out the storm somewhere more or less out on the Atlantic. And I’d have
to wait out there for three days or something like that. I am motivated
to push but there is not much wind at the moment. To know that two or
three days before the arrival that you might have to stay out here for
another three or four days is quite difficult. People maybe think well
you have been out there 110 days already what does another three days
matter, but I think it matters. I am really, really, really not looking
forward to the idea of riding out a storm to end this whole thing. I am
not too happy. The boat is fine. The rigging is fine, the keel is fine. I
was just out on the deck repairing watertight cover which is not
watertight. The only thing that makes it difficult is this whole problem
that we no longer talk about. There is nothing left to do about it, we
put it aside.”
(www.vendeeglobe.org)
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