[December 19, 2000 - 6:39:22 PM]
A brief note from Yves Parlier (Aquitaine Innovations) on 19th
December at 1800hrs:
Constructing a jury rig
During the day time, Yves Parlier is summoning up all his
energy to construct his jury rig, and will soon give more precise
technical details.
Telex from Yves Parlier to his Race HQ at 1700 hours: "I have
just come down from the top of the mast section, after
spending 4 hours up there. Now it’s been dark for an hour and
I’m too tired to tell you everything now. Later I’ll send an
email. I have no satellite connection so you’ll have to wait to
speak to me."
Source: PC Aquitaine Innovations
December 19, 2000 - 6:24:07 PM]
The Kerguelen Islands in sight for Joé Seeten (Nord Pas de
Calais - Chocolats du Monde)
Five Days after the leaders in the fleet, Joé Seeten is passing
the Kerguelen Islands. Victim of communication problems on
board, Joé has no use of his Standard C, and only 50% of the
Standard B capacity working. He only has his Mini M phone
which is now out of range until Cape Horn.
Joé is slowed slightly by a partly broken mast track,
constraining him to sail with one reef in the index sail,
doggedly continuing on his pusuit of the top half of the fleet.
He is 200 miles North of the direct route.
Source: Kaori.fr
December 19, 2000 - 4:18:48 PM]
Yesterday, the Vendée Globe race HQ confirmed that
Aquitaine Innovations had dismasted. At that time all efforts
to communicate with him went unanswered, and so for safety
reasons, Philippe Jeantot asked Ellen MacArthur (Kingfisher) to
divert her course to coincide with Parlier’s position in order to
get a visual on skipper and boat. However, Yves Parlier
eventually sent a fax via his Standard C, explaining the
circumstances, and that he was unharmed, and Ellen was
subsequently called off from the search.
It seems that Parlier was in a 35 knot squall, sailing under 3
reefs in the index plus staysail and genoa. After one gybe, he
started surfing and the boat ploughed straight into a wave,
which brought Aquitaine to a brutal halt. This put unbearable
pressure on the mast, and thus led to it breaking into three
pieces, leaving a 6 metre section which stops at the height of
the baby stay and the two outriggers. It’s with this reindexing
section of the mast that Parlier has set up a jury rig with 4
reefs in his indexsail and the storm jib up front.
The major surprise came more from his decision not to
abandon. Normally, as Catherine Chabaud so neatly put it : "I
would take the first turning left after a dismasting!" Indeed,
Parlier was expected to head for Perth on the SW coast of
Australia, the nearest port at 1500 miles from his position. He
took that very decision 4 years ago in the Vendée Globe after
a growler hit his rudder off the Crozet Islands, which led to his
abandon. He was able to make the repair and finish the race
outside the rankings.
Such past experience is probably a bad memory for Parlier,
and this time he is determined to rally on to Les Sables
d’Olonne inside the race rules, albeit under a jury rig. After a
good sleep, Parlier re-assessed his situation and noted that
his first objective is to set the sails on his reduced mast and
get his boat back on her proper course. The conditions until
Cape Horn will be downwind for the most part and so under a
jury rig, navigation will be easier.
When he tackles the Atlantic section, life will be complicated
as the going will be upwind, and a jury rig can hardly perform
well in these conditions. Parlier, though, hopes to be able to
fix one of the broken pieces of mast onto the rig by this
stage, and thus take out two reefs from his index sail and set
the gennaker to increase his boat speed. If things go to plan
he should arrive in Les Sables d’Olonne in reasonable time.
The skippers contacted today by telephone gave us their
immediate reactions to Parlier’s news, some supportive
(Coville & Chabaud) and others more reserved (Desjoyeaux).
They are recorded in the Radio Chat Extracts.
In the meantime, the race continues and Michel Desjoyeaux
(PRB) is still indextaining a slim lead over Roland Jourdain (Sill
Matines La Potagere) by just 64 miles as they come to the
end of the Indian Ocean and get stuck into the Pacific ahead.
Ellen MacArthur (Kingfisher) is still giving her all, and despite
her enforced change of course last night to head in Parlier’s
direction, she has a mere 41 miles separating her from third
placed Thomas Coville (Sodebo).
The Southern Ocean is giving other skippers a bad deal.
Javier Sanso (Old Spice) had "another 60 knot night" to
endure, persevering at 8 knots just with his storm jib up. Mike
Golding (Team Group 4) described how he had experienced
violent bursts of unusual Easterly squalls against a huge
Westerly flowing sea, boat-breaking weather conditions, in
which his Open 60 lurched and rolled around uneasily. And
then at first light he woke up in an eerie calm, to find a big
berg coming up large on his radar screen. After a sudden
alteration to steer right away from this white rock, he is now
heading more North as he continues East in search of the
index fleet.
[December 19, 2000 - 1:33:31 PM]
Josh Hall (EBP-Gartmore) & the Christmas Big Blue Letter.
"After my big iceberg experience I worked the boat north a
little and passed just a half mile south of Isle de L’Este , the
eastern most of the Crozet group of islands. It was strange to
see land - the first since The Canaries...and I had not
expected to see any until The Horn so it was a little treat.
"The island was quite spectacular...snow covered peaks and a
agged barren coastline that was not in the least bit
welcoming.I don’t believe there are any inhabitants there,
certainly I could see no signs of life and in the clear absence
of a BurgerKing drive-thru, I decided not to stop!
"As we passed the island a fresh south westerly wind filled in
and we were soon rocketing along at 18-27 knots in strong
winds , big seas and bright sunshine. It was a remarkable day
of sailing made very spectacular by the abnormal sunshine.
The seas grew to around 10 metres and by nightfall the wind
was gusting up to 50knots in the squalls. The line for the
second reef in the indexsail had broken during the day but 3
reefs in the index and the solent sail set up front was more
than enough to keep the speeds high.
"We blasted through the night and gradually during the next
day the wind eased. Unfortunately this weather system passed
through me before the others so they carried on sailing fast
as we slowed over the weekend so a little separation has
occurred.
"I am not too concerned by this as it is the nature of the
beast down here......everyone has a ride on a system but at
different times.
"I am now awaiting the next system which will bring us strong
north west winds, to arrive any time now....we will have this
wind first so I will be recovering miles soon.
"Everything is fine on board with all the systems working well,
which is good good news.
"Yesterday we had the news that Yves Parlier’s mast had
broken and he will be retiring into Australia I imagine. Yves is
a real maverick sailor and pushes his boat to the extreme.
This policy either wins you races or breaks the boat.
Unfortunately for him it has broken the boat this time. I really
feel for him having been dismasted 2 years ago on the other
side of the world from home.....it’s a tough mental thing to
deal with - one minute everything is fine, next minute
catastrophe! Also it is a logistical nightmare getting the boat
back to Europe - and an expensive experience. Shipping the
boat back costs as much as the new mast!
"Anyway, from a race point of view, there is one less
competitor for us to beat and it confirms to me my policy of
keeping a good average speed, not going crazy, looking after
the boat and pushing harder once we are safely around Cape
Horn.
"I expect to arrive at The Horn @ January 8-11th but we need
some help from the weather to achieve that!
Meanwhile I have put the christmas decorations up and will
be having a party on Christmas Eve if anyone wants to come
around they are welcome.....you just have to like pasta a lot!"
Josh
[December 19, 2000 - 1:00:55 PM]
Telex sent by Yves Parlier Tuesday at 1100 hrs to the Race
HQ for Aquitaine Innovations :
"I slept well and now my objective is firstly to fix two halyards
up top for the index sail and staysail, and to see what I can
cut out in my genoa. With this initial rig I can guess my speed
and see if I can get back to Les Sables d’Olonne with my own
means. I should be able to get just offshore of Argentina.
There I will find hot, anticyclonic weather which should mean
can adjoin the top part of the mast to the lower part. I can
then carry the index sail with 2 reefs and the heavy spinnaker
and the gennaker to make a genoa and head spinnaker. If all
goes to plan I should arrive in Les Sables in reasonable time."
Source: PC Aquitaine Innovations
[December 19, 2000 - 12:46:19 PM]
Mike Golding (Team Group 4) talks of his iceberg fright and
the violent conditions overnight.
Last night was dreadful...Initially I was on a favoured gybe
going South, and I gybed early to get some Northing in my
route. During the day I’d seen a very big iceberg, which
encouraged my decision to head North.
So last night I gybed to come North, the breeze went North,
which I expected, but then it just continued to go round, to the
East! I ended up on starboard tack 040 heading, which was
favoured and the breeze then kicked in violently, I mean it
wasn’t so strong but just felt violent with short gusts, and the
sea was dreadful as we were sailing down the swells but
upwind. The boat was either on hr ear or bolt upright.
"Then a huge iceberg popped up on the radar and I tried to
alter course to clear it. I have an antenna on the mast (for the
radar), and on the original mast it had a correction screen
(ed: as the boat is heeled the reading from the mast will be
at an angle), but not on the new mast. So I had to cock my
head to a right angle at the mast, it made it harder than
normal to suss it out.
I altered my course quite a lot, from 040 to 100, determined
to stay well clear of it. I got past that one, got some sleep at
the nav station, and woke up to spot a huge berg on the
radar. The breeze had totally cut out and the sea was lumpy,
and as I climbed on deck at fist light I heard a scream coming
from the water - it must have been a seal, it was weird and
more than spooky!
"Now, I have NW breeze, sailing slightly North of East at 12 -
15 knots, not going flat out, as the sea is horrendous. The
normal Westerly swell has a wave component from the NE, so
the sea’s really chopped up.
"I do know exactly how Yves feels, and I’m very disappointed
for him as he was sailing a good race. Choosing to carry on is
an extraordinary and brave decision to make, I can’t imagine
doing that!
"My plans are to reach the Kerguelen Islands now as I’ll have
the right conditions to do the repair work. It’s very
nerve-wracking as I don’t know what’s gone wrong and I hope
it’s straightforward. My ETA there given the current conditions
is about 3 day’s sailing, it’s 870 miles away."
[December 19, 2000 - 12:11:19 PM]
Michel Desjoyeaux (PRB) : "If it was me, I’d head to Australia"
"I’m fine, I’ve just finished a manoeuvre, so I’m a little out of
breath! The sea is choppy, we’re bashing into this depression.
It’s giving us a hard time, but we’re making progress."
(On Yves Parlier) "I repeat and emphasise: I’ve been saying
for several days that I would not want to go so fast, and now I
know why! You have to know when to put the brakes on. ‘Bilou’
and I don’t want to push that hard, just like the others behind.
Yves wanted to come back on us, and he was taking back 50
miles per day, even when he was in touch with Bilou. It’s
obvious to me that he must have pushed his machine too
hard.
"Now there are two ways of looking at this. Firstly, it’s
unfortunate to say that it means one less competitor!
Secondly, in a positive light, that still means one less
competitor!
"In any case, I had no intention of competing against his
pace, I didn’t find it at all reasonable the rate at which he was
pushing his boat. I would have let him overtake me as I know
that PRB isn’t in this race for that kind of play. But no one is
exempt from the possibility of a dismasting, and we must all
respect the elements and nature’s ways. We must know how
to best use these conditions to get through this without the
same thing happening to us. This sport is mechanical and the
technical side is a part of sailing."
(On Yves’ decision to continue the race) "I think Yves is a big
enough boy to know what he must do. He must still be in a
state of shock and perhaps he will listen to reason soon.
Isabelle (Autissier) got a replacement mast (in the BOC 94-94
race at the Kerguelen Islands) and the boat rolled around in
the Southern Oceans until the time that she lost it. It’s up to
him to make the proper decision.
The Indian Ocean is nearly over, the Pacific lies ahead. You
can’t put yourself in someone else’s shoes. He must be left
entirely responsible for his decision, he can change it. I don’t
think he’s got enough food to finish the race with. I don’t
know if I’d want to do the same thing! If it was me I’d head
for Australia but I’m not Yves. He’s his own boss!"
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