December 11, 2000 - 6:16:45 PM]
News of EBP-GARTMORE
11 Dec 1500UTC 48.30S 31.00E
It has been a frustrating day aboard EBP/GARTMORE with
15-18 knot westerly winds slowing progress and forcing the
boat to head further south than skipper Hall would like.
"I would prefer to be heading due east and the south west
wind should have arrived by now, but it has stayed in the west
all day."said Hall. "I am trying to go as downwind (portant)as
possible but at the same time keep a reasonable boat speed
and its not easy to do both with these boats!"
When the wind turns southwest EBP/GARTMORE should be able
to lay a direct course for the next waypoint some 2100 miles
ahead.
"At least I have had full sail up all day, first time for a number
of days, and have been able to check everything onboard - all
looks fine at the moment" said Hall as he headed off for a
sleep!
Source: Fred Lemonnier
[December 11, 2000 - 4:38:24 PM]
430,7 miles for Union Bancaire Privée
ARGOS has just confirmed that the highest distance sailed in
24 hours by Union Bancaire Privée, skippered by Swiss
Dominique Wavre, between the 8th and the 9th of december
was 430,7 miles.
This distance was covered between 1700hrs UTC friday 8th
and 1700hrs UTC saturday 9th december 2000 and was sailed
at an average speed of 17.95 knots. Dominique Wavre is
improving the performance realised by Yves Parlier (Aquitaine
Innovations) during the 4th and 5th december by 10 miles. of days,
and have been able to check everything onboard - all looks fine
at the moment" said Hall as he headed off for a
sleep!
Source: Fred Lemonnier
Michel Desjoyeaux ( PRB) and Roland Jourdain (Sill Matines La
Potagère) who had moved northward to stay in a westerly
stream have kept on increasing the distance between them
and Yves Parlier (Aquitaine Innovations).
Roland Jourdain has made a remarkable come back. Just
hours after the start, he had to turn back because of a
problem with a halyard. Upset, he caught the leaders at an
impressive average speed, without ever returning however in
the top three .He was always behind Michel Desjoyeaux, and
as he did some good tactics, he managed to reach the second
place, only 27 miles from his Breton friend.
After more than a month of racing and 8700 miles (which is
almost the equivalent of three transats), only two hours
separate both leaders. Roland Jourdain finds it amazing: " If
one had said to me the day after the departure that in a
month I would be second, I don’t think that I would have
believed him. I am really happy with my current position.
Everything is well on board. I have to be careful because the
road is still very long."
Michel Desjoyeaux also has good reasons to be satisfied. He
still benefits from a favorable wind which allows to increase the
miles between him and the others while one of his closest
rival, Yves Parlier, continues to pay the full price for his option
to the South.
Today Yves Parlier is 158 miles behind Michel Desjoyeaux
when just three days ago, he was 100 ahead. This option to
the South has cost him 258 miles. This morning, Yves
comment on what happened: " It’s been a nightmare, I was
on the direct route towards the Heard Island way point. The
boat was going at 17 knots average speed, and both weather
forecasts made out that this was the best route. I fell into
light airs and behind the weather was all over the place below
the low pressure which was passing to my North. There was a
big swell, fickle winds and to cap it all - snow. Knowing that the
thers were going at 15 knots, that was hard to take. I just
didn’t know how to get out of it. I climbed North often away
from the waypoint. It was a near miracle when I saw the
weather files from Météo France, there was a front passing to
my North. I battled hard upwind to get into it. Last night the
wind turned 180 degrees from Northeast to West. Little by
little the wind rose to a crescendo of 50 knots and the sea was
smooth. Working the boat was exhausting but just glad to get
out of this trap. So now I’m behind, okay, the others are
opening up the route ahead now. There’s plenty of water to
cover, it’s not a problem. I can now wait for the moment to
take back the control from behind. ". Here we are, everybody
is warned, Yves Parlier is going to rest a bit, and to wait for his
time to come and to « to put the pressure again".
Thomas Coville has hit something again this morning.
Although the water’s temperature was not less than 5 to 6
degrees, Thomas thinks that it could have been a growler.
Apparently the rudders are not damaged, but Thomas might
wait for a lull or a shelter to do a submarine inspection.
The weather system for the days to come is not simple at all.
A perturbed zone, with many calms, is blocking the road to the
competitors. Catherine Chabaud (Whirlpool), is back on the
same latitude as the other competitors, and counts on this
situation to get back in the fleet.
Four years ago, Thierry Dubois (Solidaires) hit a growler which
broke one of his rudder. To avoid this kind of problem he has
installed a sonar at the front of the keel which can see 200
metres ahead and what warns him if there is an obstacle: "
200 metres, it is a little bit short to react, but it’s better than
nothing ".
Simone Bianchetti is keeping to a very Northerly route and
complained that his autopilots are giving him trouble still.
Mike Golding is working his way South to avoid the high
pressure under South Africa, but doesn’t want to get too far
South yet. He reindexs on track for the record, and soon will
overtake Didier Munduteguy, clocking an average speed of 18
knots, although at such high speeds he managed to break his
Code 5 sail – not serious, he has another one !
[December 11, 2000 - 4:25:22 PM]
Thomas Coville (Sodébo) : Second Unlucky Strike
As if once were not enough, against all probabilities, Sodebo
hit something again. The incident occurred in the middle of
the morning when Thomas was at the chart table. We shall
probably never know what it was : "I went up on deck straight
away but saw nothing apart from a big whitish bubbling in the
water behind the boat. There were two impacts. I think that
the keel was touched, as was the Z-drive (the propeller). This
time round, the boat did not stop. Neither of these two
impacts was very strong. It’s unbelievable. It’s been my
obsessive fear since the start. Once is bad enough, but twice…
"
Thomas’ last dive under Sodebo dates back to just a little
more than one week ago. And he’s in no hurry to dive again :
"Not right now anyway. I’ll see later on whether or not I decide
to dive again with a harness on. There is no ingress of water
around Sodebo’s keel. I heeled her over as far as I could and
was able to make out a sort of white scratch mark on the keel.
That was all. I don’t think that the rudders were effected.
That’s one thing off the list ", concluded Thomas, who thought
that he was dreaming when the impact occurred. "I thought
that I was dreaming, reliving last weekend’s nightmare. It
didn’t even occur to me that I might have hit something. I
had just calculated the distance separating me from Prince
Edward Island at roughly 30 miles. I thougth I had got my
sums wrong and that I had run aground on the island".
So, two impacts which would appear to be without any
particular significance but which don’t do much for Thomas’
morale : "I’m going to end up completely obsessed by it !
Everything on the boat is in such mint condition that it makes
me cross. And yet it’s the one thing we can’t do anything
about ! "
As for the weather and race strategy, the skipper of Sodebo
remembers that the dilemma is ever-present in these
latitudes, where lows turn in a clockwise direction. " You have
to make sure that you get into position for each successive
low. We should have some wind on Wednesday, not quite as
strong as the last time. In fact, you are dependent on your
position with each low and you have to take into account the
compulsory passage points which are situated fairly north. But
if you are too far north and a ridge (line of high pressure)
forms, you are no longer able to head back down south".
compulsory passage points which are situated fairly north. But
if you are too far north and a ridge (line of high pressure)
forms, you are no longer able to head back down south".
Source: Carrémer
[December 11, 2000 - 12:41:40 PM]
Mike Golding (Team Group 4)
"Progress has been good in the last 10 hours, I’m making
good time on the edge of a front coming in. It’s best to get
some South in my route and I’m making a big push to do
that. This morning I was changing sails in a big sea. I thought
the Code 5 was inside its wind range but it broke. It’s not the
end of the world, as I have another. With the situation with my
wind instruments the real problem is that it’s hard to judge the
true wind speed.
"The breeze will go left with the depression and I want to stay
ahead of it. I’m not too desperate to get too South but I don’t
nd of the world, as I have another. With the situation with my
wind instruments the real problem is that it’s hard to judge the
true wind speed.
"The breeze will go left with the depression and I want to stay
ahead of it. I’m not too desperate to get too South but I don’t
want to get caught in the high below South Africa.
"I’m on track for the record, perhaps ahead. The wind is 27 -
30 knots and I’m going at 18 knots average in a lumpy sea
with the genoa up, so going downwind very fast. Oh, I had to
make a slight alteration to my course as Tristan de Cunha was
right in my path so I had to change from the Code 5 to genoa
for 4 hours and creep round it but it hasn’t affected my
progress.
"There’s more virtue in the others looking behind at my
position rather than the other way round as we’re running with
the weather systems in the South, not traversing them. It’s
definitely better this way than the reverse, and I guess with
what’s happened ahead this has brought the front of the fleet
he weather systems in the South, not traversing them. It’s
definitely better this way than the reverse, and I guess with
what’s happened ahead this has brought the front of the fleet
nearer to me but I can’t track the positions too well with my
Sat B difficulties."
Es
[December 11, 2000 - 12:03:16 PM]
Didier Munduteguy: «I was stressed all week-end!»
«I had no wind last week end and it was very stressful. It took
me two days to do 100 miles. The sails were flapping. It was
nerve-breaking, but it was also hard for the boat because of
the shock movements against the sea. Happily, this morning
the wind was up to 15 knots again and as usual I was sailing
at 10 knots».
« I am on the same latitude as Cape Town (1200 miles away
« I am on the same latitude as Cape Town (1200 miles away
approx.) and I am sailing to the fortieth degree South. I am
soon going to cross the Eastern longitude(Greenwich
Meridian).
« The sun has gone, the clouds have appeared and the
temperature is getting lower. I have finally seen my first
albatross this morning."
Source: Erwan Soudry
[December 11, 2000 - 11:47:36 AM]
Roland Jourdain (Sill Matines La Potagère) : ""None of us has
landed in it like Parlier"
"Yesterday was a Sunday like any others...DIY at home. Last
night I wasn’t happy as I was waiting for the front to pass and
had reefed the sails. It was hard-going and I so didn’t want to
break anything. However, I did sleep well, a positive point.
had reefed the sails. It was hard-going and I so didn’t want to
break anything. However, I did sleep well, a positive point.
"Things came back into some kind of order, even saw some
albatross again. The morning was given over to weather study.
It’s like Monday morning’s in the office for everyone else! I’ve
found a better route amongst what we’re expecting in the next
few days.
"The days in which we all gybed, Yves did too. He couldn’t
gybe onto a good heading in relation to the route. Firstly
because of the icebergs and secondly because of the weather.
He had his own weather charts and he didn’t have the same
predictions as us. No one else has landed in it like him. But
it’s not over and it could happen again to any of us.
"I’m happy, no Cheshire cat smile though, as I lost that when
I had my trouble and ended up at the back of the fleet in the
Bay of Biscay. But one can see at the very least you mustn’t
get into anything with heavy consequences. Yves had 13 hours
lead and poof! It’s not a highway route here though and you
have to ask yourself if you want to go with the wind, knowing
Bay of Biscay. But one can see at the very least you mustn’t
get into anything with heavy consequences. Yves had 13 hours
lead and poof! It’s not a highway route here though and you
have to ask yourself if you want to go with the wind, knowing
that we’ll cross a massive valley of low pressure...or is it still
worth carrying on slightly off the route to the North, knowing
that at first we’ll loose ground. Not easy!
"Not being a weather-expert I haven’t got a solution for every
situation. The choices we’ll make in the next 12 - 24 hours will
dictate the events of the next few days."
[December 11, 2000 - 11:41:08 AM]
Simone Bianchetti: "It is still nice"
"There is still quite a lot of wind from West South West. I am
doing OK and I don’t have any major problem onboard. I
didn’t sleep much last night. It is sunny and it is still quite
[December 11, 2000 - 11:41:08 AM]
Simone Bianchetti: "It is still nice"
"There is still quite a lot of wind from West South West. I am
doing OK and I don’t have any major problem onboard. I
didn’t sleep much last night. It is sunny and it is still quite
nice but also getting colder. The only thing that annoys me a
bit is the autopilot. I really do not understand why it is not
working. I am trying to tune the sails well to avoid tiring the
rudders too much. I am looking forward to cross the
fortieth..."
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