[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 - 11:30:45 AM]
Javier Sanso (Old Spice) has another 60 knot night.
In a fax received last night, Javier reported in on his situation
as he has no voice communications working.
"Another 60 + night. I had the boat prepared to what came at
the end so I hope I will get out okay. I am only doing 8-10
knots under 50 knots but is because I chose the storm jib
instead of the staysail.
"I can wait to see some sails up on Old Spice and make
ground to the East.
"Soon it will be Christmas, my third one at sea, my second
alone at sea. When my Mini M works I let you know, this week
sometime.."
Hasta luego
Javier spiceman
[December 19, 2000 - 11:21:38 AM]
Yves Parlier has not abandoned the race.
Aquitaine Innovations, dismasted early on Monday morning,
continues on its circumnavigation. Skipper Yves Parlier, alerted
his Race HQ in Aquitaine and the Vendée Globe Race HQ in
Paris to inform them that he has no intention of heading
towards Australia to repair the boat.
One day later, Yves Parlier explained that his mast broke in
two in a violent swerve and involuntary gybe under a strong
gust of wind. Only 6 metres of the mast is left. Aquitaine
Innovations was the first monohull rigged with giant
spreaders. That is to say that his mast his held laterally by
two giant spars of 6.5m in length fixed at the foot of the mast
and spreading outwards.
The extremity of these giant spreaders is attached to 3 lateral
stays, which run up to the top of the mast, the inner forestay,
and the baby stay. It’s above this last attachment, at the
height of the baby stay, where the carbon tube was broken.
Yves Parlier hopes still to sail with 4 reefs in his index sail
rigged up on this section of the mast. Aquitaine Innovations
could thus follow his course until Cape Horn with this jury rig
and, once past the point of South America, he might succeed
in trying to add and stratify another tube in order to lengthen
the spar.
A Telex from Yves Parlier came at 2200hrs on 18th December:
"If I understand the mechanics and the chain of unfortunate
events which provoked the dismasting, I still can’t work out in
my head why it happened. I was well into my race and
mentally on form, totally in synch with Aquitaine Innovations,
she was performing brilliantly, achieving incredible speeds
without pushing her. The two of us were like a perfect couple
who knew and loved each other, both wanting to do this
circumnavigation together.
Yes, it’s true that I was tired, and that my foot was hurting a
little and I had a few minor troubles, but the boat was in
perfect state. She was giving her all and I my self-confidence
redoubled, mostly because she was giving me such a fantastic
performance – unparalleled in my opinion. I stayed calm when
I got stuck in the light weather and the others were charging
ahead, I wasn’t frustrated and I kept a long-term perspective
on the route.
So how do you understand in a split second that all your
hopes for this legendary race, the Vendée Globe, which I have
been working towards for 9 whole years, has now gone up in
smoke. I am now held captive by the order of work that needs
to be done and I haven’t got time to get depressed about it.
All the petrels circling have alone heard the sound of my
frustration. I cannot think of doing anything else but to try
and revive the wings of my blue bird to finish this trip around
the world, which we had started so well."
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