[December 28, 2000 - 5:08:00 PM]
Short respite for Golding (Team Group 4)
Mike Golding reports much calmer conditions on the Vendee
Globe race today.
Team Group 4 is currently sailing under genoa in about 10
knots of wind - the sea is too lumpy for the genniker. Golding
reports that he is eating and sleeping well and that the respite
between depressions is giving him the opportunity to catch up
on necessary on-board indextenance.
Golding still has his fair share of problems on board. The
watermaker continues to be a problem and Golding has to
work it manually to desalinate enough drinking water. This is a
lengthy process and in the bad storms of the past few days
Golding has not been able to make extra water to store.
He is not unduly concerned at this stage as he is able to catch
rainwater, but in warmer, drier weather it could prove a more
serious problem.
Team Group 4 also has power generation problems and
Golding is now starting to economise on his electrical
consumption on board in order to conserve fuel to be able to
run his generator for the rest of the race.
Source: MPR
December 28, 2000 - 2:12:17 PM]
Simone Bianchetti (Aquarelle.com) "I had a small problem
with the index sail and have been working on it for 2 days. I’m
playing some local music, it was in a Christmas parcel. A bit
like Breton music! It’s nice, I feel like I’m at home when I
play this music. I don’t want to climb the mast in this sea –
there’s a 3/4 metre swell, not a wise move. Perhaps I’ll wait
until after New Zealand. I want to get to Cape Horn in one
piece – I’m sailing safely all the way there."
[December 28, 2000 - 12:36:31 PM]
Josh Hall’s (EBP-Gartmore) Big Blue Letter - what it’s like to be
in a ’public goldfish bowl’
0930UTC 28 December 50.37S 144.18E
"Well Christmas is over with - another one, my third, spent
alone at sea. I was not very communicative over the period –
its strange that although we are on a solo race, with the
satcoms and websites and telephone interviews and video
conferences it feels a little like being in a public gold fish bowl.
Of course it is these things that create the sponsorship to
come racing these days but at Christmas I felt I wanted to
switch off from it a little and just communicate with the people
very close to me that I love the most....so that’s what I did!!
"Some things are really tough at the moment.
"It’s windy - for 4 days now it has been blowing 30-45 knots
from the south south west. The waves and swell have built up
considerably so we leap and fly across them as we try to head
east with the wind and seas on the beam. Walls of water
continuously sweep down the deck, half filling the cockpit
before draining away. It is freezing cold outside as the wind
whips in from the Antarctic so going on deck for the smallest
job requires full oilskins, hat and gloves. The motion of the
boat is quite violent in these conditions. As we surf off on a
big wave at 20-25 knots and start to skip heavily across the
seas it is as though a great hand is slapping the hull from all
sides.
"But these conditions are what we expect and I have endured
them before so as long as nothing breaks I am pretty content
with it. What’s hard is the difficulty in performing the simplest
tasks when we are on this endless Disney Land ride.
"For example - having lived on freeze-dried food for a few
days I was desperate for some better food this morning. So,
with much balancing and struggle I cooked some spaghetti
and added some chilli con carne, onions and garlic.
Successfully cooked I poured it into my dog bowl and settled
down at the chart table for the feast. It needed some salt so I
wedged the bowl on the chart table, and leaned back to grab
it. In that 2 seconds we lurched on a big wave and when I
Successfully cooked I poured it into my dog bowl and settled
down at the chart table for the feast. It needed some salt so I
wedged the bowl on the chart table, and leaned back to grab
it. In that 2 seconds we lurched on a big wave and when I
turned back my dog bowl was upside down on my seat. Talk
about losing it - I went ballistic, shouting and screaming at the
waves through the doorway. They, of course, took no notice.
"Everything is 10 times more difficult to achieve than normal,
and every move inside or on deck must be carefully
considered and executed. It would be very very easy to get
badly injured just moving position in the cabin. In the 1990
BOC I well remember the ecstasy of rounding The Horn and
almost instantly losing this big swell and the fear dissipating
hourly - it is that ecstasy I seek now. I hope we can get there
in about 18 days. Once round I will celebrate by leaving a bowl
of spaghetti on the chart table for a whole day!!!
Josh
Source: Fred Lemonnier (GLOBAL MARINE)
[December 28, 2000 - 12:18:34 PM]
Patrice Carpentier (VM Matériaux) : In which Patrice finds that
his gloves have a mind of their own
Patrice Carpentier recounted his most recent anecdote on
board the yellow boat: "The weathere was superb yesterday
and so I decided to climb up the mast. When I got up there, I
had to take off my gloves and so I put them in the trouser
pocket of my oilskins. When I got down and back inside the
cabin, could I find my gloves? Impossible! So I took off my
deck boots to put on my ‘house’ boots and voila… I found my
gloves: the left one in the left boot, the right one in the right
boot! Really, they have a mind of their own!
Patrice Carpentier told us of his daily chat with Bernard Gallay:
"We realised that we were both reading the same book right
now! How funny! Well, it gives us something to chat about. I
am still a smidgeon behind him, and I hope to not be left
behind by him. I’ve come back on Joé Seeten."
[December 28, 2000 - 11:27:56 AM]
Roland Jourdain (Sill Matines et La Potagère) : "It’s better
here than where you are"
The Pacific Ocean has calmed down last night: « The wind has
dropped regularly and is more steady. So now the sea is
better. With 20 to 25 knots of wind, I am faster than with the
25/40 knots I had yesterday evening. I still have three to four
metres of swell so we can do some good surfing» Bilou told us
this morning during a telephone conversation.
The moral is higher: « It’s warmer. The air temperature is 9°
and the water is 7. As far as I know it’s better here than where
you are» he laughs, visibly relaxed and happy to feel that his
boat is not suffering so much
On the race hand, the night was steady between the two
leaders. It is interesting to see the difference in latitude
between the two of them. A bit more than one degree, Bilou
being further South.
« I don’t understand what Mich is going to do in the North,
may be he is trying to avoid some low pressure centres, just
like the one I was stuck in yesterday. We’ll see. Myself I am
trying to find the best wind angle to go as fast as possible.
The weather forecast for the next days seems to uncertain to
make plans."
Source: Vincent Borde - Welcome On Board
[December 28, 2000 - 11:09:58 AM]
Marc Thiercelin (Active Wear) : "I have 15 days & 3 weeks left
before I can break anything!"
"I’d really come back, worked so hard and now I’ve lost it all! I
was behind Ellen, when the wind eased off for us both. She
managed to get away but I didn’t. I climbed North to avoid the
centre of the depression and there I lost out again. I’m just
raging, I’ve no idea why!
"I’m in squally conditions, there are really big clouds, which
don’t have a great deal of wind or rain under them. We’re on
the Eastern plateau of the Campbell Islands and the sky is
full of birds. Despite the poetry of it all, I really don’t like
running behind little Ellen!
"I tried the Northern option to get into stronger winds and I
have 15 knots, which fluctuated down to 9 at one time. It’s so
shifty and I’m having to work on the ballasts and the wind
direction. We’ve left the area, where the autopilots go crazy
due to the magnetic South Pole! Mich Desj has really flown the
coop. That has added misery to my disappointment.
"I’m on my 10th gybe: I’m going faaster but I’m more on the
same route as the others. I spent one day fixing my other
gennaker to have both sails in working order until the finish. I
shall attack the Pacific section and then as for the Atlantic,
well, we’ll see!
"Our Finot boats really drive well downwind but I don’t know, I
just can’t seem to catch Ellen. Ahead of her, the other two are
in a different wind. Days like this morning, I don’t believe
what’s happening! 20 degrees distance in longitude! When I
came back on the leaders by 10 degrees that was great. Then
they simply left me behind! If it goes on like this, I’ll lose my
wits! But we’re only halfway so I can’t shrug my shoulders, but
I am getting a little worked up about it. I have 15 days - 3
weeks left!"
[December 28, 2000 - 11:02:26 AM]
Bernard Gallay (Voila.fr) : "It’s all so quiet!"
"I’m fine except that there is absolutely no wind, and it
doesn’t get better! The anticyclone is going at the same
speed as we are. It starts to be tiring as ahead they take 80
miles a day on us.
Apart from that the conditions are comfortable, there is no
cloud in the sky, so I washed and shaved myself, I also
washed my clothes. But for the race it’s hard; boat wise, all is
ok. It’s not too hard for her as I have a gennaker and
indexsail up. I have 12 knots of true wind, I’m heading to 090.
I am checking everything onboard. I still hope that I will be
able to come back on Josh Hall but in 3 days he had taken
300 miles.
It was funny yesterday, during a conversation with Patrice
Carpentier, he told me to read a book he had for Christmas
and I was just finishing it! When I stopped in New Zealand
eight years ago I met a couple who had a boatyard, so I told
Parlier and Dubois about them as they will be able to help
them."
[December 28, 2000 - 10:42:12 AM]
"Again I sit.. The wind has dropped after a large cloud.
Already I have taken the reef in and out of the indexsail 6
times. It’s frustrating, as after 20 minutes had passed the
wind always seems to pick up..though you never know.
"The sun shines between the squalls around us , and the
seabirds play, swoop and swim as we chundle past.. It’s been
a good morning for progress - though frustrating as always
with the squalls. I’ve never seen squalls quite so violent as
here.. Going from 15-30 knots in one hit.. I’ afraid for the
gennaker, as it’s our last! Though there is no option but to fly
it if we are to make progress...
"It’s great to be a little ahead right now, and I feel more than
before now I am away from the others that I am sailing my
own race. No longer in quite the same weather as those ahead
- or behind, I feel - for the want of a better phrase - a little
freer!
"We are just sailing under the most western part of New
Zealand as I type, and in just over 24 hours time we shall be
on the same longitude as Auckland..I think Kingfisher is
feeling she’s close to home right now, though we’ve had a
talk, and I’ve told her that we might stop off the next time
round..
"The wind continues to die...just 14 knots now. Can it be that
the wind will stay so light, maybe I’ll wait another 10 minutes..
yes 10 minutes. Then shake out the reef. It’s a hard one to
keep putting the first reef in and out, as I have to re-hoist a
lot of sail, its very hard work. Frustrating, long - but rewarding
as we speed off afterwards.
"There we go... 24knots of wind. I knew it was worth waiting!
Today I have checked for oil in the generator - pumped out
water that was kicking around in the forepeak. Changed the
rubbish bag (always a great one!) and generally checked
around down below..Oh yes - I’ve wired the Sat C
into the 24V transformer to see if I can kick it into life...so far
- it seems to be working better anyway.
"I’m a bit worried about a depression which is due to form
ahead of us. I don’t feel like getting trapped beneath it as it
streaks to the SE - but it looks like it’ll be hard to stay to it’s
north. It seems to be developing earlier than we think which is
good news though - so maybe it’ll drop south ahead of us.
"Better pop up and ease out the sails a little.."
ellen
Source: Kingfisher Challenges
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