Tuesday 23 January
Week of 23rd to 29th January 2001
France & England equalise in Latitude
Current Vendée Globe leader, Michel Desjoyeaux (PRB), was hardly 1
degree in latitude ahead of Ellen MacArthur (Kingfisher), but their
distance in longitude was much more important then as it put the two
leading skippers in slightly different weather systems where either of
them could feel the more favourable winds before the other one.
Ellen hadn’t breathed out, still waiting to see if the anticyclone would
carry on moving North with them, or stop and let them go from its
clutches. "We are in the same weather system but Michel is still further
in the North and when the wind kicks in he’ll get going first. I’m more
to the West of him still…we’ll see, it’s going to be tough." Neck and
neck, the heat is rising out on the water between the Frenchman and the
English girl.
Her two index pursuers, Marc Thiercelin (Active Wear) & Roland Jourdain
(Sill Matines La Potagère), were placed more in the West to negotiate
the bend round the calm zones, an option which looked promising.
Thiercelin was "pushing it big time" and had climbed his mast and
tightened up the port rigging. Thirsty work for the skipper who only
then admitted to having a problem with his water-maker: "I still have 25
litres of fresh water in my reserves. I am lacking water at the worst
time, when it’s warm."
Catherine Chabaud (Whirlpool) was anticipating the calmer winds to hit
her eventually and although she lay roughly 700 miles behind Dominique
Wavre (UBP) and also in front of Josh Hall (EBP/Gartmore), she was
worrying about the British boys catching her up in the near future. "If
there are options to take, they’ll have to be well calculated as behind
Josh & Mike are coming back. If there’s an opening I’ll go for it."
Simone Bianchetti (Aquarelle.com) is still 2000 miles from the Horn.
"I’m averaging 8.5 knots upwind in 30 knots of wind from the NE. I
expect to arrive at Cape Horn for my first ever passage round in 6
days."
Wednesday 24 January
Cape Horn Club grows in members
Desjoyeaux was finally relieved to have got going again, after a
frustrating week watching Ellen eat his lead up from 650 miles at Cape
Horn to a mere 88 miles today. However, he admitted that his slim
advantage over Ellen could go either way. "She’s got going again too! If
the weather looks simple, even if I’m leading by 1 mile or 20 metres,
that’ll be enough. If it looks complex, we’ll have a new start."
The four in pursuit are now clearly grouped into two pairs: Marc
Thiercelin (Active Wear) / Roland Jourdain (Sill Matines La Potagere),
and Dominique Wavre (UBP) / Thomas Coville (Sodebo). Wavre remarked on
this turn of events: "It looks like we’ll be match-racing in pairs all
the way home!"
They are putting everything they have into fighting through the
different anticyclonic zones on their route. Wavre concluded that this
was the only area where the significant gains were to be made, if any,
and that they may be stuck for another two days. Coville, a man with his
"hand on the sheet" the whole time, supported this opinion: "The
anticyclone is re-forming again. The only boat which passed through
successfully is Kingfisher. Ellen has sailed a perfect route."
Yesterday Patrice Carpentier (VM Materiaux) & Bernard Gallay (Voilà.fr)
passed Cape Horn. Carpentier, on his fourth and last rounding, passed
around 2010 UT, just 8 miles away. "It was beautiful and the sky was
charged with lightning. It was the one day in the Southern Ocean where I
ended up having the most wind!"
Joé Seeten (Nord Pas de Calais - Chocolats du monde) passed the
legendary cape at 0435hrs UT, but unfortunately for his first time,
never saw it: "I sensed it though. It was full on last night, I had 43
knots of wind. I passed 6 miles from the lighthouse and could vaguely
make it out. We were racing downwind in a big sea."
Didier Mundutéguy (DDP/60eme Sud) continues to pursue his philosophical
journey: "I’m 3000 miles from Cape Horn so I should pass in 15 days -
well someone’s got to bring up the rear! Here it’s a pretty desolate and
somber place. I’ve never been this far South, it’s not so inspiring,
that’s for sure. To think the first skippers doing the Vendée Globe went
as far South as 62 or 65 degrees!"
Thursday 25 January
An 8th abandon - Fedor Konyukhov
Russian skipper Fedor Konyukhov (Modern University for the Humanities)
officially announced his retirement from the Vendée Globe. Ten days
after his first kidney troubles and serious technical problems, he
decided to stop in Sydney, Australia. "I endured very bad storm, the
third one in the last 10 days, which completely destroyed everything
that I had repaired before. It was a test storm for myself and the boat.
Now I am sailing under staysail, heading to Sydney. Due to my health
problem and sail damage, I will have to stop in the port to repair the
boat and receive medical attention."
Vendée Globe fleet leader, Michel Desjoyeaux (PRB) passed under the 4000
mile barrier today, which at an average of 10 knots, means he should
arrive in the Vendéen port in 16 days, around the 10th February.
In the Southern Ocean life was lived cramped up inside the cabin, but
now the temperatures are rising, they are spending most of their time on
deck as it becomes too stuffy to reindex inside. Consequently, their
bodies have had to rapidly adapt to the effects of yet another sharp
change of season, during their circumnavigation of the planet.
Ellen has washed and cut her hair, while "Bilou" (Jourdain) cheekily
admitted: "I had 4 or 5 showers yesterday, the water was about 26
degrees, turquoise blue. It’s quite refreshing to be naked under the
sun!" Jourdain hastened to add: "the smell coming from the food boxes
locked inside the cabin after 3 months at sea had started to become a
little overpowering."
Mike Golding (Team Group 4) finds that life has improved enormously for
one simple reason: " I can sleep with the velcro hatch cover open now to
air out the boat properly." He is loosely keeping to the East of the
pitch to avoid a high pressure zone heading over from the South American
coast and has fellow Brit Josh Hall (EBP/Gartmore) in his sights,
cutting down his distance behind to a mere 197 miles now. Hall likewise
is looking ahead at gaining serious ground before the North Atlantic on
Chabaud: "If I can lose 1000 miles in 2 weeks due to the weather, so can
she!"
Friday 26 January
An ’intuitive’ race
The errant squalls bringing short, sharp wind gusts required extra
vigilance from the skippers. Now was not the time to break anything.
Ellen was describing the lengths she goes to changing the sails
throughout the heat of the day to pinch out more speed from Kingfisher
and keep the pressure on Desjoyeaux.
With only 9 miles in it between the third pair, Thomas Coville (Sodebo)
was clearly enjoying this return to regatta style racing and "will be
fighting like a dog with Dominique Wavre (UBP) for 5th place right up to
the finish!" The Vendée Globe is still a legend apart from the solo
Figaro regattas these Frenchmen are used to competing in. Coville
pointed out: "It’s not just about a ranking, an average speed. It has a
real stamp of valour attached to it, as the solo sailors in it have to
search for the energy to continue where there’s none left."
Desjoyeaux was banking on his extensive Figaro racing experience,
however, to give him the edge in competition and strategy, but at the
same time he was not going to put the lady down. "If today I have as an
adversary a young woman, it only goes to show that there is no gender
categorisation in sailing, and that women have what it takes to compete
against men with equal ability. Sailing is not an exact science. You
have to know how to analyse the weather, feel the boat performance.
These sensations are intuitive."
It is incredible to witness such an intense level of competition, where
94 miles and 1 degree in longitude separate the top two boats, after 79
days at sea, yet still over 3500 miles reindexs to the finish.
Saturday 27 January
Golding moving in on Hall
Ellen was in her mast-climbing mode again : "Could you call me later on
? I am just back for the second time from climbing to the top of the
mast and I am really tired." They need to ensure that the conditions are
stable and that the boat does not risk gybing or tacking at some point
while the skipper is at the top of the mast. At 26 meters above the
deck, the movements at the mast head are extremely violent. You need two
hands and feet to hold on, and when you need to start working it can be
acrobatic and dangerous. Back on the deck the skippers find they are
heavily bruised.
Catherine Chabaud (Whirlpool) describes life in the South Atlantic :"The
wind is very shifty in direction and intensity. I have a small problem
with my water maker, so when it’s raining I try to catch fresh water. I
am completely soaked and the boat sails with a reef and staysail. If the
wind drops I haven’t got enough if the wind rises I have too much... I
try to negociate as well as possible the St Helen ridge. The weather is
grey, choppy sea and the boat is slamming. I will soon need to tack if I
don’t want to go back to Cape Town."
Casting a swift eye on the advance of Mike Golding (Team Group 4), it
must be noted that he has slipped under the 100 mile barrier behind Josh
Hall (EBP/Gartmore), and lies a mere 80 miles away and further in the
East. The weak depression forming ahead of him could be his chance to
leapfrog up to Hall’s latitude: "As it’s moving South East, I’ll be able
to pick it up better & use it more fully." On Golding’s water-maker
problem : "I sacrificed 1 and a half litres of water to put through the
machine under pressure and it produced 3 litres of water so I’ve made a
positive gain of 1 and a half litres!"
Sunday 28 January
Ils repassent l’équateur !
Surprise this morning at the Vendée Globe Paris race HQ when the morning
positions report arrived: Michel Desjoyeaux (PRB) had virtually stopped.
Ellen MacArthur (Kingfisher) was only 26 miles behind the French race
leader. This turn of events was thanks to the Doldrums making a rare,
early appearance below the Equator.
Michel Desjoyeaux managed to crossed the Equator line at 0400hrs UT and
after 21000 miles of race, the two leaders have got a new start on the
Equator line. They were neck and neck, Kingfisher back in the East. In
the Doldrums, it’s not a question of tactics anymore as Michel
Desjoyeaux explained : " When you go at 15 knots, you can control a
competitor and anticipate the weather. When you are only going at 2
knots you can’t do anything and you can only try to escape as quickly as
possible. It’s a lottery. "
The third pair, Dominique Wavre (Union Bancaire Privée) and Thomas
Coville (Sodebo), were very unlucky with the weather. Coville didn’t try
to hide the fact that he was feeling tired and fed up with the
situation. Pushing hard since the start, Thomas the racer, is frustrated
not to be in the leading trio : " I’ve been fighting for three days to
escape from this small low pressure. I haven’t slept. I am knackered.
It’s depressing."
Mike Golding (Team Group 4) briefly moved up into the eigth place, in
front of Josh Hall (EBP Gartmore), being further in the East, he was
closer to the finish line. The weather conditions in the Southern
Atlantic haven’t been easy and simple for anyone in the race and once
again all the predictions are unfounded . Weather study is not an exact
science….sailing would lose a lot of its interest otherwise.
Monday 29 January
Ellen is Queen for a day
Ellen MacArthur (Kingfisher), the youngest competitor in the race,
slipped into first place by a margin of 5 miles according to distance to
finish, when overnight she passed Michel Desjoyeaux (PRB) in the Doldrum
calms. Michel Desjoyeaux couldn’t even imagine that in the reindexing
7000 miles, anyone else could take back the 640 mile lead which he had
at Cape Horn.
In a place where the skippers are sailing from cloud to cloud searching
for the next breath of wind it seems hardly significant. The
meteorological crystal ball isn’t letting anyone get an advantage as in
reality the conditions on the water are nothing like the forecasts.
Instead the skippers are constantly in manoeuvres, helming as much as
possible, changing sail configurations, all these hugely physical and
exhausting efforts to keep the boat going in the capricious wind and
scorching heat, with no foreseeable end in sight for the next 48 hours.
The first one to break in these conditions has lost the game.
Ellen admitted herself: "I’m happy but I can’t show my happiness when
I’m totally exhausted. I think Michel is better positioned to escape
this in the North West. I’m watching out for the others behind as Bilou
is really over to the West and going fast." Despite her new status as
race leader she reindexed realistic: "I’m just doing the best I can,
fighting to get out of this zone as quickly as possible."
Behind, Thiercelin opted for the Easterly route "drawing on my past
circumnavigations. In the last Vendée, I saw Hervé Laurent pass in the
East. I prefer to be to windward of the fleet." Indeed, after the
Doldrums are behind them, it is more favourable to pick up the North
Easterly winds on the right hand side of the course. "Even if the others
ahead are stuck, the weather changes so rapidly there that when I arrive
everything could have cleared up."
On the other hand, Jourdain chose another logic, to go for speed and not
so much heading in order to get past the tricky areas of little or no
wind. "My objective is to pass to the West so I slow down the least in
the Doldrums. The others are all in the East so I must try something
different. At the exit it may look bad to be to the lee of the fleet but
I’ll find a way to get back over to the East. The depressions rolling in
from the West could give me an advantage."
Josh Hall (EBPP/Gartmore) claimed back his 8th place, making better
gains to the North than Mike Golding (Team Group 4) with his speed not
dropping below 20 knots on the back of a depression. Golding however,
endured 40 knot winds and a nasty sea running head on all night, with
index sail fully reefed and storm jib up. "I’m moving well now and hope
that the massive gain Josh has made was only temporary."
At the back of the fleet, Pasquale de Gregorio (Wind) reported his good
news in a telex: "It seems that finally we are out of the tunnel, the
wind has returned, the boat is going along by herself at 10 knots. The
barometer is also rising very slow toward 1000 hpa, and the wind is SW
20-25 knots with some reinforcements every now and then. According to my
calculations, I should be at less 3,000 miles from Cape Horn."
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