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5. Vendee Globe 2004/2005
www.vendeeglobe.org - zur Übersicht
Press Release No.23
Wednesday 9th November 2004
10 November 2004: 1500 GMT ranking
1.Vincent Riou(PRB) 22713.4 miles from the finish
2. Roland Jourdain (Sill et Véolia) 16.7 miles from the leader
3. Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) 25.8 miles from the leader
Heeling in Extremis on the Approach to Madeira
The general atmosphere amongst the Imoca fleet in this the fifth edition of the Vendée Globe is one of sheer pleasure in the superb, rather wet, downwind conditions expereinced since the start. Set to arrive in Madeira at the end of today, the fleet has been enjoying instantaneous speeds nudging 18 knots, Nick Moloney (Skandia) even hitting 27 knots mid radio session during a big surf. At 1500 GMT Vincent Riou (PRB) and Roland Jourdain (Sill et Véolia) were the leading duo with Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) completing the podium after a huge amount of physical effort disentangling his foresails two nights ago.
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Numerous competitors have reported heeling right over with their masts touching the water either as a result of being over-canvassed in big gusts or through their rudders kicking up after hitting debris in the water. The whole fleet has grouped together with no big options to play at this stage as the head of the pack between the latitude of Cape Saint-Vincent (Portugal) and the Straits of Gibraltar. They will have to watch for the effects of wind shadows as they make towards the west of Madeira and all agree that the transition zone around the Canaries is likely to act as a buffer zone. This is set to create a concertina effect amongst the fleet which will calm the frontrunners as they hit the light wind further south that should enable the backrunners to close down on them.
On the podium since the start of the race Vincent Riou on PRB was feeling particularly chirpy at the radio chat session, live on the official website for the Vendée Globe, making it all seem very simple. “All’s well, gliding along. I haven’t been helming much, it’s wet outside and I don’t like the water! I almost have to force myself to go on deck and helm just to check that everything’s balanced as the boat really just sails itself in these conditions. Managing sleep is easy right now and I’m getting 5/6 hours a day in 30 minute chunks and I’ve still got fresh food for a few days.”
In second Roland Jourdain was clearly having a ball with plenty of action aboard Sill et Véolia. “I’ve been doing some elegant “live” freestyling with the rudder kicking up at one point and throwing me into an emergency gybe forcing me to furl in everything and then hoist it again. The boat went over on its ear for about 6-4 minutes at 90 degrees – it’s been a long time since that happened. It looks like it’s going to slow down up front at a certain point and conditions are going to change in a couple of days.”
Up into third position, British sailor Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) showed a hint of tiredness which can be explained by the problems he encountered with his foresails and his consequent scaling of the mast two nights ago. Unreported to Race Management the spinnaker tack detached itself from the bowsprit, resulting in the spinnaker wrapping itself and its halyard around the staysail. Try as he might, the two sails were by then so entangled that from the deck, Alex could do nothing to separate them. So as not to waste time Thomson decided to don his head torch and mast climber and begin his 45 minute 22m ascent to virtually the top of the mast. He sawed his way through the block that holds the staysail halyard and after a tortuous 25 minute descent landed safely back on the deck with both sails undamaged. About three hours later the next challenge kicked in, when the tack on the bowsprit came undone leaving the Code 5 loose. At this point the tack was flogging in the wind about 25ft from the boat, held only by the furling line to the pulpit. He gingerly edged to the end of the 6ft bowsprit, and as the waves crashed over him, he somehow succeeded in pulling the sail back in. With the immediate danger now firmly in hand, Alex fitted the spare tack fitting and re-hoisted the sail. At today’s radio session all was more than fine aboard Hugo Boss other than some electronics problems, sailing with one reef and a code 5, “swimming” in the cockpit and preferring to be “up with PRB with a bit more westing.”
Behind Thomson, in 4th position it has been a difficult night for Jean Le Cam who encountered a UFO (unidentified floating object) last night as his boat, Bonduelle was coming back on the podium after a very nice gybe. The adjustable rudder system worked well, but the monohull was not up to full power for several hours.
Sailing conditions are certainly fairly difficult with the various obstacles across the way and the fact that the competitors have to keep the boats racing down the axis of the wind. The problem is that the swell is relatively long so high surveillance is going to be the order of the day. The battle for fifth position has now gone back to Sébastien Josse again in the past four hours, Mike Golding (Ecover) just slipping down into 6th position at 1500 GMT by 0.1 miles. The latter declared the race pace to be “Acceptable. I’m in foul weather gear as it’s fairly wet on deck but it’s fairly mild and quite cloudy. It looks like the wind will become more headed in the days to come as we negotiate the tropical low pressure. It’s incredible that we’re already level with Gibraltar but the current conditions mean that the doldrums are likely to be bigger. Hopefully the trade winds will kick in from the east so that the doldrums are kept in their place.”
Other significant progress amongst the fleet has come in the form of Patrice Carpentier on VM Matériaux who has climbed up into 10th position, Nick Moloney on the warpath now just 10 miles behind him. However, at the back of the fleet Austrian Norbert Sedlacek (Brother), is currently stretching out his deficit 354.3 miles from the leader at 1500 GMT. As regards the conditions, the wind is still blowing from the north-east at 20/25 knots and though the fleet appear to be on a motorway down towards the sun, it is badly laid and the conditions aboard are very wet. The averages are very good with thirteen of the twenty boats having covered over 300 miles in the past 24 hours, with gold going to Roland Jourdain (Sill et Véolia) with 370.8 miles at an average speed of 15.5 knots. For now the wind is continuing to push the fleet towards the Canaries but in the coming hours they should hit a transition zone between the edge of a high pressure system on which the fleet are currently surfing and this famous low pressure system which is shifting rather slowly towards the west.
Quotes from the Boats:
Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle):
"I was sleeping when the rudder kicked up after hitting something... Result : the boat went out of control and gybed. The time it took to sort out the mess I had to reduce speed and virtually go backwards to push down on the windward rudder and keep control of the boat." The fuse system worked well: Bonduelle didn’t suffer any damage, but Jean Le Cam lost some time on his adversaries, with Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) catching up with him overnight. The two boats sailed within sight of each other for some hours, but then the young British sailor was able to make his escape during Jean’s repairs.
Benoît Parnaudeau (Max Havelaar/Best Western):
" Speed 14/15 knots at 235 degrees - Wind 30 knots of northerly - Barometer rising at 1025 - Big seas - index sail 1 reef + solent - We're off! Escaping from the Bay of Biscay was really nice with the wind and the sea which is pushing us along towards surfs of 18 knots. In addition, the sun is shining on us, the sea is an intense blue with white caps. It's a fantastic show - thank you for the welcome Mother Nature. I promise I'll take care of you. Ben " The only technical worry is that experienced by Raphaël sur Akena Vérandas who is suffering a slight leak to the port daggerboard casing after hitting a plank of wood during the first night. The damage is not serious but it does handicap the boat´s performance. He should be able to plug the gap fairly easily once the weather conditions lighten up a bit. He will also have to dive below to inspect the bottom of the boat for any other damage though.
Conrad Humphreys (Hellomoto): “Right now we’re in 30 knots of breeze, we’re hanging in at 26 – 27 knots boatspeed. I think the reason why there is this separation in the fleet is just that the guys ahead are pushing harder, this is the difference and not the boats themselves. I’m sure some of the French guys are trying to fly the kite in this, but there’s a fantastic seaway, which makes it too difficult to fly the kite, the waves peak at 15 -18 feet so it’s very demanding to sail in this. I’ve got the Code 5 and 1 reef in the indexsail right now. I’m hoping the breeze will come forward of beam to allow me to make course, which for the last couple of hours it has. Ahead of us, this low pressure system is going to push the fleet out to the west or keep us on the inside, I favour staying close to rhumb line, so my position at the moment is quite good.”
Source :
Mer & Médias www.vendeeglobe.org - International Media Print Media: Sabina Mollart-Rogerson +33 6 70 05 40 50 Television: Laetitia Briand +33 6 60 76 92 78 Radio: Ophélie Théron +33 6 74 28 84 69
VENDEE - 20 rue Pasteur - BP 206 - 85005 La Roche-sur-Yon cedex - Tel : 02 51 44 90 00 - Fax : 02 51 62 36 73
S.A.E.M au capital de 2.500.000 Euros - RC 541 518 641 - La Roche - APE 741E
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