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5. Vendee Globe 2004/2005
www.vendeeglobe.org - zur Übersicht
Ranking 25.11.2004
25.11.2004
Press release Thursday 25th November 2004
15h00 GMT 25 November 2004
1. Bonduelle (Jean Le Cam) 18891.5 nautical miles from the finish
2. PRB (Vincent Riou) 13.9 nm behind the leader
3. Sill et Véolia (Roland Jourdain) 214 miles behind the leader.
South Bound Sprint Duet
Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle) and Vincent Riou (PRB) finally hit on the south-westerly airflow in the middle of the night, after slinking along the shortest route under the axis of the ridge of high pressure.
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Seeten querab Bonduelle am 24.11.
Le Cam
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At the 15h00 GMT ranking it is evident that the duo could not be on a better course, the leader 12.3 knots of boat speed in the past 4 hours, with a VMG (speed towards the goal) of 12 knots. The airflow is set to strengthen still further as they progress down towards South Africa and the path ahead has been swept clear leaving the leaders to greedily swallow up the miles (60 miles/4hrs) while the chasing pack continue to wallow in the wind holes strewn across the track. Today must surely be a crushing blow to those watching the fearsome duo take to their heels, a sensation heightened by the fact that they themselves reindex in the clutches of the anticyclonic magma, but with 18891.5 miles to the finish on this the 18th day of racing, the road ahead is a long one...
"Jean Le Cam is going well, tired but happy” said the pilot of the lead boat during today’s radio chat. “I´m used to having my little neighbour beside me (Vincent Riou) and it´s a great stimulation to be sailing in contact. It made interesting sailing last night, suddenly you track down a little puff of wind, other times it feels like you´ve got nothing at all, and then you take off. I did expect to do better out west but Vincent the terrible seems to have come off very nicely too a little further east."
Vincent Riou is indeed keeping on the pressure just 13.9 miles behind him making 11.4 knots of instantaneous boat speed, much to the dismay of Roland Jourdain (Sill et Véolia), a whopping 214 miles from the duo but nonetheless in thrd. "I´ve been had!" said Jourdain earlier. “It’s been pure hell since the end of yesterday but I’m making headway centimetre by centimetre. There was a point yesterday when I could feel the wind shift but couldn´t catch it. We’re well and truly stuck in this “bazaar”. I thought I’d done most of the work yesterday but no... I’ve also had some trouble with my rudder head where the link between that and the autopilot became unstuck. There have been some good things though; I saw a big turtle and the sunset was stunning in the big calm."
Jourdain thinks that 4th placed Jojo (Sébastien Josse) will get ahead of him soon. “I can hear the train whistling” he said today of his hopes to hold onto the leaders. “Frustrating as the conditions are there was a superb sunset last night and the reflection of the sails in the calm waters was something else. I haven’t seen so many constellations in a long time. I’m Mediterranean so I don’t mind these conditions...it’s a game! It was interesting the feel you get near the centre of a high pressure zone – You don’t know whether to go to the right or left and you fear getting stuck in the middle on your own.”
Behind him, Mike Golding on Ecover is suffering too though forecasts indicate that this chasing pack will soon be able to extract themselves from the ridge of high pressure between now and this evening. For now, they are trying to put in as much southerly as possible to make 30° of latitude. Incredibly it would seem that the leaders may get a staggering 300 mile lead.
Behind this group, Alex Thomson is seemly racing his own race on what many deem a “wild west option”. He bravely took an enormous, but nonetheless well calculated risk 48 hours ago and has the gut feeling today that he’s going to lose a bit of ground. “I’ve got absolutely no wind and the sea is like syrup. I’m not very satisfied with my position but it was always a catch 22 situation. The weather file does say that I should have 10/12 knots of south-westerly but I need to make around 300 miles south to be in a more fruitful situation. For now I’m not steering much, just continuing my job list: 45 minutes changing the battens I broke 2 weeks ago, another 8 hours’ work downloading a 47 Meg file of video footage, repairs to the daggerboard and the pilots...” Clearly he has got his work cut out but reindexs in good spirits in the cooler airs but it may well be that Hugo Boss while holding onto his current sixth place he may later have a 100 mile deficit on the trio.
The picture behind him is looking decidedly gloomy for those set to head straight into the Saint Helena high, including Australian Nick Moloney in 555.2, miles from the leader. A similar “dodgy” scenario for Conrad Humphreys (Hellomoto) who had a close call last night when he discovered a loose pin on one of his indexsail track cars and had to spend 3 hours fixing it.
A huge barrier is being created by this air mass without a gradient, barring the whole of the southern Atlantic. To pass it, one sole solution looks possible: gaining southerly and westerly, with an exit at around 30°S and 28°W. This doesn’t look too far ahead but it is far off their theoretical course (60°) and in light winds...Between now and tomorrow evening this group is unlikely to have tracked down the anticipated west south-westerly. During this time, the two leaders may well be skipping along at over 10 knots. This Sunday, after 3 weeks of racing, this group is highly likely to have a 1000-mile deficit on the leader. There will be three divisions in this Vendée Globe: the first comprising the top 6 in the current ranking, the second which will extend back to the 14th placed racer, Ocean Planet, and the third, with last 5 in the ranking…
Quotes from the Boats:
Nick Moloney (Skandia):
“I’m making 14 knots south bound and there could be more trouble ahead. The high pressure system is establishing itself across our path and it looks very strong and very large, we are going to be forced into it, so it’s not looking good. However blue skies and a gentle breeze make this a beautiful part of the world and I am happy to have sailed this far alone and be out here actually racing in the Vendée Globe.”
Conrad Humphreys (Hellomoto): "I feel like I'm in the most precarious position as I could lose all the gains I've made crossing this second high ridge...it's a gamble still but 5 days ago I was 14th, now I'm 8th, if I drop down to 14th again then I haven't lost”, says Humphreys rather optimistically. “I'd rather have tried and be in this situation than just fall into a procession behind the leaders - maybe my Code 0 headsail will save me."
Source : Vendée Globe 2004
www.vendeeglobe.org
Vendée Globe Press Office
International Media : Sabina Mollart-Rogerson, Ophélie Théron
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