04.12.2004
VG DAY 28: SKANDIA FLIES OVER THE TOP IN TO 7TH!
MAN WITH A MISSION: Nick Moloney attempts to be the first to race around the globe in 3 disciplines, crewed with stops, fastest non-stop, solo non-stop
RACE POSITIONS 0930 GMT: SKANDIA 7th, great comeback on Virbac (now just 58 miles ahead) and Temenos, also stretched out lead on UUDS, ARCELOR (+160 miles) – but its still all about getting south – Nick currently 180 miles north of VIRBAC. PRB and BONDUELLE swap lead at every positions report – nothing in it!
SKANDIA DATA LOG 0930 GMT
LAT/LONG: 36 37N / : 12 17 E 260 miles from passing the Cape of Good Hope...
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Big risk of headwinds this afternoon...so there is a chance that it might go bad...”
RACE UPDATE DAY GOING IN TO 28th DAY
SKANDIA MAKES GREAT GAINS as Nick’s desire yesterday to sail as fast as possible to the east pays off. As UUDS and ARCELOR dived south the night before last, Nick decided to stick with the north and push hard to the east in order to stay in ahead of a weak weather front which marked the dividing line between favourable north westerly winds, and upwind south easterly winds. One by one Nick’s competitors fell behind it yesterday, first VIRBAC and soon after ARCELOR and company...until early evening there was only SKANDIA still blasting along. Upside – Nick is now further east than his entire pack except for VIRBAC. Downside – Nick and the other ‘nordist’ Marc Theircelin must find a way to get south in to the Southern Ocean.
BAD MEMORIES FOR NICK ON THE AGULHAS BANK : Nick’s Volvo Ocean Race experiences have been back in his mind recently has he contemplates how to get south, and around Cape of Good Hope – in particular the AGULHAS bank that stretches south 100 miles from land. This area of shallower water, the meeting point of Indian and Atlantic Ocean can throw up very violent and confused seas – it was here that Illbruck nearly sank, and that Nick’s own experiences on Toshiba including destroying a number of sails. Either way Nick needs to get south, but this is an extra incentive for him!
THE DOMINO EFFECT : ‘Bilou’ on SILL described sequence of events yesterday that shows how tough it can be alone to keep the boat going at as close to 100% as you can...he dropped the indexsail for what he hoped would be a quick batten replacement [stiffening rods for the indexsail, to help keep its shape]. As he rehoisted the indexsail, it jammed half way up. Dark, cold and not sure what was going on, he realised the halyard used to hoist the sail up was damaged and was jammed in the pulley. Three very cold hours later he had replaced the halyard with his spare....”I could no longer feel my fingers at the end...I lost 20 miles, 20 hard fought miles...”
600 MILES BACK ONBOARD MAX HAVELAAR : 60 knots of wind on the nose, knockdowns, mast in water, chaos inside the boat, indexsail not even up at all...how different the racecourse can be for each of the skippers...
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE:
After the passage of the Equator, passing to the east of the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa, is the next big landmark of the race for Nick. A key milestone for Nick, just 250 miles to his east.
OC SAILING TEAM UPDATE: ELLEN 6 DAYS IN, fast 24 hours, recovering 6 hours to be now 3.5 HOURS Ahead of JOYON http://www.teamellen.com
EXTRACTS OF BRIEF CONVERSATION WITH NICK A MOMENT AGO (1000 GMT)
“Wind never went below 13 knots in the transition, and it was light for just 4 hours...and then the breeze came back in from 020, 110 true wind angle, and we were off again. Now we are on blast reacher and full index, 18 knots of wind...expecting it to lift a bit and then build up to 25 knots...always going to be a little lighter for me being slightly further east.
Big risk of headwinds this afternoon...so there is a chance that it might go bad...
Just hope we can hang on to the good breeze”
JARGON BUSTER: THE THREE CAPES are the key passage points of the Vendée Globe – essentially a race around Antarctica leaving the three Capes to port. Cape of Good Hope (southern point of Africa), Cape Leeuwin (south west Australia), Cape Horn (southern point of the Americas). Mythical waypoints for sailors for hundreds of years, passage of Cape is also often the transition point from one ocean to another. Cape of Good Hope marks the transition from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean...Cape Horn, more than a month away, will mark the return to the Atlantic, and with it a sigh of relief for each skipper who makes it round...
POSITIONS 1000 GMT 4th DECEMBER 2004
BOAT / LAT / LONG / distance to finish
1. BONDUELLE, 47 33.08' S / 37 33.88' E, 16242.5 distance to finish
2. PRB,45 58.56' S / 38 21.80' E, 16256.8 distance to finish
3. SILL, 44 16.56' S / 30 50.48' E, 16583.4 distance to finish
7. SKANDIA, 36 36.88' S / 12 17.00' E, 17533.7 distance to finish
For full positions report go to http://www.nickmoloney.com and follow the positions link
PARTNER OF THE DAY : GURNARD PINES
Official fitness centre facility to Nick and the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team
http://www.nickmoloney.com/gurnardpines
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For more information visit http://www.nickmoloney.com or contact :
Helen King
hk@offshorechallenges.com
T : +44(0)870 063 0210
M : +44(0)7870 678360
* For further information contact http://www.skandiasetsail.com
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