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5. Vendee Globe 2004/2005
www.vendeeglobe.org - zur Übersicht
08.12.2004
Press Release
Wednesday 8th December 2004
15h00 GMT 8 December 2004
1. PRB (Vincent Riou) 14896.5 nautical miles from the finish.
2. Bonduelle (Jean Le Cam) 61.4 nm from the leader.
3. Sill et Véolia (Roland Jourdain) 441.5 nm from the leader.
Conrad’s Millimetre Precision
The “sleigh rides” are becoming increasingly frequent for the skippers as they face the depressions synonymous of the Southern Ocean. Virtually free of anticyclones, there are new depressions forming almost on a daily basis. The two leaders, Riou and Le Cam, are due to be caught up in the depression coming up fast from behind as they head East. The mobile ridge of high pressure currently tailing the fleet is already beginning to bother the Jourdain/Josse/Golding trio from the chasing pack, though the highest 24 hr average speeds go to this particular group, who of late, have really eaten into their deficit. Careful choice of positioning and anticipation will be key to their immediate future race strategy.
All this has been far from Conrad Humphreys’ mind over the past 24 hours. He achieved what seemed like the impossible yesterday, single-handedly replacing his starboard rudder to millimetre precision. Likely to reindex off Simonstown until at least tomorrow night, he is currently attempting to sort out some rig damage. Compatriot Mike Golding also has other more pressing concerns, as he faces the screaming fifties, after a first close encounter with an iceberg in this fifth edition of the Vendée Globe...
An exhausted and amazed Conrad Humphreys (Hellomoto) spoke to us today of what can only be described as a monumental task in removing his broken starboard rudder and replacing it with a spare, using his two anchors and chain as a counterweight on the seabed. Lining up the rudder to remove and replace it has to be achieved with a millimetre’s precision, an extremely complicated task that he believes was completed thanks to very, very good planning by both himself and the head of his shore crew. After lunch this afternoon, Conrad will build himself up mentally to climb the mast and check out the chafe on his cap shroud and try to rethread his gennaker halyard. He is currently receiving lots of attention from the inhabitants of Simonstown as well as the media, surrounded by seals and dolphins and birds in an extremely beautiful part of the world, hoping to be out racing again tomorrow night at the earliest.
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Reparatur im Anblick weißer Strände
Delphine als Zaungäste
Akrobatische Übungen
Milimetergenaue Arbeiten
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Leading the Vendée Globe fleet by 61.4 miles, Vincent Riou (PRB) is happy with his race, trying to go as straight as he can towards the goal, hooking onto the depressions in the right direction. “Conditions are excellent. We’ve got 2 to 3 metre waves right behind us and the visibility is great. I wouldn’t have wanted to pass any closer than I am to the Kerguelen Islands though it looks really pretty and there’s lots of birds. The solitude is starting to weigh on me a bit but that’s how it is, I can’t complain. It’s exciting to be in the lead though. This is my first taste of the south and it simply has to be seen and has to be raced. The south for me means lots of true wind and crossed, messy seas, cold and dampness. We’re in good westerlies today but it looks faster and more complicated later.”
With a poorer VMG (speed towards the goal), second place Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle) continues to lose ground on the leader while Roland Jourdain (Sill et Véolia) is gradually closing down his deficit. “Things are thankfully calmer than yesterday which was a very tricky day. The conditions eased overnight and this morning in particular and I’ve seen 3 whales just 50 m away from the boat. I think the next depression is looking a bit nervous and the timing is going to be pretty tight to get through it. I’d like it to pass just in front and I’m focussing on doing as ‘least badly as I can.’ I think I’ll be out of the worst of it in 24 hours’ time but it’s difficult to cash in on the miles". In the same chasing pack, Sébastien Josse (VMI) spoke of “having to take it easy on the corners” and “little colour other than grey skies and grey seas and white waves”. For the furthest south of the fleet, Mike Golding (Ecover), just over 40 miles behind Josse, the emphasis was on white, after being the first in the fleet to spot a substantial iceberg today.
With 2 official retirements from Hervé Laurent and Alex Thomson, and “pitstops” for Humphreys and, Sedlacek, American Bruce Schwab (Ocean Planet) felt rather sad to be up into 11th as a result. He has had a rough night but things are going better now. He reckons that he is going to slow down soon though as the high-pressure approaches. “I’m happy with my position but I’m sad that I’ve only got this high because others have had to make a detour. I’ve got a new leak in my rudder boot in a slightly different place. I have to be very careful as I’ve only got the one. I can’t work out how it was torn and there’s a bit too much water around at the moment to see. I’ve taken on about ½ a gallon and there’s also a bit more water coming in through the mast step. I hope to repair that when the high pressure kicks in. I haven’t got the nerve to go fast. I tend to worry a lot which is probably a good thing for finishing the race. When the boat makes over 15 knots the keel really howls and the noise is deafening – like listening to too much rock and roll. I need to find my own rhythm and stay in my comfort zone.” For now he is listening to the boat and the elements, two albatrosses alternating their watch at his bow, supported by numerous little birds.
Further damage has been experienced by Raphael Dinelli (Akena Verandas) who has been trying to replace his textile baby stay for the past 48 hours. Just hours after fixing it he was in some big seas which broke the new one. He has repaired the stay again and has decided to reduce his boat speed.
Anne Liardet (Roxy) has been having her share of problems too since the start of the race. Over the past fortnight she has been up and down her mast, fixing her pilot and engine and sail problems. Now, other than a brief problem with a lazy jack and a broken Fleet 77 satellite system for the provision of weather information, she is really gliding along in 13th place after what proved to be a rewarding southern option. Currently becalmed in the Saint Helena High she would have preferred to have sailed further south but is now waiting the depression that is likely to arrive tonight or tomorrow morning. “I didn’t want to get too stuck near land” she said of her original option.
Meantime Norbert Sedlacek on Brother is still nursing his boat into Cape Town with its damaged keel. He is today 680 miles from the Cape.
Quotes from the Boats:
Conrad Humphreys (Hellomoto):
“After successfully removing the broken rudder I then had to replace it with the spare one. I ran a mouse line through the hole in the bottom of the boat up on to the deck and tied that to the top of the stock and then pushed the whole rudder blade over the side. The problem is that these rudder blades are so buoyant that they just want to float sideways. So I am winding the tip of the rudder down, checking seeing if it was sinking, and it still wasn't sinking so I kept on winding. I looked down and the rudder was sinking, but it was going down horizontally. And I kept on winding, and gradually I noticed that the rudder was sinking blade first and the stock was sticking up and it had drifted underneath the hole in the bottom of the boat. I carried on winding a little bit more and I saw the stock just appear in the bottom bearing. So I let go of the line holding it down and the whole rudder just floated up through both bearings in one go. I didn't even have to wiggle it through. It just came up in one. I am still completely gob smacked about it. That was probably the hardest part done. I have just spent most of today connecting all the rods up. I have a slight difficulty because the rudder I have put in is not really a perfect fit because it is designed to be used on either side so it has been difficult to get the alignment correct. I won't really know until I go sailing if I have got that right.”
Mike Golding (Ecover):
“I spotted my first iceberg today on passing into the screaming fifties. It prompted me to gybe sooner than I might otherwise have done, and I’m back on a north-easterly heading. Now that I’ve seen that berg, frankly the radar is staying on. Once I reach the waypoint near Australia I might switch it off again. It was a healthy four miles away but it had to be a pretty substantial berg for the radar to notice it. One would estimate that it would be a small iceberg – say a very big block of flats or a shopping arcade.”
Anne Liardet (Roxy):
“I feel like I’ve had a bit too much rest. It’s rare that I sleep in my bunk and it was just lovely. With regards food, I need to start eating more fatty foods now rather than the nice salads I’ve been having. The seas are messy at the moment and there is no wind but that won’t last. The most wind I’ve had has been 45 knots and I couldn’t have taken 70 knots like some of the others. The boat is going well though I did have a problem with my lazy jack, which I’ve since resolved but I am lacking a spare part for my broken Fleet 77. I am getting weather from my Mini M though.”
Source: Vendée Globe 2004
www.vendeeglobe.org
Vendée Globe Press Office
Tel: +33 1 55 56 62 95 - Fax : +33 1 55 56 62 90 - @ : press@vendeeglobe.fr French Media: Caroline Concetti, Anne Millet and Soazig Guého International Media: Sabina Mollart-Rogerson, Ophélie Théron
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