25.12.2004
www.conradhumphreys.com
HELLOMOTO Race Update No. 38, 251204
SOME SOUTHERN COMFORT FOR CHRISTMAS!
HELLOMOTO prepared to tackle storm
Elapsed Time: 48 days, 00 hours, 00 mins
Fleet Leader: Bonduelle (J Le Cam FRA)
HELLOMOTO: 14th out of 16, 1,000 miles SSW of Cape Leeuwin, Australia
• HELLOMOTO clocked the highest boat speed of 16.2 knots in the fleet this morning and is now in a 25 – 30 knot NW breeze, which will rapidly build to 40 knots by midday Christmas Day, and the special forecast predicts gusts of up to 75 knots by the end of the day.
• Conrad and HELLOMOTO passed the official waypoint and are now well prepared to get through this storm and stay on the front edge of the system to take them towards Tasmania in the next 3 days and overtake Roxy…
• Conrad couldn’t have asked for more appropriate Christmas presents after his generator broke down: a mini hot water bottle and some thermal socks, and a small bottle of Southern Comfort!
• Watch Conrad’s special Christmas message on BBC SW Spotlight News Sunday 26th December.
• Audio: Interview and Happy Christmas Message from Conrad is available to listen to and download from www.windreport.com/vguk or on www.o6t.com click on latest news and follow the link to audio file on the RHS
• Photo: Conrad’s attempts at photographing albatross and cloud formations are online today!
Conrad Humphreys interview from onboard HELLOMOTO this morning courtesy of Geolink/Iridium:
"My Christmas presents couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time – I got some Goretex socks and a mini hot water bottle from my wife, both of which are going to be very useful in keeping me warm now! My Mum got me a small bottle of Southern Comfort – how apt! And also an audio book of Ranulph Fiennes autobiography. I think today of all days I will allow myself to turn on the stereo and listen to it for an hour, although I need to keep the stereo off otherwise. I’ve eaten the equivalent of two Christmas lunches already – boil in the bag turkey and potatoes – and scoffed a Christmas pudding with a trickle of cream which Mum packed just for the occasion.
“We should see 40 knots by lunchtime today and gusts of up to 60 knots by the end of the day. I am so relieved to have passed the waypoint as now I am free to crack off the sheets if need be. The front started coming through and I hoisted the storm jib to head up as I was 20 miles from the waypoint and didn’t want to get caught on the wrong side of it. Luckily the wind freed and now has shifted back to the NW so the waypoint is due South of me now. The race organisation sent a special Meteo France forecast predicting 75 knot gusts. Their forecasts tend to be a bit high on average but for this area I’m expecting 50 knots and then gusts adding another 20% on top of that. I hope I can stay on the leading edge of this system and keep my foot down sailing at around 18 knots boat speed on average so that this could carry us all the way to Tasmania in about 3 days time.
“My aim is to overtake Roxy in the next 72 hours and I’ve caught up to 115 miles behind already. It’ll be hard work and stressful to keep ahead of the system, I’ll only sleep in 20 minute cat naps now when I can but it will be difficult. It’s already 25 – 30 knots now and building quickly and I’ll just give it my best to put the pressure on the next boats. Max Havelaar is still 350m up ahead so I won’t get past him until after the International Date Line. But then we will be in iceberg alley and all of us will take our foot off the pedal then until we’re through it.
“It’s been a bit stressful charging the engine in these conditions. It’s a seawater cooled engine using the same valves as the generator. As we were going quite fast the engine wasn’t sucking up well, too much air was coming in so it started overheating and that made me pretty nervous. I had to slow the boat down to get it running properly but we’re back up to pace and the engine is working ok so it’s just been trying to find the right balance with the sea state and amount of heel.
“I’ve spent a lot of Christmas Day trying to take photographs of albatross, and they keep eluding me but I got one in the end! The sea and air temperature is about 4 degrees and there are some interesting cloud formations, which are tell tale signs of the impending storm. I’m well fed & rested, alert and the boat is prepared. I’ve got the storm jib ready and the reefing set up. HELLOMOTO will get me through it…but if there’s a 20 metre wave with my name on it there’s nothing I can do about that…”
Weather Brief
Meteo France forecast for NE of the Kerguelen region predicts NW to N breeze building from 25 to 40 knots rapidly with gusts up to 55 knots. The sea state will build also later on today. In the NW of Perth the low is generating 40-45 knot winds with 60 knot gusts shifting to the SW and then back to the NW to N and gusting to 65 knots by the end of the day.
HELLOMOTO Position & Ranking* polled at 0930 GMT
Ranking / Boat / Latitude / Longitude / heading / Speed** / DTF*** / Miles from leader
1. Bonduelle / 55 04.64' S 161 02.40' W / 096 / 14.4 / 10166.0
13. Roxy / 46 15.16' S 106 04.88' E/ 094 / 11.7 / 13569.1 / 3403.1
14. HELLOMOTO / 46 35.88' S 103 02.16' E / 097 / 16.2 / 13683.7 / 3517.7
*Rankings – A series of waypoints marking a logical route have been used to calculate the rankings. The boat is ranked according to the waypoint it is nearest to.
**Speed - this is an instantaneous reading
***DTF (Distance to finish) - This is worked out in comparison to the logical route
Full rankings – launch Race Console off the homepage and click on link to fleet positions
ENDS
Media enquiries: Mary Ambler
Communications Manager – Motorola Ocean Racing Team – Open 60 HELLOMOTO
Email: mary@o6t.com - Tel: +44 (0) 1752 600111 - Mob: +44 (0) 7887 643583
Motorola Ocean Racing Team web site
www.conradhumphreys.com – for all sports & news media enquiries & resources
Vendée Globe Official Race web site
www.vendeeglobe.org/uk
About Conrad Humphreys and O6T
Conrad Humphreys, 31, from Devon, is an inspirational team leader and world-class British yachtsman who in 2001 became the youngest ever skipper to win the BT Global Challenge. His ambition is to compete on the international Open 60 racing circuit for the 2004-05 FICO-Lacoste World Championship title. O6T is the management company for the Motorola Ocean Racing Programme, and delivers a range of major PR, relationship building and team & leadership development opportunities to business. For more information: www.conradhumphreys.com / www.o6t.com
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