5. Vendee Globe 2004/2005 www.vendeeglobe.org - zur Übersicht Positionstabelle 25.12.2004 25.12.2004 Press release Saturday 25th December 2004 1500 GMT 25 December 2004 1. Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle) 10097.2 miles from the finish 2. Vincent Riou (PRB) 130.7 miles from the leader 3. Mike Golding (Ecover) 221.8 miles behind The Great Escape! . Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle) is escaping via the south. His lead over the second placed boat has increased from 2.2 miles at 10 on Friday morning to 130.7 miles this afternoon at 3. Mike Golding (Ecover) is now threatening to take second place from Vincent Riou (PRB). .The area of ice is still on everyone’s mind. Sébastien Josse (VMI) spotted another iceberg this morning. There is a permanent alert about the ice, and this is changing Vincent Riou and Sébastien Josse’s strategy. . Christmas on the other side of the world. Some peeks at how the single-handed yachtsmen have been celebrating. . Christmas means a gale for those at the rear, who are experiencing 45-knot winds gusting to 60 knots. D.Wavre: Eisberg in Sicht ! Foto: Dominique Wavre A widening gap By going via the south, with the risk of coming across more icebergs, Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle) has achieved a great strategic victory. Closely followed yesterday by Vincent Riou (PRB), who was more than 100 miles further north, Jean has left his opponents behind. Since the start, the gap between the two frontrunners had never gone beyond 103 miles (on the 15th December with Riou out in front). Although fearful, the British yachtsman Mike Golding (Ecover) did not hesitate to follow a similar course to that taken by Bonduelle. The result is that Mike has recaptured almost 100 miles in 24 hours from Vincent Riou, and is threatening to steal second place from him in the next 24 hours. This risky behaviour is not to the liking of Vincent Riou, and even less so to Sébastien Josse (VMI), who had a nasty collision with a growler last Thursday. For the four frontrunners in the Vendée Globe, this fine line between fast sailing and safety is difficult to judge. Ice, ice and yet more ice Sébastien Josse once again reported an iceberg this morning at 53°35’S/171°29’W, although he is on a very northerly route. Yesterday evening, it was Mike Golding’s turn to report his first lump of ice. For the moment, the reported sightings mean that the area of ice stretches over a rectangular zone of at least 200 miles from north to south and more than 400 miles from east to west, or in other words about the surface area of the U.K. Christmas on the other side of the world Inflatable Christmas trees, garlands, Father Christmas outfits… On the other side of the world, the end of year celebrations haven’t been forgotten. Some relaxation for some. An emotional time for others. Christmas is experienced in various ways aboard the monohulls in the Vendée Globe. 45 knot winds gusting to 60 knots For those at the rear end of the Vendée Globe fleet, around 4000 miles from the leaders, Christmas Day has been spent in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and it was certainly not a pleasant place to be. Karen Leibovici (Benefic), Raphaël Dinelli (Akena Vérandas), Conrad Humphreys (Hellomto) and Anne Liardet (Roxy) will each be experiencing very violent winds as a 967 hPa low-pressure area moves in. With Benoît Parnaudeau (Max Havelaar-Best Western), five of them have still not passed Cape Leeuwin, the south western tip of Australia. Among them, Raphaël Dinelli fully appreciates the dangers in these waters, and only has one thing on his mind: getting past Tasmania. It was in fact in 1996 in these waters that he was rescued by Pete Goss, when his boat sank. In 2000, in the same area, he faced winds in excess of 80 knots! Quotes : Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle) : « I haven’t slept a lot, because yesterday we had a party. I got to bed late. I opened my presents yesterday evening, which was quite a moving experience. You’re all alone in your boat. You feel a bit silly to begin with. I even decorated inside and put up some garlands. Yesterday evening, it was a real feast. I had quail in honey with mashed potato and mushrooms, a little jar of caviar, a chocolate fondant all washed down with a Château Leyrac. It was great. In fact, you soon plunge right in to it. It’s a bit of a change. You put down a tablecloth. OK. So mine was just a serviette, but you end up playing the hostess. There was one thing that crossed my mind. I saw the sun going down. There wasn’t any visibility before, a real pea souper. So it had been a while since I last saw the sun set. I even saw some stars. Yesterday, it was a bit of a dream, with perfect seas, good visibility, and I didn’t see any icebergs. It’s been 24 hours since my last one, which is the first time in a week that that’s happened.” Vincent Riou (PRB) : «It may be Christmas, but here it’s quiet. It’s a day like any other. I haven’t even had a Christmas dinner. I’ll do it later today. It’s true that I’ve been calling people a little more than usual. I called my son, as he was opening his presents. I don’t know where to put them, as I’ve got so many. It’s going to take me years to do all the reading» Dominique Wavre (Temenos) : « “ I had a tree and Michèle (editor’s note – his wife) gave me a little bottle of fir essence for the tree. It’s true that Christmas is a difficult moment. A wave of human emotion overwhelms the boat. It brings some warmth with it. For an hour, you let thing go. It lets us get away from our world, where you reindex focused on the boat the whole time.» Patrice Carpentier (VM Matériaux) : «I’m not complaining about the north westerly gales, as I can only take in three reefs on my indexsail (editor’s note – because of the broken boom). They’re forecasting winds up to 60 knots, which isn’t going to be easy. I don’t know how I’ll manage with my indexsail. I’ve christened it my gypsy sail.» Source : Vendée Globe 2004 www.vendeeglobe.org Vendée Globe Press Office Tél. : +33 1 55 56 66 50 - 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 Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE