Positionstabelle
14.01.2005
Press Release
Friday 14th January 2005
1500 GMT 14th January 2004
1. PRB (Vincent Riou) 4485.1 nautical miles from the finish.
2. Ecover (Mike Golding) 41.9 nm from the leader.
3. Bonduelle (Jean Le Cam) 141.2 nm from the leader.
Mike Breaks Halyard Again
Four days after breaking his indexsail halyard, history sickeningly repeated itself aboard Ecover this morning, skipper Mike Golding under 30 miles from the top spot in this Vendée Globe. The British skipper has been sailing under headsail alone since the breakage at 0800 GMT this morning, messy seas currently preventing him from scaling the mast to make repairs. 170 miles south of the island of Martin Vaz, Vincent Riou (PRB) has now stretched out his lead to 41.9 miles, Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle), 100 miles behind Mike in third. In 6th place Jean Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec) has joined his boom back together and now has to tape and reinforce the repair once it has dried. Seaweed has been hampering his progress and he will have to dive to remove it from his keel and rudder, North of the Falklands. Just 532 miles behind, Nick Moloney is set to round Cape Horn (109 miles away) overnight. Conrad Humphreys (Hellomoto) has successfully replaced his staysail halyard and Bruce Schwab (Ocean Planet) has sealed the leak in his bow. Mark Thiercelin (ProForm) has completed his repairs in Lyttleton, New Zealand, and headed back out onto the water at midnight GMT (officially outside the race), Patrice Carpentier (VM Matériaux) following suit tomorrow night (GMT).
"Bad news I’m afraid" said Mike Golding on Ecover this morning. "At around 8 this morning I broke my indexsail halyard again which means that I’m no longer sailing under indexsail. I considered going up the mast straight away and flooded the ballasts but it was too rough to go up. The seas reindex messy. This time the halyard broke further down. It was part of the halyard that I replaced on Monday so it wasn’t brand new and wasn’t in good condition. I will replace the broken halyard with the original Vendée Globe one which is good and new. That wasn’t an option last time around. Unfortunately the manoeuvre may take more time as I have no mouse in the mast now. I don’t know when the seas are going to calm to enable me to make repairs. For now though I’m making reasonable speed under headsail and minimising the loss. Obviously I feel pretty frustrated and it doesn’t seem terribly fair. Sailing is a very cruel sport at times and I’m going to have to be prepared to lose some ground first. The Vendée Globe is providing me with all the things I hate doing – I hate climbing the mast and certainly don’t need to gain anymore experience with that (laughs!). At the time of the incident I had 25 knots of breeze and very bumpy seas. That’s ok when you’re fully powered but now it’s slamming violently as I’m under-powered. Fortunately I do have a little sunshine...”
Leading the race by over 40 miles, Vincent Riou was revelling in the return of the sunshine. “Sun! We’re coming alive again after the squalls. I have slept for 4 hours. You sleep for 30 minutes and then you’re right off again. I’m slowly making it into the Saint Helena High. I am under cumulus clouds, with air above them and I seem to be coming off quite well, sailing as close to the wind as you can get in 25 knots. I am holding Mike off quite well, but perhaps he’s not at 100%” said Vincent, unaware of the damage suffered aboard Ecover. “I’m not thinking of the finish at all. I am fully into my race. There’s still the equivalent of a big transat left to go and then I am focusing on strategy and the condition of my boat. The skipper is but a passenger. It would seem difficult to me for Jean to come back, but we could still lose everything in the Doldrums. My greatest fear is breaking something so close to the finish. We’ve been pushing the boats hard and will doubtless discover a number of things at the finish when we inspect the boats. For the moment the boat is in great shape. I’ve just got a few minor details like breaking the reefing line again last night. Whatever the end result, we are having a magnificent race.”
Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle) was a riot today, very positive about his chances of making up his deficit on the leaders, particularly in the Doldrums. “You can spot a Vendée Globe sailor because he doesn’t have any legs!” Clearly he was referring to the fact that the skippers have been limited to a 60 foot boat for the past 68 days using their lower body very little, especially as they have been holed up down below for the majority of the Southern Ocean for the past month or so. “I haven’t changed a sail since yesterday, which is a luxury I haven’t had in a long time. It’s a sign of the stability isn’t it? Perhaps I shouldn’t say that too loudly... I have slept. The amount of sleep I’ve had is verging on indecent! Maybe 4 or 5 hours divided into one or one and a half hour chunks. I have installed a “wave piercing” programme on Bonduelle, which basically means shifting the moveable ballast, spreading out all the weight down below, trimming my sails well and setting my autopilot to work. Mission: heading/speed. I think I’ll touch the right (wind shift) before the others, but I will be further back than them and may have a little less wind as a result. I really think things are going to regroup in the Doldrums though. The route is still a long one...”
The big issue for the leaders (Riou/Golding/Le Cam) today around 1,500 miles from the Doldrums at around 3° in the Northern hemisphere is who will be the first to tack out of the anticyclone as the wind backs. Timing is going to be of the essence. Behind them Josse and Wavre will have to keep powered up or they may well fall into lighter winds. Conditions look favourable for a comeback though as the leaders’ stormy passage looks much more stable and much less tiring for them. Judging by the average speeds Jean Pierre Dick may well be completing his boom repairs along the Argentine coast and should be able to make full use of a front to make good gains on his deficit in favourable South-Westerlies with some squalls. Australian, Nick Moloney, will have 40-50 knot averages for his passage of the Horn, reaching in South-Westerlies just at the rear of a front. Joé Seeten is caught up in what he hopes is a short term spell right in a ridge of high pressure before a North-Westerly wind kick starts him into action again.
Conrad Humphreys and Benoît Parnaudeau will be able to make good progress in a Westerly air flow in ordered seas though there will some pretty big wind shifts as a train of depressions run them down. The British sailors have gained a reputation for climbing this week, Conrad the latest to scale his mast, prior to Mike’s second climb. “I have replaced the trinquette halyard which had chafe. I also did some routine indextenance while I was up there. I’m going for the record number of mast climbs (!). I’ve got some difficult wind angles with lots of gybes and lots of manoeuvres. I’m trying to sail as direct a course as possible and am really pleased with my Pacific course, which has been fairly straight. I’m not having the same degree of luck as I had in the Indian. It’s been difficult to know whether or not to sail at GMT time and for the past couple of days it’s been very difficult. I’ve been eating my breakfast at 10 at night. The Horn is an amazing prospect. I’ve passed it twice before, once in each direction. This time around I hope to see it. It will be a great feeling as it will mark the end of the Pacific this time, not the beginning.”
Further North of this posse, American Bruce Schwab will have more wind with quite a lot of North-Westerly to come but is unlikely to be able to head further south to avoid an area of less wind. Anne Liardet will see her progress slowed in a mobile ridge between two depressions while Raphael Dinelli is served North-Westerlies. 6021.5 miles astern of the leaders, Karen Leibovici will be cheered up by the arrival of a new depression giving her favourable Westerlies...
Quotes from the Boats:
Conrad Humphreys (Hellomoto):
“I'm sailing on course at 17 knots boat speed in a building breeze, it's already 20 knots and will be 35 knots by the end of the day. Tomorrow I should see 50 knots when the storm rolls past but I'm ready for the big breeze, I've been double checking everything and it should be a quick transition after which there will be a fresh 30 knot westerly. I need to catch the SW breeze which will sweep up to the Falklands before it dies away after the 20th Jan.”
Dominique Wavre (Temenos):
“We’ve made a superb comeback up the Southern Atlantic. There is still an anticyclone to be crossed before we touch the edge of the Trade winds. The conditions are idyllic at present, under the hot Brazilian sun. The boat is gliding along on its own under gennaker, in a slight chop. It’s the first time since New Zealand that I have been able to stay on deck fixing things. I’m going to have a shower and make the most of these moments of transition. I am recuperating physically. I hope that Sébastien Josse will be able to get back part of his boat’s potential so we can finish this Vendée Globe together and in a Match Race.”
Bruce Schwab (Ocean Planet):
“With only a few more days to go before rounding Cape Horn, it looks like we will get one more good pasting as a parting gift from the Southern Pacific. The approaching storm is packing some wind, and I have tried to work north of the projected area of the worst of it. Conrad on Hellomoto has chosen the southern side of the ´squash zone´ of big wind, but in the most recent weather file I have it looks like we both are gonna get it either way. However, right now the wind I have is nearly 10kts stronger than the grib file suggests it should be, so I might have drawn the short straw. We´ll see. My sealing on the bow leaks is holding fine, very little more has dribbled in there. It is nice to keep the water on the OUTSIDE of the boat.”
Marc Thiercelin (Pro Form - Retired):
“We have done some very good work. With a young French guy and five technicians from a nearby yard, the boat is virtually as good as new. The bow sprit is in place. The stanchions and the pulpit are sorted and we have reinforced the rig. The aft leaks have been sealed.”
Source: Vendée Globe 2004
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