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5. Vendee Globe 2004/2005
www.vendeeglobe.org - zur Übersicht
Positionstabelle
26.01.2005
26.01.2005
SKANDIA UNDER TOW AND headING TO RIO...
Twenty years ago, Skandia pioneered MultiManager investment within long-term savings products - and we are now bringing the same pioneering spirit to our sponsorship of Nick Moloney.
Supporting the Skandia MultiManager campaign are three of Skandia's leading international fund management partners Invesco Perpetual, Gartmore Investment Managers and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers
Almost 24 hours after losing the keel, the Brazilian Patrol boat GUAJARA finally got a tow line across to Skandia at about 1100GMT, after a couple of difficult hours trying to get the tow line across between the two vessels. Skandia is currently making 4 knots to the north towards Rio de Janeiro, just under 50 miles away, with an ETA currently towards midnight GMT.
Although conditions are quite rough with up to 30 knots of wind and rain squalls, for now at least the boat seems sufficiently stable to withstand the rolling in the associated waves.
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Considering the circumstances, Nick’s morale reindexs good as he reflects on the end of his Vendée Globe challenge, but nonetheless the completion of three round the world voyages past the 3 great Capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn.
Once again, the brutal and unforgiving nature of the Vendée Globe, the only non-stop solo race around planet has been brought home. Only 13 of the 20 entrants in the race are still competing, with the leaders (PRB, BONDUELLE and ECOVER) approximately 1,700 miles from the finish, and 13th placed Karen Leibovici (BENEFIC) still in the Southern Ocean 8,000 miles from the finish line in Les Sables d’Olonne. Skippers and their project teams take on this great race in the full knowledge of the difficulty of finishing, let alone finishing well, and certainly at Offshore Challenges the Vendée Globe 2008 was already on the agenda...
Further updates will be posted at http://www.nickmoloney.com throughout the day.
AUDIO CONFERENCE WITH NICK AT 1130 THIS MORNING courtesy of Geolink and Iridium
To listen to the full audio : http://www.ocftp2.com/audio/vendee2004/nm260105a_uk_e.mp3
Spent yesterday quite alert, firstly heading south in northerly breeze, then a weather front came through and the breeze went in to the south so I could turn north towards Rio, and I made good ground throughout the evening and I got back to the location where the keel fell off. Then at about one in the morning the Naval patrol boat arrived and they were quite keen to hook up straight away, as they were worried about the weather deteriorating We had 30 knots of wind with big waves and big rain squalls. It was a very dodgy process. There were a few stern words down the VHF, very difficult for the captain to manoeuvre the Patrol Boat.
We got the painter [smaller line that the heavier tow line is attached to] to the boat just once, but I couldn’t hang on to it because the distance between us was surging up and down. So we aborted and decided to try at daylight. The wind abated to 15 knots and the seastate dropped down. We had another 5 attempts to hook us up, but every time the painter would break, so they would go around again, so the whole process took hours. Finally got the hooked up, but I absolutely exhausted. During hookup it was pretty dodgy, we had no way on [ie no boat speed], and with the strong breeze we had she wanted to lay side on to the sea and wind. We had a few big rolls, and I was really concerned.
We are now only making 4 knots which is frustrating, as I was going faster under Skandia’s own engine. But I was about to run out of fuel, and its great to have the company. We’ve still got big rain squalls, with up to 28 knots of wind. We are 50 miles south of Rio and our escort believes we’ll arrive at 11 local time. Despite the wind screaming through the rigging the boat feels ok, although last night was quite concerning. Ocean is quite white-capped, and the wind is strong and constant, might start surfing on the waves. I'm pretty tired and maybe I’ll have to hand steer later if the conditions stay like this.
I’m ok, I’m going to refuse to get down over it. My initial concern at the start [of the race] was that I wasn’t mentally strong enough to get around the world. But I was overcoming the problems, and I was on the home stretch and my focus was the finish. I [now] felt I was strong enough to do the Vendée. I never ever expected the boat to fail in any way. Our preparation was incredible and I always had confidence in the boat, I always thought it would be up to me not the boat. The keel problem was such an unforeseeable, I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.
We’ve had our [technical] troubles and we’ve been able to overcome them all, and if you are going to have to bail out I guess it was going to have to be something this serious.
It was a great joy for me to round Cape Horn and to have done the 3 great Capes, that was a really significant thing. It was very difficult to progress after the mid-Indian Ocean [where Nick capsized], in particular under Australia and I took each day as it came. After passing New Zealand, I knew there was no going back, and Cape Horn really did mark the moment that I had passed the 3 Capes, and I really felt like I’d completed my 3 round the world voyages at that time.
POSITIONS 1000 GMT 26th JANUARY 2005
BOAT / LAT / LONG / distance to finish
1. PRB, 30 40.92' N / 32 58.96' W, 1728.0 distance to finish
2. BONDUELLE, 27 44.76' N / 31 37.72' W, 1798.5 distance to finish
3. ECOVER, 26 42.24' N / 32 08.28' W, 1862.8 distance to finish
For full positions report go to http://www.nickmoloney.com and follow the positions link
PARTNER OF THE DAY : ROYAL NAVY
Associate Partner to Nick and the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team
http://www.nickmoloney.com/royalnavy
Email powered by Active 24
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
NOTES :
* Sail 4 Cancer is the official charity of the Skandia Set Sail programme. Through Nick’s own personal challenge on the Vendée Globe, he is hoping to raise through your efforts £1 for every 1km sailed – 42,000 in total! If you would like to help visit : http://www.sail4cancer.org/vendee
* Nick Moloney is one of an impressive group of Skandia Set Sail athletes.
* Skandia Set Sail is a global sponsorship programme that aims to offer people more opportunities to participate in the sport on a broader level. The objectives of the Skandia Set Sail Campaign are to make sailing more accessible, grow the sport's reach and enrich peoples' lives through the sport. The Skandia Set Sail portfolio is divided into three groups; events, teams and athletes.
* The portfolio includes the title sponsorships of Skandia Cowes Week, the world's oldest and largest regatta on the Isle of Wight, UK (title sponsors for 10 years in 2004) and Skandia Geelong Week in Victoria, Australia - now twinned with Skandia Cowes Week; UK sailors Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell in their Athens Star campaign; Sam Davies, the up and coming single-handed yachtswoman and her Figaro campaign; Austrian 470 sailors, Sylvia Vogl and Carolina Flatscher; the Skandia Brown Cup, the Scottish Schools Sailing Championship; Skandia Cowes Youth Week, a leading international match racing championship, the Skandia Yachting Academy (in association with Kit Hobday's Bear of Britain) and the Skandia Maxi, Australia's biggest ocean racing yacht and line-honours winner of the 2003 Sydney-Hobart Race, and the British Paralympic Association Sailing team.
* For further information contact http://www.skandiasetsail.com
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