16 December 2008
Day 38: The great Southern carnage
In Brief
- Fleet leader Jean-Pierre Dick suffers rudder damage
- Mike Golding moves into the lead. and dismasts a few hours later!
- Storm-force winds for the front of the fleet
- BT in 3th place, 43 miles away from new race leader Michel Desjoyeaux
- 32.2 knots under pilot, BT's new record
- Partner of the Day: Virtual Internet
Click below to watch today's audio conference
Image http://www.btsebjosse.com/video.asp?cat=video&ttl=Day+38+-+Audio+Conference&vidid=4932984001
In Detail
What an incredible race. There has been three different leaders in less than 24 hours, a situation unfortunately caused by major gear failures: Jean-Pierre Dick, who had been in the lead for more than a week, reported hitting a floating object and damaging his rudder system yesterday afternoon, which opened the gate to Mike Golding who moved into the lead overnight. The shocking news of Ecover's dismasting came a few hours after Ecover's taking over, and the unfortunate British skipper reported having been struck in storm-force (55 knots) winds.
"I was just getting into my jacket and going out on deck when the boat rounded up and then heeled right over.&xnbsp; I heard a bang and immediately went back below and waited until the noise had stopped. The whole rig is down, there is not even a stump left." Peyron, Wavre, Stamm, Golding but also Dejeanty who announced he was sailing towards South Africa due to autopilot issues. The carnage goes on, and as Sébastien Josse pointed out earlier, "disaster can strike anyone, almost anytime."
Adopting a cautious approach does not guarantee it will not happen, yet reducing the risks by minimising gear fatigue still seemed the sensible option and certainly has been the way forward for BT's skipper. Only 43 miles behind Michel Desjoyeaux, the new leader ath the 15:00 GMT position report, Sébastien is keeping up with the staggering pace imposed by Foncia's skipper. To put things into perspective, the "Professor" was only 2 miles away from the 24-hours world record this morning, a record established in strong winds but in the Atlantic ocean, which is a flatter playground that the Indian and its 6 to 8-metres high waves!
"It's better now", said Sébastien when we spoke to him at 1h30 GMT, "but last night when the front passed with 45-knot winds, the seas got rougher and there was not much to do. It has been hairy at times, but now with 3 reefs in the index and the reacher up, I'm able to get some rest. The pace reindexs a bit frantic, and I've done 32.2 knots under autopilot, that's the boat's record! Sorry to hear about Mike's dismasting. but when the race gets that full on, the gear suffers a lot and failures like that are bound to happen."
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Credit: Th.Martinez/ SeaCo/ BT Seb Josse
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