Friday 2nd January 2009
GAME OF CAT AND MOUSE AS THE HORN LOOMS
- “Bilou’s a hard nut to crack!”
- The deliverance of Cape Horn
- A surprise staysail
Both indissociable and inseparable for the time being, Michel Desjoyeaux on
his 60 foot monohull FONCIA and Roland Jourdain on his Veolia Environnement
are still absolutely neck and neck. 50, 60, 70 or 80 miles, the distances
between them have been yo-yoing for the past week and Cape Horn will likely
bear witness to what is essentially contact racing after a sprint of over
17,000 miles. In contrast though, the rest of the fleet are an age apart and
the numbers say it all: a lead of over 300 miles on Jean Le Cam (VM
Matériaux) and over 600 miles on the duo, Vincent Riou (PRB) and Armel Le
Cléac’h (Brit Air) at the 1600 hour ranking this Friday 2nd January 2009.
Michel has been clawing away and stretching his lead with every hour and
every day that passes, dealing finishing blow after finishing blow the
minute an opening presents itself. Like a fencer, Michel launches into a
body blow, the next one aimed at the head, and then he withdraws to charge
up his batteries to full effect so he can relax again. Solely “our national
Bilou (Jourdain)”, as Michel calls him, has reindexed in contact with FONCIA.
We have to admit that the pace has been steady this past week since the
Pacific Ocean is almost behind them today. It is also worth pointing out
that the Southern Ocean will have been an XXL version this year, with the
course spanning an extra 1,160 miles given the position of the ice gates,
positioned further to the north to ensure the safety of the sailors. In the
end, this Vendée Globe 2008/09 will be 24,840 theoretical miles compared
with 23,680 miles in the previous edition. And though Michel is set to round
Cape Horn on the night of 4th January, which is within Jean Le Cam’s time in
2004, this represents a time saving of 3 and a half days over the previous
edition, given the additional miles imposed.
Nut cracking…?
“Bilou’s proving to be a tough nut to crack” says Michel... He continues:
“He is a lot less sensitive than others to the harshness of the weather
phenomena. I know him well so I’m not surprised. He’s very consistent. He
doesn’t stampede along at the front of the low and then crumble at the back
of it. He’s more linear… For my part, I came from behind at pace and I
haven’t stopped. Bilou’s one of those who have followed suit and that’s no
surprise to me”. Michel stops and looks at the 1100 hour rankings. He
consults them with a single aim in mind. The red boat is going faster than
the white boat; the verdict is announced: “It’s normal, he has more wind
than me… But things will get going again. The wind is coming from 322° and I
must have 28/30 knots.
The boat’s making 18 knots and we’re sailing 12° off
the direct course, which is at around 120°. Right now the sea is nice and
smooth. From time to time the boat goes off into a surf at 25/27 knots.
There’s a fairly normal sea state and it’s pretty calm for this area. When
you’re on the right tack in relation to the course and the direction of the
sea, I can’t tell you what a delight it is!” And even though the arrival of
another low is imminent, it doesn’t seem to be giving Michel any cause for
concern as, for several weeks now, he has been caught up by the Southern
Ocean bug: “When there’s 25 knots of breeze, conditions are light. And when
there’s 20 knots, it’s calm. And when you’re in the right place, there is
always wind. As such, you always have less than 25 knots… From time to time
you want things to calm down, you want it to stop. Now though, that’s not
how you stay at the head of the pack in the Vendée Globe. You have to
withstand the conditions 24/7, 7 days a week here… It’s not unbearable but
it does weigh on you a little.”
The Horn, the deliverance…
However, 1,000 miles ahead of FONCIA’s bow the famous Cape Horn is taking
shape as the final cape to be left to port after those of Good Hope and
Leeuwin. The famous Cape Horn, formerly known as the Cape of Storms, has all
the characteristics to be the catalyst for some of the finest depressions.
Situated at 55° south, it is the furthest south of the great capes. In
addition, there are a succession of lows here which one after the other
become trapped by a funnel effect created by the Andes and the Antarctic
peninsula. All of a sudden, the winds surge into this narrow passage, and
fill to an even greater extent. With more wind come more waves. The latter,
free of obstacles throughout their journey across the Pacific Ocean, are
suddenly trapped by the strait and slam into the shallower depths of the
American continent. The upshot of this is that the waves become even more
powerful and can reach enormous heights. Indeed, talk of these fills many a
book, with monstrous waves referred to as villainous, which can reach over
20 metres high. Imagine a 6 storey building chasing you and you will
understand the meaning of the word monstrous! However, for Michel, the Horn
will above all signify the end of the Southern Ocean and the return towards
northern latitudes, where there is more heat and more humans, you could say…
“My experience of the Horn is going to reminiscent of how it was 8 years
ago: a deliverance. I was becalmed just after rounding the Horn and I was
happy to have fallen into that zone of calm… Every sensation in your body
drains out through your feet. You need to lean on something… You feel
empty.” In fact the only glitch in the programme is the possible presence
of ice around that area and that is something Michel doesn’t like; indeed he
has always reconciled course and performance by avoiding such encounters:
“Ricard had a party and, before leaving at the end, he left a few ice cubes
on the floor. They’re all dotted about the course now… (laughs). As a result
you have to sail in a small corridor between the ice and the coast of Chile,
and it’s not very wide… We’re not going to come off too badly as we’re going
to pass 200 miles from the zone where icebergs have been spotted. I hope
that will be far enough away so we don’t have to sail through any little
pieces of ice in that area. Evidently a couple of days ago the optimum route
would have taken us right through the ice, which isn’t the case today”.
Surprise offerings…
And though Michel is full of advice, like last week where he explained his
“tack style gybes” in rough weather, today he is honouring us with the
lesson about his special magical Southern Ocean staysail. He explains: “On
the boat, we have three sails attached to a fixed furler. On FONCIA, you
have a solent/staysail/jib, whilst on the others you have a
genoa/solent/staysail. I’ve made a staysail – a sail which you hoist in
28/30 knots of downwind conditions and you keep carrying until the wind
reaches 50 knots – it’s a bit special. It’s made of Cuben Fibre, a material
which is indestructible even though it becomes distorted with time. I
hoisted this particular sail on exiting the Saint Helena high and I stowed
the other one down below, where it was nicely protected. All of a sudden I
ended up with two staysails and rather than trashing your one staysail in
the south where, in order to conserve it you furl it in earlier and you end
up with not quite enough sail area, in this instance I have a staysail I
could really thrash about with. I had the same system 8 years ago and I’m
rather happy with the choices I’ve made as I’ve sailed a great deal under
staysail in the south. Right now I’m going to get out the sail I used on my
descent of the Atlantic which is in perfect condition. It’ll be great for
the climb up where it’s important to have a very flat, solid sail”. A magic
weapon or a fatal one? Only time will tell but the past is in Michel’s wake
now and another sail will be needed for this new race: the climb up the
Atlantic. Indeed, in just a few days time, Michel will be tackling the final
third of this Vendée Globe with a FONCIA in tip top condition and an
extraordinary mental state. “I’ve been leading the Vendée Globe for 18 days
now after setting out with a 40 hour deficit. That’s pretty cool…”
Further quotes from Michel:
Festive season… “My start to the year was softer than Christmas Eve… There
was less wind. I even hoisted the spinnaker just after the gate… There was a
calm spell with 22/23 knots (laughs). Now, when you’re all alone, with
nobody but yourself for company, it doesn’t matter if it’s 15th August or
1st January, it’s just a day of the year. Nothing else…”
Presents… : “I opened the presents. I put everything back in the bag and I
didn’t touch it for two days! At that point I opened the bag again and in
there I found a book about the early days of grammar from prehistoric times.
I had some other books too… I had a Rubik’s cube with 16 sides, which I’m
going to wait a while before I tackle. I got a shirt from the Racing Metro
92 rugby team signed by all the players! I wanted to support them and here
they are supporting me. It’s great… I’d certainly like them aboard from time
to time to give me a hand! I also had a USB key with a video in which my
team at Mer Agitée had put together a living nativity scene for Christmas…
the whole thing played out to a background track from a film I like… It was
amazing, absolutely amazing!”
Boat…: “If I had to go and work on another boat today, for myself or someone
else, there’s a lot I would do differently in relation to the deck layout,
ergonomics and interior layout but all in all it’s not a bad machine!”
Ranking on 02/01/2009 at 1430 GMT
1 – Michel Desjoyeaux (FONCIA) 7,968.4 miles from the finish
2 - Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) 59 miles from the leader
3 – Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux) 351.3 miles
4 – Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) 645.7 miles
5 – Vincent Riou (PRB) 650.2 miles
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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