20 November 2008
Day 12: In for another 'get together'?
In brief:
- Fighting light winds at the front - but could the exit to the Doldrums be near?
- "I'm alright, I could be more tired. Right now it's hot, I have no wind and with the swell the boat is a bit shaken", says Sébastien.
- Slow start to the day and fleet compression on the menu
- What are the "beast's" intentions? As Yann Eliès dubs the Doldrums...
- Today, Sébastien explains us what the Doldrums is... Watch the video below
Image http://www.btsebjosse.com/video.asp
In detail:
After a night during which speeds reindexed surprisingly satisfactory for the leaders in this edition of the Vendée Globe, the front of the fleet hit a 'Doldrums' wall as indicated by the 10:00GMT position report. Loïck Peyron, having led for seven days now, lost a whopping 26 miles in 5 hours to second-placed Sébastien Josse on BT, who himself considerably slowed down and witnessed the comeback of Jean-Pierre Dick! Naturally, with the leaders coming to ahalt, yet another compression is to be expected. The big question now being: how long will it take for the frontrunners to re-start, and is their hierarchy at risk?
48 hours ago, the 10 first boats were within 100 miles of each other, there were only 6 left this morning after a night which favoured the leaders who could still make some progress. What will today bring though, and what will the last rankings look like tonight at 1900 GMT? Is Peyron's grinding halt, as seen on the 10:00 report, only temporary or will it allow his pursuers to come back? The "beast", as Yann Eliès (6th, 57 miles behind the leader) calls the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone, hasn't finished tormenting the fleet just yet, and seems to have drifted South - so much for thinking it had been dealt with already. But is it that clear?
During today's official audio chat with the race organisers, Loïck Peyron hinted that he had just hoisted his Code 0, meaning that the new wind was starting to kick in. Sébastien seemed to be expecting that breeze of salvation relatively soon too, but nevertheless reindexed prudent: "It all depends on the little puffs and how you use them to move towards the South and the exit. So it can work out well, or take a very long time. Right now it's hot, I have no wind and with the swell the boat is a bit shaken. Paradoxically, in those more than light conditions there is a risk of breaking stuff because the boat can do nothing but be shaken by waves."
One thing is certain - if only one: Sébastien can be proud of his position and tactical inspiration, as it is crucial to be right up there at the front upon exiting the Doldrums.
Other news from the fleet
Thanks to a wise western option, Roland Jourdain managed to make up some of his lost miles and, in 8th position less than 100 miles away from the leader at 10:00 GMT, was starting to worry some of his rivals. As Jean-Pierre Dick explained, "If we get stuck too long, he could seriously be threatening."
Credit Photos:
Jean Marie Liot/ DPPI/ Vendée Globe
Thierry Martinez/ SeaCo/ BT Seb Josse
High-resolution images of the BT Open 60 are now available for download via the media website http://www.btsebjosse.com.
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