Friday 28th November 2008
CONCERTINA MELODY!
The days are proving to be much of a muchness as regards the heeling angle
and the progress made along the course. The fleet are ticking off the miles
and the gateway to the Roaring Forties is gradually taking shape ahead of
their bows. Michel Desjoyeaux on his 60 foot monohull FONCIA is continuing
to rack up some good days and can boast a good number of top daily averages
in this South American championship! Since last Friday, Michel has gleaned
two places in the general ranking and is now in 14th position. FONCIA is
going well and fast… Positioned over in the west and thus fairly distanced
from the direct route, he is marking Sam Davies (Roxy) in the ranking, even
though he is 2° further south than the young English sailor. And though
Michel still has a deficit of 290 miles on the head of the fleet, it has
been a very positive week. Indeed it has been positive in the sense of the
progress made by both the skipper and his boat, as well as in the
omnipresence of the Saint Helena High, which has seen fit to position itself
much further west than usual, which it has to be said, greatly favours the
chasing pack. As such there is a great deal of reflection and racking of
brains across the fleet and the result is a regrouping as Saint Helena plays
her concertina!
On a tilt…
On a tilt, the SE’ly tradewind has been calling the tunes in which FONCIA
has been making headway for over a week now. It’s been very wet on deck, the
hull has been planing and slamming, the carbon and the impacting creating
its own cacophony of sound… This long tack down the South American coast is
really wearing and restrictive. “It’ll be 10 days that we’ve been on the
same tack, and I haven’t made any sail changes. As a result I haven’t been
physically stressed as such. In addition, up ahead, the head of the fleet
has slowed, which is enabling me to make gains on them. In short, it’s
nothing but good news this morning! I’m in good spirits and the boat seems
happy to be here so all’s well…” The first words from Michel are clear and
precise and spirits are soaring. “I can’t say that I’ve been physically
stunned this week. I had to put in two reefs, and I once hoisted the solent
for a couple of hours, but that’s all since the Doldrums. For the past week,
I’ve done nothing other than hardening or easing the sheets as the wind was
fairly irregular both in terms of strength and direction. I haven’t had time
to get bored though with all the trimming”. Trimming and quick reactions has
clearly been the key this week in response to the various wind shifts and
wind strengths. With all the din down below it’s been a mission not to fall
asleep with the anti-noise headphones protecting their ears…
A thumbs-up from Saint Helena…
Saint Helena is clearly one of the ‘high points’ of this Vendée Globe, both
on the way down as on the way back. And though the anticyclone didn’t favour
Michel in 2000/2001, it is certainly offering him a great opportunity this
time around: “this weather situation is enabling me to gain some miles. The
head of the fleet must be making 8/9 knots as it tacks upwind through the
chop. It can’t be very quick… Meantime I’m constantly making 12/13 knots,
which is quite nice of course. This is also enabling me to stay on the pace
and seek the optimal strategy. By the time I get to where they are, the
weather situation will have developed considerably and the Saint Helena High
is in the process of shifting so I won’t have to deal with it. That’s the
name of the game with the concertina effects and you simply have to try to
reap the maximum rewards from it. In principal though, I shouldn’t have to
think about it today and tonight”. It’s an interesting scenario which may
well enable FONCIA to claw back some precious miles over the coming hours,
which will be essential if it is to make it in time to catch the first of
the lows sweeping across the Deep South.
Soon ‘into the thick of it’…
Getting “into the thick of it”, as Michel likes to refer to the Deep South,
is something already on the sailor’s mind… “I’ve been thinking about it for
7 years (laughs)… We think about it because we know we’re going to have to
organise the boat differently. For the time being the wind has varied
between 12 and 26 knots over the past week, shifting direction by around
50°, but it’ll be a different kettle of fish in a few days time... I’m not
worried about going there though… I really enjoy it. I know it’s not going
to be a real laugh everyday and that I might get down at times… but I really
enjoy it… Getting the machine to cream along at 20, 22 or 23 knot average
speeds is something else!” The scene is set then and it’s clear that it’ll
be the start of a new race there. In fact there are already some indicators
as to what’s to come: “Last night I hunted down some clean boxer shorts, a
clean fleece and a pair of socks and I put all of them on early this
morning. I was very happy to have a thick fleece on my back. We’re clearly
into temperatures below 20° now. In two days time we’ll drop down a further
10°…” The Roaring Forties aren’t far off now, just over 800 miles ahead or
around 3 days at sea. The Vendée Globe will enter a new dimension in a few
days and FONCIA will have certainly fulfilled its part of the contract in
this fine descent of the Atlantic. First though, the next 48 hours will be
key in terms of miles gained… “little by little” as Michel said…
Additional quotes:
Pressure? “I don’t have the pressure of being with the leaders. I’m driving
the boat at my pace and in a more relaxed manner. I’m not going to catch
them up in two days… Look at the time I’ve taken to catch up with those with
boats with less potential… It’ll be more difficult to catch the latest
generation boats, which is entirely normal!”
Nostalgia… “As we say up our way: if you need something, learn to do without
it. We know that we’re heading off for three months and that we won’t have
our nearest and dearest next to us, but we’re in a comfortable situation
compared with those who’ve gone before us, such as Moitessier, Knox-Johnston
or Slocum. However, it’s not a comfortable situation in terms of
seakindliness because the boats are a lot more demanding”.
Gate… “Currently I’m looking as far as the first gate (south). We’ll be
there in around 5 days. We should get there around 3rd December and then
we’ll bounce from gate to gate, which should take about 5/ 6 days of sea.
This will enable us to have fairly high quality weather data, which will
make the tactics fairly interesting and not such a lottery”.
Ranking on 28th November at 1450 GMT
1 - Josse Sébastien (BT) 19626.2 miles from the finish
2 - Peyron Loïck (Gitana Eighty) 6.4 from the leader
3 - Le Cléac'h Armel (Brit Air) 14
4 - Le Cam Jean (VM Matériaux) 14.6
5 - Jourdain Roland (Veolia Environnement 22.7
14th - Desjoyeaux Michel (Foncia) 290.8 miles
Team FONCIA Press Service
Agence Blanco Negro +33 (0)1 47 72 81 41
Stéphanie André. Mob: +33 (0)6 34 18 66 54 / Laurence Dacoury. Mob: +33 (0)6
18 41 30 28
presse@teamfoncia.com
www.teamfoncia.com
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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