Friday 19th December 2008
Michel going on ahead
- Addicted to the position reports…
- Some very special light sensors
- Yann’s accident means even great care is required
- Think of yourself to avoid the worst.
“Tricky”, “rough”, “hard”, “rustic”, “full-on”… The adjectives are all much
of a muchness when describing the Indian Ocean, which has seen the Vendée
Globe plunge into another dimension. The contact racing over these first 35
days of racing is now a thing of the past. The machines have shown signs of
weakness and the men and women have had to dig deep to face up to the
ruggedness of the context. Cold, wet, cross seas, icebergs, uniform
greyness, repeated gales; it’s imperative not to give up, not to go off your
head, not to sink into negativity. In the end, you realise that this Indian
is something that sailors have experienced in many different ways. For
Michel Desjoyeaux on his 60 foot monohull FONCIA, this Indian Ocean is a
done deal. Ultimately it proved to be fairly mild, not too violent and not
full of obstacles: “I haven’t seen more than 42 knots over the past 15 days
in it. It found us some ice at apéritif time and I’ve certainly had tougher
times…” Indeed, this ocean has been rather positive for Michel who has been
leading the way since Tuesday 16th December, punctuating what has been a
remarkable and historic comeback in the ranking. The icing on the cake is
that he has racked up a number of daily top times and has scored the best
ever performance over 24 hours in the entire history of the Vendée Globe
with 466 miles on the clock. In the end, FONCIA has escaped from the Indian
in fine fettle and Michel himself admits to having “turned back into a
normal guy again”.
A story of common sense…
“I’ve turned back into a normal guy again as I had turned into someone who
was addicted to the rankings, the position reports, the weather, the new
files which came out every 6 hours, 4 times a day”. Those listening to him
stare with wide eyes… “At the start I wasn’t terribly intrigued by the
position reports. I looked at them out of curiosity at a given point… I
looked at what concerned me, no more than that… In the Indian Ocean though I
was an addict; pure and simple. I waited to see the Sat C flash to tell me I
had a message. When I saw nothing at 53 (1053 for example is one of the
day’s position reports), I said to myself: what are they doing on land?
What’s the satellite up to? What the hell’s going on… (laughs)”. In short,
Michel has found his competitive spirit again and his passion for contact
racing. He’s regained the winning core that we know so well. Anyone who
competes wants to win and back at the front of the fleet after teasing the
tail end of the ranking, Michel has now stretched away from part of the
fleet and is sailing neck and neck with Roland Jourdain (Veolia
Environnement), a lifetime friend and enemy. It’s a motivating situation
which he is relishing: “There are two competitors, Seb and Jean, over whom I
now have a slight edge of 120/150 miles, which is rather good… And then
there’s our Bilou (Jourdain) who doesn’t want to give an inch and is hanging
on in there. That’s no surprise to me at all though, it’s exactly what I
would expect of him and it’ll have to be a case of resisting the pressure…
We’ll just have to wait and see if opportunity makes the thief. And if this
is how it’s got to be, it’s not such a bad thing! In fact it’s lucky I’m
with Bilou. It’s a great scenario.” (Bursts into laughter). From the outside
you have to wonder what’s going to be on tonight’s menu. How will Michel
handle this leadership position? Will he try to accelerate? Will he play for
time? “In the descent of the Atlantic I was running the routing and the
polars at full bore. Right now I’m running them at about 90 or even 85% so
as I can stick to some of the others’ speeds. If I see that someone is
belting along, I accelerate and if ever I see that someone is easing off the
pace, I do likewise… I use the routing to make a mathematical comparison of
what’s happening on the water. It wasn’t my thing before I started doing
that but now it’s all down to common sense!” Common sense is evidently the
key phrase here. Mirroring how the other sailors are racing looks pretty
easy, from the outside at least…
Full cycle…
It’s certainly ‘easier’ than ensuring you get enough food and sleep, which
is a key to success for Michel, who has a deep respect for his needs and his
level of alertness. Reading may not be part of his alertness programme at
the moment, but the Sudoku grids are keeping him busy. In fact Michel has
even discovered a new use for these brain tests: “I opened a first book but
it wasn’t very inspiring and I’ve no desire to be down in the dumps. As such
I’ve started doing Sudoku grids. It’s a good indicator of your lucidity in
fact. If you manage to polish off a sudoku grid in 20 mins, it means that
you’re in the green. If you see numbers in every direction after 2 mins 30
then you need to go to sleep… It’s not a bad little barometer. It’s a good
way of finding out your level of lucidity and vigilance. You can even feel
how your boat is slipping along, watch your instruments, correct your
course, check your battery levels… it’s great! As regards sleep, I seriously
don’t know how long I sleep… I don’t have an alarm or a timer aboard so I’ve
no idea how long I sleep during the day. As I’m not having hallucinations or
any moments where I feel absolutely shattered, I must be getting enough
sleep… around 4 hours in 24”. A boat in good shape, like its skipper, means
that all that’s lacking is a hot shower. Michel freely admits to this: “A
good hot shower certainly wouldn't do me any harm (laughs). I would be up
for that… I’d put several tokens in the necessary slot… I’d switch it to a
wash cycle at 40, 60 and 90° (laughs)”.
Every minute…
It’s also impossible for Michel not to think about Yann Eliès on this Friday
19th December, immobilised in his bunk. “Though globally there’s been very
few incidents involving physical injury, this one’s a big one… since Yann
can’t move anymore. This is really full-on. I don’t know how he’s managing
with a broken femur… it’s crazy. We’ll have to get him out of there quickly.
This kind of accident certainly makes you want to be more vigilant. I try to
anticipate a problem before it arises. I always say to myself that if I come
crashing to a halt from doing 15 knots to 3, where would I end up?… On my
chart table, on some electrical equipment… As such I try to position myself
so the impact is as soft as possible. When I go up on the foredeck, I go as
far as the mast initially. Then I look at the rhythm of the waves which the
boat is being stirred up by. I correct the automatic pilot so that the boat
has the most appropriate rhythm and course, and I choose which moment to
move forward. Just now, the seas are throwing us around and you can’t stay
upright naturally. Over the past two days – and I’ve only got to go two
metres between the cockpit and the boat’s interior – you could really have
come a cropper. The boat is shifting about a lot and you simply can’t follow
her. I’m not surprised that you can hurt yourself.”
30 knots of wind, white skies, stubborn sudoko grids, 18 knots of boat
speed… here we have Michel Desjoyeaux’s current landscape aboard FONCIA on
this Friday 19th December. A page has been turned on the first part of the
Southern Ocean and ends on a positive note, whilst another opens with his
buddy Roland Jourdain. Michel admits that “there’s got to be worse than this
hasn’t there”?
Further quotes from Michel…
Who loses gains… “Bilou must have been at me again… If you’re not on top of
things and you’re not sailing at 18/20 knots, but rather 14/16, it’s enough
to lose miles. I’ve done a few odd jobs aboard, I’ve slept and that’s it…
Nothing particularly nasty”.
Positive or negative Indian?... “Yes and no… We know that the Indian can be
tough and very capricious, but we’ve been lucky; we’ve been spoilt. Quite a
few of us have lost some feathers… I hope the Pacific’s going to be nice and
there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be… pacific”.
Pacific memories… “In 2000, my memories of sailing there were good because
Bilou, Ellen and I were flat out and didn’t hang about. All of a sudden it
was a bit like a boulevard in front of me. I can’t recall having massive
seas or winds. It was rather nice… Now, 1st January is still a bad memory as
I no longer had a starter motor. On the morning of that day I was in a right
old state!”
Ranking on 19th December at 1430 GMT
1 – Desjoyeaux Michel (Foncia) 12,503.4 miles to the finish
2 – Jourdain Roland (Veolia Environnement) 45.2 miles from the leader
3 - Josse Sébastien (BT) 157 miles
4 – Le Cam Jean (VM Matériaux) 211 miles
5 – Le Cléac’h Armel (Brit Air) 404.9 miles
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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