17.11.2008
Gitana Eighty -Route assessment
For the past eight days the battle has been raging within the fleet of
monohulls in the Vendée Globe 2008-2009. The passage of the islands of Cape
Verde, a feat accomplished by the leading 60 footers last night, has born
witness to its share of upsets in the ranking. In the end though, the
hierarchy established nearly five days ago is back in order again. Losing
his pole position spot at the first ranking this Monday, the skipper of the
monohull equipped by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild is back in control of the
fleet. At 1600 hours, Loïck Peyron was credited with a 24 mile lead over
second placed Jean Le Cam, and a 27 mile lead over Sébastien Josse, who
completes the top trio.
Questioned on Saturday about the passage of the Cape Verde archipelago,
Loïck Peyron predicted a tactical scenario: “According to each person’s
options, we should bear witness to a few little battles amidst the islands.”
Last night’s events proved him right since we saw the fleet disperse. Some
of the sailors, like the skipper of Gitana Eighty, slalomed their way
through the narrow gap between the islands of San Vicente and San Nicolau,
whilst others like Sébastien Josse and Jean Le Cam, preferred a more E’ly
course, between San Vincente and the island of Sal, before their wakes
separated. Finally, most of those on a W’ly option went right around the
outside and left the Portuguese island to port. It should be noted that for
the time being, solely Mike Golding and Jérémie Beyou have followed in the
tracks of the sailor from La Baule.
In his route through the islands, Loïck Peyron wasn’t sparing of his efforts
as he had to make a series of gybes in the pitch black night: “It was a very
busy night not to mention a sleepless one! It wasn’t at all restful, but I’m
happy with my choice. Gitana Eighty is slipping along again, even though the
wind is very shifty due to the wind shadow of the islands, which I can still
feel now” explained the solo sailor during the midday radio session with the
Race HQ.
Though the top trio is indextaining a good lead over its pursuers - 82 miles
over the leader of the chasing pack at 1600 hours -, the much dreaded
passage through the Doldrums may well reduce this three-pronged escape bid
to nothing. This is especially likely because, as Loïck Peyron said: “the
wind will ease gradually and be very varied. We have a few days’ work ahead
as we approach the Doldrums. It isn’t a pleasant thought to be the first to
enter it, especially as the grib files can’t agree amongst themselves at
all. We’re not heading towards a better world! The concertina effects are
likely to come into play…” However it is worth mentioning that the skipper
of Gitana Eighty seemed to have learnt some lessons from the past. “I’m
going to put a little more W’y in my wine!” Indeed, in 2007, during the
Transat Jacques Vabre which he contested in double-handed configuration with
Jean-Baptiste Levaillant, the two men made a daring and fairly E’ly passage
into the zone. Some long days ensued, surrounded by zones of calm which can
be characteristic of the Doldrums, and brought an end to their hopes of a
podium finish. The reason for this is that the Inter-Tropical Convergence
Zone is generally more spread out close to the African coast.
Ranking on Monday 17th November – 1600 hours (French time)
1. Gitana Eighty (Loïck Peyron) 21,408 miles from the finish
2. VM Matériaux (Jean Le Cam) 24.3 miles from the leader
3. BT (Sébastien Josse) 27.4 miles
4. Paprec Virbac (Jean-Pierre Dick) 82.6 miles
5. PRB (Vincent Riou) 84.8 miles
6. Brit Air (Armel Le Cléac’h) 98.8 miles
...
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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