Thursday 27th November – 1700 hrs
Serenity in the face of adversity
The hunted becomes the hunter!
As is always the case at sea – and we’d be wrong to forget it – sailors are
but guests upon it and it is the weather which lays down the law… The
gradual bunching of the fleet over the past few days has seen to it that the
established leader of the Vendée Globe, Loďck Peyron, has been the first to
pay the price. Proving favourable again and again to the chasing pack, the
weather conditions haven’t switched shoulder rifle and are instead
continuing to provide those in hot pursuit with some fine opportunities to
get back with the leading group, prior to entering the Southern Ocean. At
the 1600 hour ranking, the established hierarchy for a good number of days
has been completely upset. Sébastien Josse is now assuming the role of
leader, whilst Gitana Eighty is now 15 miles astern. Behind him, Armel Le
Cléac’h is in 3rd place with a 20 mile deficit on the man in the top spot.
The first eight 60 foot Imocas are within 60 miles of each other; incredible
proximity and an amazing scenario after over 18 days of racing.
The early morning wasn’t one of the mildest for the monohull equipped by
Baron Benjamin de Rothschild. Whilst he was still leading the way, Loďck
Peyron found himself drawn in by a storm squall, void of breeze: “This
morning, I ended up stuck beneath a squall for three – four hours. There
wasn’t a breath of air and I was manoeuvring in every direction to try to
get out of it all. In a multihull, with the speed the boats move, you can
better deal with this type of phenomenon, but in a monohull you’re rather
compelled to endure it.”
The leading group, which is still pointing southwards, is currently sailing
in a zone marked by lines of squalls; an active band which has formed along
the northern edge of the zone of high pressure and is causing the solo
sailors no end of trouble. However, these very localised and not very
predictable phenomena aren’t dishing out the same conditions for everyone:
“When I was beneath my squall, I saw Jojo (Sébastien Josse) just off from me
and he didn’t seemed to have slowed up much at all!” As a result the skipper
of the monohull equipped by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild had little doubt as
to the upcoming position report. At 1600 hours, Sébastien Josse was indeed
the new leader of this Vendée Globe 2008-2009. Of note is the fact that this
ranking has given the boats positioned further east, and hence closer to the
direct course, an added edge.
“It’s all highly logical… We’re hitting a buffer zone and as I was leading
the way, I was the first to land in the shit! It’s no surprise though, I’d
be preparing for it for several days” explained Loďck Peyron, who despite
the circumstances was still his usual calm self. “This isn’t the important
thing: you mustn’t be distracted by the rankings and the changes in
hierarchy as things really only get serious further down the track…” Indeed,
the lines of squalls are set to accompany the fleet throughout this 18th day
of racing, after which point we’ll see a temporary increase in breeze during
the course of tomorrow. However, the return of more clement winds won’t last
long as already, the influence of the Saint Helena High will make it’s
presence felt, with the wind gradually easing. Indeed, it won’t be until the
end of the weekend – the evening of 30th November – that the first 60 foot
Imocas are likely to be sailing to the south of this band of high pressure!
In short, between now and then, anything could happen and nobody is
protected…
Doubtless the close of this 3rd week of racing promises to be tense. Both
lucidity and experience will be precious assets in dealing with this tricky
passage and finally making it into the southern seas.
Ranking on 27th November – 1600 hours (French time)
1. BT (Sébastien Josse) 19,770 miles from the finish
2. Gitana Eighty (Loďck Peyron) 15.3 miles behind the leader
3. Brit Air (Armel Le Cléac’h) 20.3 miles
4. PRB (Vincent Riou) 26.7 miles
5. Paprec Virbac (Jean-Pierre Dick) 30.2 miles
(…)
Abandons: Groupe Bel (Kito de Pavant), Aquarelle.com (Yannick Bestaven),
DCNS (Marc Thiercelin), Hugo Boss (Alex Thomson) and Jérémie Beyou (Delta
Dore).
Gitana, a passion for sailing
Spurred on by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild, the Gitana story opened towards
multihulls in 2000 with Gitana IX. An ‘armada’ followed with Gitana X in
2002, Gitana 11 (Ex-Belgacom) in 2004, then Gitana 12 (Ex-Bonduelle) in 2006
to replace Gitana X. In 2007, a year after the arrival of Loďck Peyron at
the head of the Gitana Team, the fleet diversified: Gitana 11, the 60 foot
Orma multihull and outright winner of the Route du Rhum 2006, was then
accompanied by Gitana Eighty, a 60 foot Imoca monohull, and Gitana 13, a 33
metre maxi-catamaran was devoted to discovery. Crewed records for Gitana 13
and solo races for Gitana Eighty: this new season already promises to etch
some fine lines in the histories of the Gitana boats…
Find all the latest about the Gitana Team at www.gitana-team.com
Rights free photos and images for press use are available on request
Press contact: Zephyr Communication
Tiphaine Combot-Seta
+ 33 6 85 58 53 00 or tiphaine@zephyrcom.com
Photo credits: Yvan Zedda / Gitana SA
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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