06.12.2008
The Indian Ocean opens its doors
The leading Imoca monohulls made their entrance into the Indian Ocean this
Saturday and are benefiting from a steady NW’ly air flow to continue their
stampede. Positioned on the southern expressway and playing with the
succession of lows, the leaders aren’t easing off the pace and the speeds
are just as high as ever. Indeed Gitana Eighty was making 18.3 knots at 1600
hours. This speed over the course of an hour made the monohull the fastest
of the ten leaders. At the afternoon ranking, Sébastien Josse confirmed his
leader status by amassing a 25 mile lead over Yann Elies. Fourth, Loïck
Peyron had a small 40 mile deficit.
Questioned yesterday, Loïck Peyron knew his control of the fleet would only
be short-lived. As such his third place in the first of the day’s rankings
and his descent to fourth place at 1600 hours didn’t come as a
disappointment to the skipper of Gitana Eighty, who commented on his
positioning in the leading group: “I’d opted to conserve a fairly N’y
position, which enabled me to delay my passage into the zone of high
pressure, which swept across and slowed the fleet to my south yesterday. I
was the last to enter this zone of light winds yesterday evening. After
that, I had to reposition myself over my little playmates by bending my
course to the SE. This constant jockeying for position amongst the leaders
spices things up a bit!”
On the race zone, whilst the 60 footers are belting along towards the second
ice gate – the so called Kerguelen – the fleet are expanding outwards
laterally. In 10th position, Armel Le Cléac’h is the furthest north of the
group at 43°49 south. At the opposite end, nearly 200 miles further south,
Jean-Pierre Dick reindexs the most extreme. Passing by 46°54 south, not far
from the first ice pinpointed by satellite, the skipper of Gitana Eighty’s
sistership seems to be reaping the benefits of his option. Indeed, at the
latest position report, he’d made it back into the top trio to the detriment
of Loïck Peyron: “I’m quite interested in the southerners. I find their
trajectory interesting as they’re going to benefit from a better angle as
well as more pressure (more wind) to reach the gate” admitted the skipper of
Gitana Eighty. It’s also worth noting that Michel Desjoyeaux, who had to
return to Les Sables d’Olonne a few hours after the start and had a 600 mile
deficit on the fleet when he set out again, is now positioned in 9th place,
89.5 miles from the leader. It’s an incredible comeback which Loïck Peyron
salutes: “Mich’ has not only had ideal conditions to make it back into the
action like that, but he has also put in an amazing amount of work since his
2nd start!”
In such a close planetary race, the speed differentials are paid for in
cash. As such, the ranking is only reserving its front seats for those
participants who are working close to 100 % of their capacity. Whether or
not the sailors talk about it, at this stage and given the rhythm stamped by
the solo sailors since leaving Les Sables d’Olonne some 27 days ago, nobody
is protected and managing the gear is a constant concern: “As with all
mechanical sports, you have to know how to manage the gear as one of the
ingredients in finishing – and winning – is to have a boat which is in the
best possible condition. Inevitably we all have our list of jobs though,
especially as the majority of the parts on our prototypes come from the same
suppliers. You have to try to minimise this list however” explained the
sailor from La Baule.
Among the technical issues, Loïck Peyron still hasn’t been able to re-reeve
the gennaker halyard after it came apart at the masthead last Monday night,
but it’s not through lack of trying: “I attempted a little climb of my mast
yesterday in the calm spell. However the extensive cross seas and two
broaches put paid to this… I climbed back down! I will have to make another
attempt to carry out repairs in line with the weather forecast, but that
won’t be for a couple of days” declared a calm and concentrated Loïck, as
the wind dropped below 25 knots. This is doubtless a source of annoyance for
the skipper, who is now accustomed to the windy conditions of the deep
south.
Ranking on 6th December – 1600 hours (French time)
1. BT (Sébastien Josse) 17,324 miles from the finish
2. Generali (Yann Eliès) 25 miles from the leader
3. Paprec Virbac (Jean-Pierre Dick) 40 miles
4. Gitana Eighty (Loïck Peyron) 41.3 miles
5. Veolia Environnement (Roland Jourdain) 53.3 miles
(…)
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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