La Route du Rhum - La Banque Postale http://www.routedurhum.com
Sunday 7 november
Strong gusts and rough seas
1500 miles from the finish, the fleet of IMOCA monohulls is tracing a long
straight line towards the French West Indies in some strong winds and heavy
seas on the beam. Marc Guillemot and his monohull Safran were bombing along
all night clocking up the miles...
It was a rough night for the IMOCA fleet on the northern route. The wind got
up, eased off slightly later on, before strengthening again. This meant a
lot of hard work for the solo sailors in conditions that are getting
increasingly tricky with the easterly wind gradually veering south-easterly,
but above all because of the heavy seas hitting the boat on the beam, making
it difficult to move around on the deck, while life in the cockpit is very
wet. Marc Guillemot has been pushing his monohull hard and in spite of a
knock-down in the night, the results this Sunday lunchtime have been good
with Safran in fourth place a hundred miles from the leader.
Two winch handles lost overboard
“I have been under spinnaker since yesterday morning, in spite of gusts
reaching 38 knots. Safran even hit a peak speed of 29.5 knots! I haven’t
spent a single moment at the helm. During the night, the wind eased off
slightly and I managed to grab some sleep. But after midnight, the wind got
up again and it was difficult for the autopilot to keep up with the seas
hitting us more and more on the beam. It got up again to around 33 knots and
I was inside eating, when the boat suddenly bore away. I managed to get her
back under control, gybed again to free the spinnaker, which had got wrapped
around the stay, but I lost two winch handles overboard… I set off again for
two hours under spinnaker, but things were getting increasingly hairy. I
brought down the sail and it was quite a job getting it into the sock, as it
had wrapped itself around the stay… But I managed that and now I’m under
staysail with two reefs in the indexsail. The wind has started to veer
south-easterly, so I’ve got the wind on the beam between 16 and 13 knots.
I’m going to try to take advantage of these stable conditions to eat and get
some sleep,” explained Marc Guillemot at 1030 hrs GMT this Sunday.
No options for the time being
In the 1100 hrs ranking this Sunday, the impression we had that the group of
Northerners was splitting into two, was no longer so clear, as the skipper
of Safran explained: “In fact, my rivals were not all on the same route, as
it depends very much on what sail you are using. If you’re under genoa or
gennaker, you sail closer to the wind and if you are under spinnaker you
tend to sail further westwards. But I’m not sure that the group is really
splitting into two. We’ll have to wait and see, if any real options are
being taken here. In the next 24 hours, we should stay with the wind on the
beam, then we can dive down towards the French West Indies. The final
stretch of the race looks fairly open. The light conditions that are in
place over the islands will complicate matters. I’m taking advantage of the
situation this Sunday to rest and try to think about what lies ahead…”
So now is the time for rest, as a change of pace is in store for the next
four days. After the strong wind on the beam, which is set to continue until
Monday lunchtime, the wind will gradually ease off and veer south to
south-easterly. Marc Guillemot will therefore have to sail upwind in a
breeze that will become lighter. He will then have to look at the question
of his trajectory to plan ahead for the calms developing off the group of
Caribbean islands…
Rankings at 1100 hrs on Sunday 7th November 2010:
1- Roland Jourdain 1400 miles from the finish
2- Vincent Riou 82 miles from the leader
3- Armel Le Cléac’h 96 miles from the leader
4- Marc Guillemot (Safran) 100 miles from the leader
5- Jean-Pierre Dick 149 miles from the leader
6- Christopher Pratt 211 miles from the leader
7- Michel Desjoyeaux 421 miles from the leader
8- Arnaud Boissières 424 miles from the leader
Retired - Kito de Pavant
|
