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Vendee/St.Petersburg 2010- vs.
Zwischenevent zum Vendee Globe alle 4 Jahre
16.05.- 04.06. 2010
www.vendee-saintpetersbourg.org - Übersicht
http://www.vendeestpetersbourg.tv/directPlayer.php?ids=4bf3d333ec541&idv=1000&idu=MAN5393805610
Tagesvideo
18.05.2010
Vendée - St-Petersburg
Languishing in dreary conditions
It looks like the present situation is set to continue. The light airs affecting the Vendée St-Petersburg fleet are not likely to move away for at least 24 hours. On board the multihulls, everyone is trying to think positively by talking about the fine sailing conditions, but let there be no mistake about it. More and more of them are beginning to get impatient. On top of that, the conditions continue to favour the frontrunners, as has been the case since the start. At the head of the fleet, Franck-Yves Escoffier has just replaced Yves le Blévec with a lead of just a few miles.
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U-Boot beobachtet Vendee/St.Petersburg 2010
Foto: Jean Marie Liot/DPPI
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In offshore races, everyone knows the accordion effect: at a particular point in time, the leaders benefit from more favourable conditions allowing them to extend their lead over the tail-enders. But very often, as the weather system moves off, there is a reversal of the trend and balance is restored with yesterday's winners becoming the losers the next day. Exceptionally, the lead stretches out so far that those chasing after the frontrunners have no hope of recovering their losses. While it is too early to assert that this is happening, it does however seem that the conditions during the first two days of the race have only benefited those in front, who have managed to offer themselves a comfortable lead over the rest of the fleet and can focus fully on their duel.
Late this morning, "Actual" and "Crêpes Whaou ! 3" entered the North Sea to discover light winds and misty conditions. Just what it takes to get on the nerves of the sailors, as in these conditions, the crew has to be alert at all times. To keep up the speed a helmsman needs a crewman on deck trying to make out with his eyes or ears if there are any cargo vessels that pose a threat, while the navigator stares at the computer screen watching out for sand banks and anticipating the movements of the rest of the shipping in the area by using AIS. AIS is a minor revolution in the world of offshore racing, as in conjunction with the VHF, it enables the trajectories of ships to be monitored on an electronic chart and they can even identify the cargo, port of departure and destination of these vessels. It does however require the ships in question switch on their AIS system, which is not always the case for ships under flags of convenience.
Spreading out
Behind the three frontrunners, the fight reindexs just as fierce for fourth place. Four boats are within twenty miles of each other, although their routes are tending to diverge. In the north, Anne Caseneuve (Croisières Anne Caseneuve) has chosen to go and look for some more wind, even if that means she is having to sail that much further. In the south, Pierre Hingant (La mer révèle nos sens) has opted for the direct route and is relatively pleased. The young Merchant Navy officer and his crew have shown from the outset that they are ready to seize any opportunities and are really getting the maximum out of what is after all one of the most tested boats in the fleet. The ability to grab every opportunity is perhaps the quality that is indeed necessary at the start of this race. Being able to take advantage of an extra puff of air, anticipating the change in the tidal current, taking advantage of more stable conditions to get some rest in order to face the more challenging times ahead...All these little details can in the end mean miles won or lost on the way to Russia. It is with these small gains that the places of honour in St. Petersburg will be decided. Before they enjoy some lively celebratory music, they have to make do for the moment with something resembling a dirge.
From the boats
Pierre Hingant (La mer révèle nos sens) during today's radio session
"Everything is fine here. For us, the Dover Straits are still some way off. We've only just passed the tip of the Cherbourg Peninsula. We went looking for some favourable currents in the Barfleur tidal race and so we hopped on to the conveyor belt. During the previous night we were just underneath the shipping lane for boats going up the Channel off the Casquets. So we saw a lot of cargo ships, but they were far enough away not to worry us. As for life on board, everything is falling neatly into place and we are adopting a rather flexible system. When a member of the crew needs to get some rest, he goes off, so we're not keeping to strict watch periods. So really, we're just looking out for one another."
Franck-Yves Escoffier (Crêpes Whaou ! 3) during today's radio session
"Everything is fine. It was a bit tense getting through the Dover Straits with no wind and mist. We've just started moving again. We're making around 16 knots, but we still can't see much, so we have to be a bit careful. Yesterday we made a small tactical mistake, which allowed Actual to extend her lead by a few miles... but the race is far from over, and they're bound to make some mistakes too at some point. As for life on board, it's perfect: we complement each other very well with Loïc (Escoffier), who tends to be rather light-hearted and keeps telling us jokes and Antoine (Koch), who seems to be able to reindex remarkably calm, whatever the circumstances."
Rankings from 1400hrs GMT on 18th May
1 - Crêpes Whaou ! 3 (Franck-Yves Escoffier) 1274.1 miles from the finish
2 - Actual (Yves Le Blévec) 1.6 miles from the leader
3 - Crêpes Whaou ! 2 (Loïc Féquet) 58.4 miles from the leader
4 - La mer révèle -nos sens (Pierre Hingant) 133.1 miles from the leader
5 - Région Aquitaine Port-Médoc (Lalou Roucayrol) 144.1 miles from the leader
6 - Croisières Anne Caseneuve (Anne Caseneuve) 144.9 miles from the leader
7 - FenêtréA Cardinal (Erwan Le Roux) 154.5 miles from the leader
8 - CLM (Hervé Cléris) 189.6 miles from the leader
9 - PiR2 (Etienne Hochédé) 251.7 miles from the leader
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