Vendée Globe: Home and Finish is Key Now

Sam Davies congratulates Michel Desjoyeaux and the Foncia team on winning the Vendée Globe. Image copyright Sam Davies/Roxy/Vendée Globe.

by Véronique Teurlay

Time is simply dragging for some, for others the spur is simply getting closer to the finish, but many of the remaining Vendée Globe skippers have their primary goal now getting home as quickly and safely as possible, such is the spread of the fleet now, and the distance between the remaining boats. The exceptions are probably Sam Davies, GBR, (Roxy) and Marc Guillemot (Safran) who have a fight on their hands, but even Davies admitted last night that she is looking forward to getting back to a long shower and home comforts.

Armel Le Cléac’h had a rough night as he bent to the task of making the final 1000 miles to Les Sables d’Olonne on Brit Air to secure second place, working through the spicy Atlantic low pressure systems. In big seas and winds over 40 knots Le Cléac’h has eased back early this morning to around 12 knots but was making 16-17 knots through yesterday evening and the first part of the night. He was 460 miles to the SW of Cape Finisterre this morning and had 840 miles of his Vendée Globe course to sail. At current averages that leaves him 60 hours sailing time, and appears set to have good breeze to the finish, so might be expected Friday afternoon/evening.


Sam Davies crossed the equator into the northern Atlantic Ocean on 29th January. Image copyright Sam Davies/Roxy/Vendée Globe.

Sam Davies is now 178 miles ahead of Marc Guillemot and has continued to gain the same profit on each ranking. Guillemot is now towards the SW corner of the high pressure system and has remained with some 340 miles of lateral W-E separation between Safran and Roxy, while Davies noted last night that she is preparing to take on the difficult section of her course, dealing with the lighter winds as she seeks to sail the shorter distance through gentler and more capricious breezes.


Flying fish in the tea mug; a new meaning for the expression 'fish for tea'? Image copyright Sam Davies/Roxy/Vendée Globe.


A fish with rows of sharp teeth lands on board Roxy. Image copyright Sam Davies/Roxy/Vendée Globe.

While Davies noted that the comforts of home are starting to appeal more, so Brian Thompson, some 430 miles behind Roxy, is most focused on maximum speed from Bahrain Team Pindar without exacerbating any of his existing problems with the boat. The upwind trade winds conditions are bone-shaking, jarring, uncomfortable and monotonous for the skipper but are likely to further expose any weaknesses in the boat which Thompson has done a great job keeping in the race and which was never designed with the Vendée Globe as its primary target.


Brian Thompson photographs the bow of Bahrain Team Pindar in a glassy blue sea. Image copyright Brian Thompson/Bahrain Team Pindar/Vendée Globe.

Dee Caffari, too, on Aviva has a big gap in front and behind. 420 miles to Brian Thompson and 560 miles to Arnaud Boissières on Akena Verandas and she is just modulating the stress on her boat as best she can, preserving her mainsail wherever she can.

Steve White may be in some of the most pleasant sailing conditions of the race, a complete counterpoint to the weather at his home in England, but he is certainly feeling that underlying frustration, the inevitable let down after a first venture into the Big South, when 11-12 knots in baking sunshine on Toe in the Water, feels not only pedestrian but – without the challenge of a rival within 500 miles – positively monotonous.


Above and below: Norbert Sedlacek turns the wide angle lens onto his Code Zero on board Nauticsport Kapsch. Images copyright Norbert Sedlacek/Nauticsport Kapsch/Vendée Globe.



Rich Wilson (USA) dealt yesterday with a ‘potential game-ender’ – when his self steering failed – but is back dealing with his next low pressure and will be relieved to reach the lighter trade winds in a couple of days time, a break from the South Atlantic conditions which has been intense and frustrating for him.


Cape Horn across rough seas. Image copyright Raphael Dinelli/Fondation Océan Vital/Vendée Globe.

While Raphael Dinelli (Fondation Océan Vital) should stop in the next hours just north of Port Stanley in the East Falkland island to make his repairs – re-reeving a mainsail halyard and attending to other niggling issues including his battery system, so Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport Kapsch) who has just rounded Cape Horn in the early afternoon, is the final Vendée Globe racer to exit the Pacific Ocean.


A sunset that could almost be a watercolour painting. Image copyright Sam Davies/Roxy/Vendée Globe.

Meanwhile the sun has set on Roland Jourdain's challenge. The keel had snapped off completely, it was found, when Veolia Environnement reached the Azores.

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