Armel Le Cléac'h's Brit Air. Image copyright Jean-Marie Liot/DPPI/Vendée Globe.
by Véronique Teurlay
"I’ll be crossing the line before lunchtime on Saturday," the skipper of Brit Air promised on today’s radio session. Finally crossing the line will be big relief for Armel Le Cléac'h, who has been suffering since the Azores from the effects of a low-pressure system, which he has been battling with after he went east round the Azores high pressure system.
It would be an understatement to say that he had another challenging night in the Bay of Biscay. But the sailor from Morlaix in Brittany, who has second place within his grasp is not one to gripe and complain, even if the conditions were hellish. He lost the protective cover on Brit Air, which slides over the cockpit was swept away in the night by a violent wave and the mainsail car was ripped off its track.
With winds averaging 35 knots (gusting to 45 in squalls) and 5 to 6 metre high waves on the beam, Armel le Cléac'h has chosen to sail cautiously towards the French coast, and the finish.
With the Annapolis based Farr design house claiming their first ever win in the Vendée Globe courtesy of Michel Desjoyeaux’s Foncia, the Finot-Conq designed Brit Air was sailing with three reefs in the mainsail and no headsail. This configuration enabled Le Cléach to grab a few short naps this morning. Second place beckons with his morning finish and he will relish the steak and chips he is looking forward to at the finish.
Looking down on Safran from up the mast. Image copyright Marc Guillemot/Safran/Vendée Globe.
Battling it out for third place on the water, Sam Davies, GBR (Roxy) and Marc Guillemot are also looking forward to finishing. For the moment, the advantage seems to be tipping back in favour of the French skipper, who has managed to get around the Azores high via the west. Sailing downwind in a 25-knot southwesterly wind, the VPLP-Verdier designed Safran was sailing at 15 knots boat speed, while Roxy was still tacking upwind close to the high-pressure area in fading winds. They are both expected to reach les Sables d'Olonne sometime after 13h00 on Tuesday 10th February, although Guillemot considers this to be rather optimistic.
Dee Caffari, GBR (Aviva) considers there will be further opportunities for her to close more miles on Brian Thompson, GBR (Bahrain Team Pindar) as the pair negotiate the high pressure system that has been the tipping point for the duo in front. Caffari, who has regained more than 250 miles to be 125 miles behind Thompson this afternoon, said today that she expects there to be a further three more slow areas on their path to Les Sables d’Olonne.
Dee Caffari down below on Aviva. Image copyright Dee Caffari/Aviva/Vendée Globe.
Dee Caffari, GBR, (Aviva): “I am much better, I have a much happier sea state and so I am a lot happier. The last 48 hours have just been hanging on to survive, it has been really, really uncomfortable. I have not seen that size of waves since the Southern Ocean. And we have been crashing into them and falling off these big waves, it has just been horrible.
I think it is juts the noise more than anything, it sounded horrible, but I had a good look round this morning and she still seems to be in fine fettle, so we are good to be pushing on.
I am in good too. I was a bit tired because it has been so difficult to sleep because we have been crashing around. I got some good sleep this morning as it was starting to ease off, so now I am ready out up some more sail to keep pushing on and see if I can beat this high pressure system.
I have just cracked off a little bit for a more comfortable ride, I am hading just west of north with a true wind angle of about 80 degrees.
I have been trying to catch him after losing three hundred miles in the Doldrums it has been really nice to just close the gap from him being 400 miles ahead, so I can try and fight my way back.
The weather is quite complex all the way into Les Sables, there will be opportunities for him to slow down, and the concertina effect to happen, or whether I just do the same or I am able to keep the pressure on. I am just going to have to wait and see.
The high is still a long way away, and there is still a very long way to go and we have go two or three sticking points ahead, and the last one being on the Bay of Biscay. It just depends if he gets ahead of them and it is just me that suffers, or whether we both suffer and are able to kind of race together. It will be interesting over the next week to see what happens.”
Armel Le Cléac'h's Brit Air. Image copyright Jean-Marie Liot/DPPI/Vendée Globe.
Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air): “Right up to the finish it’s going to be rough. We had yet another rough night, although it’s a bit calmer than yesterday afternoon and there have been some heavy squalls.
So around 2-3 this morning I took in three reefs and that’s all I have up. With only 200 miles to go to the finish, there’s no point in going crazy. The wind is going to strengthen again this afternoon, but is set to ease off a bit during the night. The seas are going to be rough tomorrow at the finish for the motor boats. I should finish in around 24 hours. To be precise, I’m 208 miles from Les Sables and at an average speed of 8.5 knots, I should finish just before noon GMT.
I didn’t get much sleep in the night, as I was in the shipping lane. I saw around ten cargo ships heading south, so I needed to remain alert. Yesterday, I suffered some damage. The protective cover over the cockpit was broken off by a huge wave and has now sunk somewhere in the Bay of Biscay. I had a problem too with my mainsail head car, which came off the track. If the winds ease off, I’ll try to take a look, otherwise it will remain hanging there.
The real problem is the rough weather is lasting a long time, as the low has been moving slowly with me and is now centred over Brittany. I’ve got just one meal left and am running out of gas. So everything was calculated correctly.
Traditionally when I finish, I always have steak and chips. I know that’s not really anything special, but it’s the tradition, when I do a transatlantic race or the Figaro. There are a lot of great images from this voyage, but personally I think the image that will stay with me is Cape Horn, which was great, as we rounded in reasonable conditions. Then there was also the emotion of Jean’s rescue.”
Raphaël Dinelli (Fondation Ocean Vital): “I’m really being battered by a huge low. I’m upwind in winds in excess of 40 knots, which is not easy. Yesterday after the episode in the Falklands, I ran into a calm, but now I’m in a deep low, which developed over Argentina and being to the east of the Falklands, I’m really on the wrong side of the low and it’s really tough. Tomorrow I should be sailing downwind in gales, but for now it’s really hammering me. I brought down my sails to repair the battens, but I wasn’t able to climb the mast as there was a swell left behind. It was just too dangerous to go up there. At least, I got hold of my medicine, so the stop was useful.”
Samantha Davies (Roxy): “I hope it will be five days and not six now. I have 10-12 knots of wind and I’m still sailing upwind. The seas are starting to calm, but yesterday there were some squalls with heavy seas and the wind quickly got up to 32 knots. Yet another rough night. It’s starting to calm now, but I hope it won’t calm too much. I’m likely to have calms this afternoon and evening, but I hope that by the end of the night, the wind will pick up again. I’m going to be working hard to make sure I don’t get slowed for too long and come out quickly on the other side of the high-pressure area.
I’m avoiding looking at Marc’s position, as that doesn’t change anything. I’m trying some witchcraft, but I’m not sure it will work. I twitch my nose and things like that. Although I like Marco, I don’t like the idea of losing any ground, so even a mile lost and I feel a bit stressed. What I’m missing most is my bathroom. That may surprise you, but I’m a real girl. The tough life on board isn’t much fun for a girl. Being without warm water, beauty products and warm towels is just not nice. I’ve been dreaming of spending hours in a nice bathroom ever since the start. I used to use washing-up liquid for my hair, but my hairdresser made me promise to take some shampoo with me for this Vendee Globe.”
Marc Guillemot up the mast of Safran. Image copyright Marc Guillemot/Safran/Vendée Globe.
Marc Guillemot (Safran): “I’ve just lowered the big spinnaker and hoisted the smaller one and am beginning to reap the benefits of my option. So I got away from the high without too much pain. Just a few hours of light winds and this morning, the wind picked up in the right direction and it should be getting better and better. I’m pleased to be through that. When you are sailing, you always have doubts. I always try to tell myself I am doing the right thing, even if the very best sailor has moments of self-doubt. You have to stick with your options. If you don’t believe in what you are doing, there’s no point in working hard. My routing is more optimistic than me as it shows I could arrive on the tenth sometime late in the afternoon, but I personally think the eleventh would be more realistic. I think the eleventh is fine, as Armel will be beyond my reach in any case, and Samantha will be behind. I’ll do my best to finish early in the morning, but we’re not there yet. Sailing under reduced sail will be less and less of a problem, as I get closer to the finish, as that configuration will be well adapted to the conditions ahead. I’m going to have to learn how to take in reefs again, as I haven’t had much practice recently.”
Vendée Globe
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