Aviva. Image copyright Dee Caffari Ltd.
by Kelly Russell
Despite another night of storm force gusts and big seas in the Transat Jacques Vabre, Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson, onboard Aviva, have safely replaced the wind instruments lost in the previous day’s storm.
With the testing conditions forecast to last for another 24 hours, the British duo took advantage of a brief becalmed period to send co-skipper Brian Thompson up the mast to replace the wind wand. As a result of the repair, Aviva has lost miles within the northerly pack of the IMOCA Open 60 fleet, but with the instruments now fully functioning, Caffari and Thompson will be looking to battle through the elements in an attempt to claw back some miles.
The 10h00 race ranking positioned Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson, onboard Aviva, in seventh place, 131.7 miles behind race leader Safran. Groupe Bel, positioned fourth at 07h00, did not register a position in the latest polling.
Dee Caffari and Brian Thompson’s latest diary entry received on 13 November 2009 at 0830 GMT:
“Brian descended the mast like an angel from heaven yesterday having put up a new wind wand that we lost in the last storm. We could now enjoy sailing knowing how much wind we have and also where it was coming from, a novel concept. This took place during a patch of being becalmed. We may have lost some miles to our cohorts but we were able to fix jobs that had arisen before the mother of all storms was to hit.
“I know it always happens at night but being caught out with two reefs in your mainsail in a fifty knot squall is no joke. I completely lost my sense of humour and by way of recovery my angel onboard made me a survival cup of tea before he got his head down for some zzzz's.”
Aviva Ocean Racing
Transat Jacques Vabre
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