- Mirabaud retires, receives fuel from Argentine navy
- Doldrums an ongoing issue for Virbac-Paprec 3
Michèle Paret and Dominique Wavre bid farewell © Mirabaud.
by Barcelona World Race media
Exhausted but still determined, Wouter Verbraak admitted from the sunny, still sanctuary of Stanley in the Falkland Islands today that he and co-skipper Andy Meiklejohn went through some dark hours when they battled through two long non-stop days of painstaking work trying to repair damaged sails while aboard their IMOCA Open 60 Hugo Boss while at anchor in Adventure Sound, trying to keep alive their shared dream of making their circumnavigation an unaided one.
“ We unfolded more and more sails and discovered more and more damage, which was devastating. For us this race is all about first the competition, but secondly also making this a non stop race, so that is why we made such an effort to not make a technical stop, so to be faced with the facts that we had to, is devastating. We were absolutely devastated. We are absolutely gutted after working for 48 hours straight without sleeping. We were exhausted. It was not a fun place to be.”
Dutch co-skipper Verbraak admitted today by phone, just five minutes after tying up in the Falklands harbour, and minutes before he and Kiwi Meiklejohn were expecting their first ‘real cup of coffee’ in 75 days.
“ We have pretty much all the sails to repair, it is a manufacturing flaw, we have holes and parts of the film which need repairing. We are not sure how long it is going to take but at least 3-4 days working away here repairing sails.”
“ It is a number of sails, we have to make sure that we can actually get to Barcelona without making another stop, at least just a one stop race, not a multiple stop race, and as everybody knows the Atlantic is not your Mediterranean light winds sailing.”
The duo were anticipating the arrival this Thursday afternoon from England of their technical shore manager Ross Daniel, armed with specialist glues and sailmaking films. They expect to take advantage of the light winds weather window to make the mainsail mast track repair first priority before getting wired into the sail repair marathon.
The duo paid a great tribute to the support of the local community who have already been pulling out the stops to help the Dutch-Kiwi duo.
“ We will probably end up using the church as a sail loft. So they have kindly asked us to move out of the sail loft on Sunday, but we will continue either side of their worship.”
Mirabaud retires
Fuel delivery on board Mirabaud. Image copyright Mirabaud.
Official confirmation came this morning of the retirement from the Barcelona World Race of Dominique Wavre and Michèle Paret, the Swiss-French duo on Mirabaud following their dismasting.
Yesterday evening, following the constant monitoring of their progress under jury rig by the MRCC authorities, the vastly experienced couple had a welcome visit from an Argentinian Navy’s Drummond class combat ship A.R.A. "GRANVILLE” and an army plane which were on exercise in the area. The ship was some 14 miles away and set course to rendezvous with Mirabaud which was spotted for them by the plane. A RIB was then sent across to Wavre and Paret with 150 litres of diesel fuel for them which should allow them to make safe passage towards Mar Del Plata.
The couple and the organizers of the Barcelona World Race extend their thanks to the MRCC and the Argentine military personnel for their help and professionalism.
In the Doldrums with the goalposts moving
In the lead, progress has been mixed for both Virbac-Paprec 3 and MAPFRE. The French duo who top the standings, Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron, have not yet really hit the stop-start progress and the really typical Doldrums conditions, indeed Peyron confirmed that not only have they not had the worst of the conditions, but the axis of the convergence zone is moving north with them. And second placed MAPFRE have still been making decent progress in light SE’ly tradewinds, still making 27 miles again back on the French leaders this afternoon.
Standings at Thursday 17th March at 1400hrs
1 VIRBAC-PAPREC 3 at 3203,3 miles to finish
2 MAPFRE at 253,3 miles to leader
3 RENAULT Z.E at 1051,7 miles
4 NEUTROGENA at 1278,8 miles
5 ESTRELLA DAMM Sailing Team at 1341,1 miles
6 GAES CENTROS AUDITIVOS at 2209,9 miles
7 HUGO BOSS at 3264,2 miles
8 FORUM MARITIM CATALA at 4422 miles
9 WE ARE WATER at 6293,1 miles
10 CENTRAL LECHERA ASTURIANA at 8347 miles
RTD FONCIA
RTD PRESIDENT
RTD GROUPE BEL
RTD MIRABAUD
Quotes
Loïck Peyron (FRA)Virbac-Paprec 3: “We are still going very slowly and this is just the preamble to the Doldrums. We have not really got very far. It is not a great situation but we are not too unhappy, and in fact we had a relatively regular night. We are getting up towards the Doldrums now, but in fact it goes north with us. That will change. It seems the more west we go the less there is the chance of getting trapped under the clouds with less wind. And in fact we are not really seeing Doldrums type clouds on top of us yet. These should start to darken during today.”
Xabi Fernandez (ESP) MAPFRE:“We are getting there bit by bit. What happened yesterday was just some flaky light winds, it was a little calm that we expected but not really Doldrums and in fact during the night we have been going OK, making 12-13 knots and going north nicely, very calm and content. And so we just hang on to see how long we can keep going, pushing on up. We have pulled back some miles to Virbac-Paprec 3 but it in a little while we will reach that are which we really can do little about, but I believe that for them, at the moment, their worst but is about to start. Right now we have enough to do just keeping the boat moving well.”
Alex Pella (ESP) Estrella Damm:“We're all more or less lined up We will have to see how we all go. We have a day and a half or so with these conditions and after many miles of calm, even before the doldrums. Anything can happen. There will be a huge accordion concertina. Let’s see how we do out of it.”
Wouter Verbraak on board HUGO BOSS. Image copyright Andy Meiklejohn/Alex Thomson Racing.
Wouter Verbraak (NED) Hugo Boss: “ It is five minutes since we tied on to the dock here. We spent the night in the outer harbour on a mooring to sit out some pretty strong northerly winds, this morning there was no wind and so with the great help of the locals here, we have motored into the inner harbour and now alongside the commercial dock, we have the facilities to start making repairs.
When we were making repairs in the bay to the south of here we were really just faced with an impossible task and we were just talking away saying possible things take a long time, impossible things take just a little bit longer, that is what we kept telling each other, and doing lots of hand stitching. It is impossible to think about the hours we spent hand stitching, but we came to the realisation that we did not have the materials to do a proper repair. We unfolded more and more sails and discovered more and more damage, which was devastating. For us this race is all about first the competition, but secondly also making this a non stop race, so that is why we made such an effort to not make a technical stop, so to be faced with the facts that we had to, is devastating. We were absolutely devastated. We are absolutely gutted after working for 48 hours straight without sleeping. We were exhausted. It was not a fun place to be.
We have Ross our technical shore manager flying in tonight. He will have with him a whole bunch of materials we can use for fixing the sails: mainly glue, and lots of film and patches. We have pretty much all the sails to repair, it is a manufacturing flaw, we have holes and parts of the film which need repairing. We are not sure how long it is going to take but at least 3-4 days working away here repairing sails.
It is a number of sails, we have to make sure that we can actually get to Barcelona without making another stop, at least just a one stop race, not a multiple stop race, and as everybody knows the Atlantic is not your Mediterranean light winds sailing. We want to make sure we do a brilliant job, and make sure that we at least we leave here with a lot of sea-worthy sails. We are going to work hard and we have some good local people who have been helping us already. We will probably end up using the church as a sail loft. So they have kindly asked us to move out of the sail loft on Sunday, but we will continue either side. We have just got alongside the dock and we are just going to go to the office of the agent. We had some pizza yesterday which was amazing yesterday after all the freeze dried food, we are very much looking forward to a proper cup of coffee in a few minutes.
It is an amazing place. There war of the early eighties is still evident, with the graveyards and warning signs for minefields. The community – I am from Norway in the very north – and the community is a remote place with a very basic infrastructure, but none of the city glamour. It is clearly a very tight knit community, the customs officer knew the guys we are working with, it is amazing how friendly people are and how they try to do all they can to make our technical stop efficient and make us welcome.
The mainsail track we still have to do. When we tucked into the bay for a non-technical stop we decided that was not the highest priority. But the good news is that Ross is bringing the special glue and taps and equipment for it with him and as we have a very favourable window today with sun and no wind, as soon as Ross gets here we will go up the rig and make that repair. Meanwhile today we will offload the sails, we have a shed five metres from the boat where we can do some initial work. We are going to make this stop as short as possible, as efficient as possible and make it worth our while. We have a planning meeting in a couple of minutes and then it is back to work to try and get going again.”
In French:
(In)fortunes de mer
- Virbac-Paprec 3, dans le Pot au Noir, approche de l’équateur.
- Hugo Bossà quai à Port Stanley.
- Mirabaud ravitaillé par une corvette de la Marine argentin
We Are Water. Image copyright We Are Water.
Un Pot au Noir plus conséquent que prévu, une intervention express de la Marine argentine auprès de Mirabaud, une escale forcée à Port Stanley dans l’archipel des Malouines, un cap Horn qui se profile à l’horizon et quelques bateaux qui profitent pleinement de belles conditions retrouvées, tel pourrait être l’inventaire de la flotte de la Barcelona World Race à l’heure où le leader s’apprête à franchir l’équateur.
Les photos par satellite ont du bon. A l’heure de franchir le Pot au Noir, Jean-Pierre Dick et Loïck Peyron passent une grande part de leur temps devant l’ordinateur du bord sur lequel ils récupèrent les images des masses nuageuses du Pot au Noir. Et ainsi d’anticiper leur route pour naviguer entre les cumulo-nimbus massifs qui jalonnent la route et espérer garder un vent à peu près stable. Pour l’heure, la méthode semble payer puisque Virbac-Paprec 3 avance à près de neuf nœuds. Heureusement pour les deux leaders, c’est à l’heure où leur voilier était fortement ralenti dans un calme, qu’ils ont croisé à moins de deux cents mètres une baleine bleue en train de reposer à la surface de l’eau. Derrière lui, Iker Martinez et Xabi Fernandez, à bord de MAPFRE, profitent des derniers milles d’alizés avant d’aborder la zone critique qui semble fuir devant leur étrave. Le Pot au Noir semble vouloir remonter vers le nord et c’est autant de chances supplémentaires pour les deux navigateurs basques de recoller.
Hugo Boss jusqu’au bout du possible
Andy Meiklejohn on board HUGO BOSS. Image copyright Wouter Verbraak/Alex Thomson Racing.
Renault ZE quant à lui n’en finit plus de faire de la résistance. Chaque jour annonce un prochain coup de frein de Pachi Rivero et Tonio Piris et pourtant, jusque là, ils n’ont encore cédé aucun mille à leurs adversaires, Neutrogena et Estrella Damm. La situation est plus compliquée pour les dames de GAES Centros Auditivos qui, rattrapées par l’anticyclone n’avancent plus qu’à six nœuds au dernier classement. Nul doute que Dee et Anna en auront profité pour mettre en application leurs dernières résolutions, à savoir un nettoyage de fond en comble du bateau et de son équipage.
Dans leur infortune, elles peuvent se dire que d’autres ont moins de chance. Hugo Boss a dû finalement se résoudre à faire escale à Port Stanley. La presque totalité de leurs voiles s’étant délaminées fortement, les deux navigateurs ont finalement décidé d’un arrêt technique, après avoir essayé vainement de réparer par leurs propres moyens. Mais les dégâts étaient trop lourds pour le matériel dont ils disposaient à bord. Plus à l’arrière Forum Maritim Catala va peut-être récupérer un adversaire avec qui lutter bord à bord. Mais pour l’heure, c’est bien le cap Horn qui occupe les esprits. Gerard Marin, dont c’est le grand baptême des mers du sud, n’espère, quant à lui, qu’une chose c’est qu’ils franchiront la frontière entre Pacifique et Atlantique de jour, de manière à pouvoir faire une photo. On a beau être compétiteur, on peut garder un petit côté fleur bleue.
Ravitaillement en mer pour Mirabaud
Mirabaud a donc signifié officiellement son abandon dans la Barcelona World Race. Dominique Wavre et Michèle Paret avaient en effet reçu ce matin une aide de la Marine argentine sous la forme de 150 litres de gazole permettant à l’équipage de rejoindre au plus vite Mar del Plata. Alertée du démâtage de Mirabaud, le MRCC argentin, en étroite liaison avec la direction de course depuis l’incident, suivait la progression de l’équipage. Informé des risques pour Dominique et Michèle de manquer de gazole pour rejoindre un port de la côte, les hommes du MRCC de Punta del Este ont proposé de dérouter la corvette Granville qui était en opération sur zone à une quinzaine de milles. Un avion de surveillance de la Marine argentine a proposé de larguer quelques fumigènes autour du bateau pour faciliter le positionnement à vue de la corvette. Au bout du compte, un service efficace et rapide, rendu par des marins argentins, trop heureux de mettre en application en réel quelques uns des exercices de simulation qu’ils répètent à longueur d’année. Efficacité de la coordination entre direction de course et MRCC, rappel des principes d’assistance en mer, affirmation de la complète solidarité des gens de mer. Dans sa simplicité et sa fluidité, l’opération a le mérite d’une certaine pédagogie.
Argentine navy visit with fuel for Mirabaud. Image copyright Mirabaud.
Classement du 17 mars à 15 heures (TU+1) :
1 VIRBAC-PAPREC 3 à 3203,3 milles de l’arrivée
2 MAPFRE à 253,3 milles du leader
3 RENAULT Z.E à 1051,7 milles
4 NEUTROGENA à 1278,8 milles
5 ESTRELLA DAMM Sailing Team à 1341,1 milles
6 GAES CENTROS AUDITIVOS à 2209,9 milles
7 HUGO BOSS à 3264,2 milles
8 FORUM MARITIM CATALA à 4422 milles
9 WE ARE WATER à 6293,1 milles
10 CENTRAL LECHERA ASTURIANA à 8347 milles
ABN FONCIA
ABN PRESIDENT
ABN GROUPE BEL
ABN MIRABAUD
Ils ont dit :
Wouter Verbraak, Hugo Boss : « Quand on a commencé nos réparations, au mouillage dans le sound Adventure, on s’est dit qu’il était juste impossible qu’on n’y arrive pas que ça allait prendre du temps, que ça allait juste être très long. On a commencé faire des coutures à la main mais on est vite arrivé au constat que l’on n’aurait pas assez de matériel pour faire une réparation propre. A chaque inspection de voile, on découvrait des dégâts encore plus importants. On était défaits parce que notre premier objectif, c’était vraiment de faire le tour du monde sans escale et c’est pourquoi nous avons essayé de réparer dans un premier temps par nous-mêmes. Ici, l’accueil est extraordinaire : on a transformé l’église en plancher de voilerie, il faudra juste qu’on débarrasse dimanche pour la messe. Il reste encore beaucoup de traces de la guerre de 1980 ; la communauté locale est très soudée et tout le monde se mobilise pour nous. On était parti pour réparer uniquement les voiles, mais Ross, notre manager technique arrive avec de quoi remplacer le rail de têtière de grand-voile... »
Jean-Pierre Dick, Virbac-Paprec 3 : « Hier j’étais de quart et je vois au loin un jet d’eau de cétacé. C’était assez impressionnant, l’animal n’a pas beaucoup bougé et nous nous sommes beaucoup rapprochés. Il était à un nœud et nous à trois nœuds, il était visiblement dans sa sieste. Nous sommes passés à 150 m. C’est énorme. La baleine faisait bien dix mètres de long. C’est imposant. Quand elle commence à se réveiller et à s’agiter, nous savons que c’est elle qui est la plus forte. Il y a toujours un risque de choc, mais quand nous la voyons comme ça, très calme, il n’y a pas de danger. Quand les deux protagonistes, baleine et bateau vont vite, il y a plus de risques évidemment. Les baleines ne sont pas nocives pour nous. Les orques, eux, peuvent attaquer les bateaux, ils sont nettement plus agressifs alors que les baleines ne le sont pas. Elles mangent des petites crevettes. Là, heureusement nous étions parallèles à elle, donc il y avait peu de risques de collision. »
Gerard Marin, Forum Maritim Catala : « Tout va bien. Ludo est en train de dormir et nous avançons à bonne vitesse vers le cap Horn. Ludovic fait très attention à nos trajectoires, pour éviter qu’on ne se retrouve dans des vents trop forts. Le cap Horn devrait être franchi dans la nuit de samedi à dimanche ou peut-être dimanche. J’espère que ce sera de jour, j’aimerais vraiment pouvoir faire une photo du cap. Sinon, on est motivés comme jamais.»
Barcelona World Race
