- We Are Water looking to try and repair broken boom, 500 miles to Cape Horn
- Central Lechera Asturiana stepping repaired mast in Wellington
- Estrella Damm and Neutrogena back in N Hemisphere
We Are Water with broken boom west of Cape Horn. Image copyright We Are Water.
by Barcelona World Race media
Who is haunting who, or is it who is hunting who? When second placed MAPFRE went into ghost mode early this morning it meant that, for the second time in this Barcelona World Race, the top two boats pressed the ‘invisible’ button in close succession.
Speaking on this morning’s Visio-conference live with Race HQ in Barcelona, Spain’s Xabi Fernandez reaffirmed that one of the key reasons for utilising the ‘Ghost’ mode again is because their weather options have opened up more, giving the Spanish Olympic medallists an opportunity to develop any new strategy unseen by the long time race leader Virbac-Paprec 3.
Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron are due to re-appear this evening again, returning from their self imposed exile from the public tracking system.
When the two boats were both last ‘live’ Virbac-Paprec 3 lead by 250 miles, MAPFRE sailing east of the track of the leading boat.
As the duo play with the extending tentacles of the Azores anticyclone which is effectively barring the direct route to the Straits of Gibraltar, it may be that MAPFRE are simply calling the bluff of the French duo Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron, or perhaps they have chosen to head away from the lighter winds closer to the centre of the high and invested east to try and fine more wind pressure and a better angle closer to the Moroccan coast?
Fernandez reported this morning: “Yesterday we saw that the weather was getting a bit more complicated between here and Gibraltar and Virbac-Paprec 3 have more complex winds, so we decided to play a bit with this since the weather forecasts change each day. And we thought it makes sense to play this card before Gibraltar. Yes, the main alternatives are to go north or east, but a few days ago the option looked to be going north was the only option. So Virbac-Paprec 3 and us, we have chosen to do this because the options are all a bit more open now.”
With the two leading boats engaged in their supposed cloak and dagger moves for their approach to the Canary Islands, Virbac-Paprec 3’s track through or past the archipelago should be immediately apparent this evening.
Meantime, phantom or not, ghost mode did not stop Fernandez from appearing on the Visio-Conference, though the view of the Spanish spectre was strictly ‘indoors only’, as a little ‘technical difficulty’ prevented him from letting the watching world see what the weather and sea conditions were, but more importantly what tack they were sailing on on MAPFRE.
Fernandez was clearly showing some effect of their diet regime, cut to two meals a day now. He confirmed that they have set aside rations until the 5th or 6th April.
Broken Boom
We Are Water with broken boom west of Cape Horn. Image copyright We Are Water.
We Are Water duo Jaume Mumbru and Cali Sanmarti are looking for the first suitable, practical option to put their composite repair skills to the test after their boom was snapped in two by the force of a big, breaking wave last night, some 650 miles to the west of Cape Horn. The duo, who seem to have had more than their fair share of the race’s big storms, were making good progress towards the Cape which they should reach late Sunday, sailing only under staysail or jib.
“ We took the main down very early and for the two days prior to the storm we were preparing, taking everything off the deck which we thought could break.
It is difficult to explain how chaotic the sea was, the winds and the cold.
This is another cruel thing for us, we felt confident and happy because we felt like we had done a good job preparing the boat.
The boom was perfect and secured so all we can think is that it was pushed sideways bt the force of a wave. We can only think a wave hit it. It has done a lot of miles, so we are feeling a bit unlucky.”
Into the North
Neutrogena passes the equator:
Emerging into the Northern Hemisphere this morning, there is no let up in the tussle between Neutrogena in fifth and Estrella Damm in fourth. Only 22 miles separates this pair after a productive night of Doldrums work by the American-German duo Ryan Breymaier and Boris Herrmann who have kept themselves firmly in contention at this key stage of the race. And Estrella Damm still only have 142 miles of deficit to Renault Z.E Sailing Team. Without doubt this is setting up as a second half of the Atlantic battle which will be every bit as engaging as it has been since Cape Horn. The two red boats were due to pick up speed later today as they too breathe the oxygen of the strengthening NE’ly trades.
Renault ZE passes the equator:
Renault Z.E Sailing Team’sToño Piris reported today:
“We crossed to the North yesterday at 13.44 hrs and we gave our offering to Neptune: the alcohol free beer (cold, cold, cold –My God,,,, 40º degrees on deck) some Jamón Serrano and the last small piece of chocolate we got”
“As soon as we get into the North Hemisphere we had enjoyed some nice puffs. Nice gusts that heeled the boat...!Great”.. A nice welcome into the North!”
Preparing in Wellington
Central Lechera Asturiana is re-masted in Wellington. Image copyright Barcelona World Race.
And good progress to report for the Central Lechera Asturiana duo Juan Merediz and Fran Palacio who, three weeks after they arrived with a broken rig, have managed to step their repaired mast in Wellington. The duo intend to make two trial sails to fine tune their rigging before making their final decision.
Central Lechera Asturiana is re-masted in Wellington. Image copyright Barcelona World Race.
Standings of Friday 25th March at 1400hrs
1 VIRBAC-PAPREC 3 GHOST MODE
2 MAPFRE GHOST MODE
3 RENAULT Z.E at 2890 miles to finish
4 ESTRELLA DAMM Sailing Team at 121 miles to ‘leader’
5 NEUTROGENA at 142 miles to leader
6 GAES CENTROS AUDITIVOS at 598.5 miles to leader
7 HUGO BOSS at 2552 miles to leader
8 FORUM MARITIM CATALA at 2808 miles to leader
9 WE ARE WATER at 4530 miles to leader
10 CENTRAL LECHERA ASTURIANA at 8660 miles to leader
RTD FONCIA
RTD PRESIDENT
RTD GROUPE BEL
RTD MIRABAUD
Quotes
Jaume Mumbru (ESP) We Are Water:“Now the worst of the storm is over and so we are are trying to sleep a bit and build our strength and try to get closer to land which will be complicated. We broke the boom during the storm. We were following it closely with the weather forecasts and it followed the pattern. The pressure was very low, wind from the bow and we sailed only with the storm jib.
"We took the main down very early and for the two days prior to the storm we were preparing, taking everything off the deck which we thought could break.
"It is difficult to explain how chaotic the sea was, the winds and the cold.
"This is another cruel thing for us, we felt confident and happy because we felt like we had done a good job preparing the boat.
"The boom was perfect and secured so all we can think is that it was pushed sideways bt the force of a wave. We can only think a wave hit it. It has done a lot of miles, so we are feeling a bit unlucky.
"The boat was sailing well under storm jib only, we had two ballast tanks full in the back to stabilize the boat. We had some snow showers. Now the wind has started to drop, we have about 35kts, and the sea is a bit better too. It seems the worst of the storm is behind us. We are optimistic that we will be able to repair it, at first glance it does not look like it’s impossible, but we are 400 miles from land and 500 miles from Cape Horn. We carry on with a storm jib, or staysail."
Xabi Fernandez (ESP) MAPFRE:“MAPFRE in ghost mode? It is all going well. Yesterday we saw that the weather was getting a bit more complicated between here and Gibraltar and Virbac-Paprec 3 have more complex winds, so we decided to play a bit with this since the weather forecasts change each day. And we thought it makes sense to play this card before Gibraltar. Yes, the main alternatives are to go north or east, but a few days ago the option looked to be going north was the only option. So Virbac-Paprec 3 and us, we have chosen to do this because the options are a bit more open now.
"We can’t change to show you the outside cameras because it upsets the GPS (!)."
"Fortunately we realized early on that we were going to be low on food, so we starting saving up and rationed what we had, so I think we will be OK until the 5th or 6th.
"The passage to the Canary Islands is changing all the time, so we don’t know where we go through the islands. We will decide later on, because it’s complicated.
We have had no health problems at all, not even opened the medical kit once, some fungal stuff here and there, and took a couple of asprins, but nothing we have ever worried about."
Video conference with Wouter Verbraak and Andy Meiklejohn on board HUGO BOSS:
Wouter Verbraak (NED), Andy Meiklejohn (NZL) Hugo Boss: “ This is our last bag of porridge, and in fact we are happy about that because it means the weather will get hotter from now. Complicated (their weather) means opportunities, we have had 52 knots a few days ago and so we don’t need any more of that any more, we are happy to be sailing downwind in about 20 knots of breeze with the spinnaker up. Life is good.
"Last night we made a gybe east and by the looks of things we can skirt the eastern side of the high and just get to the north of it. The more challenging thing will be the trades, at the moment they are not really there. We are hoping they will begin before we get up there.
"We are back into. We have been doing it for eighty days, a couple of days on land does not change a lot.
"We are back to normal quickly, after 80 days you are pretty set in your ways, it is pretty standard three hours on and off, and we eat every six hours, it was a little break to be back on land but it has only taken a day or so to get back into it.
Being an island everything has to be brought in so our choice there was a little bit limited, we have tuna and salmon wraps for lunch now and that too is a signal that the weather is starting to get warmer.
"Teamwork is certainly one of our strengths in this race, a lot of the teams in this race have a skipper who is used to single handed racing who has brought someone along, the two of us come from the same situation, we have not done of this two handed racing before, so we have a great team spirit and things are going well.
"Every time we go and do a sail change we realise how hard it is we are wondering how on earth they can sail a boat like this single-handed around the world. In that way thinking about going to do the Vendée Globe is a huge challenge and definitely neneds a lot of preparation and a lot of balls, but it is an interesting idea and an interesting challenge.
"We are still very motivated, the Hugo Boss has very strong key core values: perfection, position and being creative. And those values we can still apply every day in what we are doing, so we try to apply them every day in what we do, to do a good job: good sail changes, sailing the boat to its maximum, and being creative in finding a way through the weather, using the circumstances to their very best. A very big motivating point for us is that the Easter holidays are very close to our ETA and I definitely want to make that so I can go skiing in Norway.”
In French:
Furtivement vôtre:
- We are Water, à 530 milles du cap Horn, a cassé sa bôme
- MAPFRE rejoint Virbac-Paprec 3 en mode furtif
- Estrella Damm et Neutrogena dans l‘hémisphère nord
We Are Water with broken boom west of Cape Horn. Image copyright We Are Water.
Réponse du berger à la bergère : moins de 24 heures après Virbac-Paprec 3, MAPFRE est à son tour passé en mode furtif, disparaissant des classements au petit matin. Nous voici donc avec deux leaders transformés en ectoplasmes, naviguant sur une route chimérique aux parages d’un anticyclone des Açores bien réel qui contrarie leur remontée vers le détroit de Gibraltar. Autre contrariété : la bôme cassée de We are Water pendant la tempête. Jaume Mumbru et Cali Sanmarti poursuivent leur route vers le Horn sous voile d’avant seule, en attendant de s’abriter pour réparer.
Jean-Pierre Dick et Loïck Peyron sont certainement quelque part du côté des Canaries. Iker Martinez et Xabi Fernandez ont très probablement dépassé l’archipel du Cap Vert. Comment ont-ils choisi d’aborder les hautes pressions qui se dressent devant eux ? Réponse au classement de 20 heures pour le tandem français. Pour les Espagnols, il faudra attendre samedi 15 heures.
Leur nouveau statut d’équipage fantôme n’a pas empêché les champions olympiques de répondre à la visio conférence du jour. Xabi y est apparu d’une minceur presque spectrale. Depuis quelques semaines déjà, les deux hommes rationnent leur stock de nourriture qu’ils ont prévu trop juste pour leur premier tour du monde en double. Ils ne s’octroient plus que deux repas par jour (au lieu de 4, en général) et vont commencer à attaquer leurs réserves. « Nous en aurons assez jusqu’au 5 ou au 6 avril ». Ce qui correspond à un ou deux jours près à leur date estimée d’arrivée à Barcelone...
« C’est quand qu’on arrive ? »
L’ETA, c’est ce à quoi songe tous les jours l’Américain Ryan Breymaier. Au petit matin, à bord de Neutrogena, lui et son compère Boris Hermann ont franchi l’équateur, dans le sillage d’ Estrella Damm. Ils n’ont plus que 142 milles de retard sur Renault Z.E. Du coup, les enchères risquent d’atteindre des sommets pour la 3e place de la Barcelona World Race convoitée par ces trois équipages très proches les uns des autres.
La moitié de la flotte navigue donc dans l’hémisphère nord. Les filles de Gaes Centros Auditivos, qui glissent dans de faibles alizés de sud-est, sont les prochaines sur la liste : elles ne devraient plus tarder à faire leur entrée dans le pot au noir.
Plus au sud encore, c’est un vrai casse-tête météo au large des côtes argentines. Une succession d’anticyclones, de fronts et de petites dépressions transforment la route d’Hugo Boss et de FMC en véritable gymkhana. A bord d’Hugo Boss, qui naviguait sous spi dans une vingtaine de nœuds de vent, Wouter Verbraak dégustait son dernier sachet de porridge et rêvait lui aussi de poser le pied à terre pour pouvoir chausser les spatules et profiter des dernières neiges, chez lui, en Norvège.
Au sortir de la tempête
We Are Water with broken boom west of Cape Horn. Image copyright We Are Water.
We are Water a encore bien des soucis à régler avant d’arriver à Barcelone. Au petit matin, l’équipage a constaté que la bôme était brisée en son milieu, probablement sous les chocs violents des vagues qui s’abattaient sur le pont du bateau. Le plus gros de la tempête est passé. L’équipage a troqué son tourmentin contre un ORC et progresse sous voile d’avant seule en direction du cap Horn. Mais cet énième coup de tabac encaissé par We are Water a été le plus dur de tous. A la vacation, Jaume Mumbru avait du mal à décrire le paysage chaotique qu’ils avaient traversé et semblait exténué. Leur but : s’abriter après le passage du cap Horn pour pouvoir réparer leur bôme.
Central Lechera Asturiana mâté
Central Lechera Asturiana is re-masted in Wellington. Image copyright Barcelona World Race.
A Wellington, le mât de Central Lechera Asturiana est bel et bien réparé et il est même à poste. L’équipage et l’équipe technique ont remâté ce vendredi. Les deux prochains jours seront consacrés aux réglages du gréement et aux essais de voiles avant que Juan Merediz et Fran Palacio ne prennent une décision quant à leur retour ou non en course. S’ils prenaient le départ de Nouvelle-Zélande, ils affronteraient le Pacifique en plein automne austral...
Central Lechera Asturiana is re-masted in Wellington. Image copyright Barcelona World Race.
Classement du 25 mars à 15 heures (TU+1) :
1 VIRBAC-PAPREC 3 à X milles de l’arrivée (mode furtif)
2 MAPFRE à X milles de l’arrivée (mode furtif)
3 RENAULT Z.E à 2890,2 milles de l’arrivée
4 ESTRELLA DAMM Sailing Team à 121 milles
5 NEUTROGENA à 142,4 milles
6 GAES CENTROS AUDITIVOS à 598,5 milles
7 HUGO BOSS à 2552,9 milles
8 FORUM MARITIM CATALA à 2808,4 milles
9 WE ARE WATER à 4530,9 milles
10 CENTRAL LECHERA ASTURIANA à 8660,1milles
ABN FONCIA
ABN PRESIDENT
ABN GROUPE BEL
ABN MIRABAUD
Ils ont dit :
We Are Water sailing with broken boom:
Jaume Mumbru (ESP), We are Water : « Nous avons vu arriver la tempête alors que le baromètre est descendu à 965 hpa, une pression très basse. Nous avons eu 50 nœuds.
"Quelques heures avant nous avions affalé la grand-voile et Cali est monté dans le mât pour affaler le solent. Nous étions sous tourmentin à une vitesse de 10 nœuds. Nous nous étions bien préparés les heures précédentes : batteries rechargées, longs repos et repas consistants, matériels de sécurité à poste… Mais quand la tempête est arrivée, c’est difficile de décrire le froid, la situation chaotique de la mer, les bourrasques de neige mêlée… le bateau s’est bien comporté. Nous avons rempli les ballasts latéraux pour nous stabiliser. Les conditions sont très extrêmes et nous n’avons jamais vécu une telle situation.
"La mer a été cruelle avec nous. La bôme était parfaitement attachée. Le choc des vagues sur la coque nous faisait faire des bons de travers. Une de ces vagues a dû rompre la bôme. Maintenant les conditions sont meilleures. Le pire de la tempête est déjà passé. Nous devrions passer le Cap Horn avec seule la voile d’avant. Nous avons du matériel pour réparer la bôme. Nous ferons la réparation une fois à l’abri après le Cap Horn.»
Xabi Fernandez (ESP), MAPFRE : « Nous allons plutôt bien. Hier nous avons vu que tout se compliquait d’ici à Gibraltar. Alors nous allons essayer de prendre parti de ces conditions si changeantes. Il y a eu de nombreux changements entre cette nuit et ce matin. Nous avons joué notre dernière carte en gagnant, petit à petit, vers le Nord. Il y a quelques jours, tout était plus clair : faire du Nord. Maintenant plusieurs options sont possibles. C’est pour cela que Virbac-Paprec 3 et nous avons utilisé le mode invisible. (…) Nous avons compris que la course allait être plus longue que prévu et que nous allions manquer de nourriture. Donc nous avons pris des mesures pour nous rationner la nourriture à bord. Normalement il nous en reste assez jusqu’à la fin, soit le 5 ou 6 avril selon nos calculs ».
Andy Meiklejohn down below on HUGO BOSS. Image copyright Alex Thomson Racing.
Wouter Verbraak (NED), Hugo Boss : « Le travail d’équipe est certainement notre force dans cette course. De nombreux équipages ont un skipper qui a l’habitude de tourner autour de la planète en solitaire et qui a pris un coéquipier. Nous, nous venons tous deux de la même situation. Nous n’avons pas fait d’aussi grandes courses en double ou en solitaire auparavant. L’esprit d’équipe est donc génial et tout va bien à bord. Chaque fois que nous réalisons un changement de voiles, nous réalisons à quel point cela est difficile et nous nous demandons comment il est possible de le faire en solitaire sur un Vendée-Globe. Ce doit être un énorme challenge qui nécessite beaucoup de préparation. Mais l’idée est intéressante et le dépassement de soi en vaut la peine ».
Barcelona World Race
