SailingXperience.com vendée globe News

Loïck Peyron leads Vendée Globe fleet into the southern hemisphere

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:59:08 +0100

[Source: Vendée Globe] Tonight for the leaders it is just about straight lining it, on the breeze into the trade winds, slamming upwind, it is a very different game now.

In a matter of hours 'Sheriff' Loïck Peyron will break over the border into the Southern Hemisphere with a lead of just over 20 miles.

The chasing posse are absolutely on his heels, at Figaro pace.

The young gun slinger Seb Josse, a foot in both camps - French and English - rides high in the saddle, he has lead the chase for days and shows no sign of wilting.

His position remains strong applying 21.6 miles of lateral separation to windward of Jean-Pierre Dick, his sometime training partner in crime, two southern sailors managing to keep the hungry 2004 champion, Vincent Riou, at bay.

Dick has arrested third place again as we head into the night, 14 miles up on Riou who held third for much of today, and the four top boats are still within 40 miles of the leader.

Out to the west, holding steady, Roland Jourdain is 7th, Jean Le Cam still mining the east is eighth and slanting back for some westing, while Mike Golding holds 10th tonight. The 7th to 10th group have eight miles of DTL between them, even if their tracks are spread more than 100 miles west to east.

With the boats and skippers settled to the new rhythm the task they face is looking down south to the Saint Helena high pressure system(s) since there have been two to choose from. The situation has been looking messy, and there may be options to make big, and important, gains and losses.

One little enclave with smiles on their faces this evening are Wavre, Thompson, Daves and Guillemot.. They appear to have missed out on the Doldrums experience entirely for the moment. Wavre reported that he had moved virtually seamlessly into the Trade Winds and sure enough tonight they are making 10.2 to 10.9 knots of VMG – not really typical Doldrums pace.

Less fortunate seems to be Dee Caffari, Mich Desj, Arnaud Boissieres and Steve White. They have been swallowed by something very Doldrums like, and have slumped to 4 to 7 knots. Painful.
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Vendee Globe Race: Roland Jourdain not very comfortable on Veolia Environnement

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:16:38 +0100

Thanks to his westerly route, Roland Jourdain has kept up with the head of the group, and showed an 80-mile gain on the leaders in the ranking. As he left the Doldrums and seeing an end to last ...
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Vendee Globe: Michel Desjoyeaux & Foncia now gunning for Marc Guillemot on Safran

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:14:50 +0100

Last Friday and 647 miles behind the leader, Michel Desjoyeaux was positioned in 16th place; this Friday 21st November he is 273 miles behind leader Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty). 374 miles devoured in 7 days – that is over ...
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Vendee Globe: Pace at least 2 days off Jean Le Cam record run to Equator

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:12:58 +0100

Moving progressively into trade winds sailing, Loïck Peyron on Gitana Eighty maintains an increasingly solid looking lead of 20 miles from Seb Josse, (BT). Order stays the same in top five all today, Peyron, Josse, Riou, Dick, Le Cléach. ...
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Vendee Globe: Dee Caffari admits to going for short term gain over long term strategy

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:58:14 +0100

This week has been tough for Dee as she and Aviva have battled to keep up with the leading pack in their second week of racing in the Vendée Globe. After the heady few days up with the front ...
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Vendee Globe: Ecover 3 sandwiched between Delta Dore and Veolia Environnment

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:49:39 +0100

ECOVER 3 had been sandwiched on either side by DELTA DORE in the east and VEOLIA ENVIRONNEMENT in the west for the past 24 hours. Just 10 miles separate the seventh to tenth placed boats. Even though Mike Golding ...
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Vendee Globe: Brian Thompson sleeps through alarm on board Bahrain Team Pindar

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:47:43 +0100

It looks like I am through in the SE trades now, without seeing any squalls or light airs. Wind is SE 12-15 knots, it feels like the Tradewinds though not quite the small puffy cumulus clouds that will be ...
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Vendee Globe: Across the equator in a few hours for Sebastien Josse

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:45:59 +0100

To Seb's relief the passage through the Doldrums has been relatively pain-free and it was clear from this morning's Vendée Globe positions that the leading pack were through the worst of the 'calms' and into the stable South-Easterly Trade ...
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New : The Peyron Posse Break for the Border

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:45:24 +0100

In a matter of hours 'Sheriff' Loïck Peyron will break over the border into the Southern Hemisphere with a lead of just over 20 miles.

The chasing posse are absolutely on his heels, at Figaro pace.

The young gun slinger Seb Josse, a foot in both camps - French and English - rides high in the saddle, he has lead the chase for days and shows no sign of wilting.

His position remains strong applying 21.6 miles of lateral separation to windward of Jean-Pierre Dick, his sometime training partner in crime, two southern sailors managing to keep the hungry 2004 champion, Vincent Riou, at bay.

Dick has arrested third place again as we head into the night, 14 miles up on Riou who held third for much of today, and the four top boats are still within 40 miles of the leader.

Out to the west, holding steady, Roland Jourdain is 7^th, Jean Le Cam still mining the east is eighth and slanting back for some westing, while Mike Golding holds 10^th tonight. The 7^th to 10^th group have eight miles of DTL between them, even if their tracks are spread more than 100 miles west to east.

With the boats and skippers settled to the new rhythm the task they face is looking down south to the Saint Helena high pressure system(s) since there have been two to choose from. The situation has been looking messy, and there may be options to make big, and important, gains and losses.

One little enclave with smiles on their faces this evening are Wavre, Thompson, Daves and Guillemot.. They appear to have missed out on the Doldrums experience entirely for the moment. Wavre reported that he had moved virtually seamlessly into the Trade Winds and sure enough tonight they are making 10.2 to 10.9 knots of VMG – not really typical Doldrums pace.

Less fortunate seems to be Dee Caffari, Mich Desj, Arnaud Boissieres and Steve White. They have been swallowed by something very Doldrums like, and have slumped to 4 to 7 knots. Painful.

Published by Vendée Globe via SailingXperience

Newswire : Picking them off one by one

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:41:02 +0100

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) is continuing to work his way back up the fleet. Still in sixteenth place at 20h, Mich’ Desj’ is only four miles behind Dee Caffari (Aviva) in terms of distance to the finish. In reality,the "Professor" is a bit further south then Dee, but ten miles or so further west. Logically, he should grab 15th place during the night. Ahead lies Marc Guillemot (Safran), 75 miles in front of him. So it looks like it will start to get a bit tougher from now on...

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Vendee Globe: Bernard Stamm makes impressive inroads into his deficit

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:46:20 +0100

During the past four days of racing, Cheminées Poujoulat has continued to make gains on all her rivals, making the score more even along with Foncia helmed by Michel Desjoyeaux. Bernard Stamm isn’t boasting though, far from it in ...
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Newswire : Dominique's surprise

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:42:30 +0100

Dominique Wavre (Temenos) in eleventh place, 178 miles from the leader was very surprised today at how easy it was to get through the Doldrums.

"Things are going very well. The Doldrums has been rapidly devoured. We got through it without encountering any opposition. It was limited to a very slight reduction in pace for an hour, that’s all! According to the latest satellite charts the zone was pretty clear effectively and this is the reason that I didn’t see any big clouds appearing in the sky, as is normally the case. I was expecting a relatively easy passage but perhaps not quite to this extent. It’s certainly the very first time it’s gone like this. I’m still surprised about it!"

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Vendee Globe: Gitana Eighty and Loick Peyron's race at the front

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:37:42 +0100

The fleet of monohulls in the Vendée Globe is beginning its twelfth day at sea and since leaving Les Sables d’Olonne, the competitors in this 2008 edition have been battling in close contact as the 76 miles separating the ...
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Vendee Globe: Quotes from the boats

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:29:35 +0100

Here is a summary of what was said during today's live link-up with the French-speaking skippers this lunchtime in Paris. Vincent Riou (PRB) in 3rd place, 29 miles from the leader: Thinks rankings will change a lot as they ...
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New : Life at a different angle

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:10:50 +0100

Racing now in 12-14 knots of fairly settled SE’ly trade winds the challenge of picking the best downwind angles and sail combinations, of sliding through the Doldrums, has been replaced now with a straight test of speed and power.

The leaders with a more easterly course emerged slightly quicker into the new breezes, while those more to the west had some residual messy breezes to deal with, squalls and calms - but the winds do appear to be evenly distributed across the front of the race track now.

With a matter of hours until the leaders break the Equator into the Southern Hemisphere, the pace is two days behind that of Jean Le Cam in 2004, when the fleet were sent on their way by favourable winds across the Bay of Biscay and enjoyed a fast passage south.

For his eighth day at the head of the fleet, Peyron has remained resolutely impregnable. His lead may have expanded and contracted over recent days, but for the moment 19-20 miles is ample against a pack which has so far proven so very evenly matched in terms of speed, little wonder to an extent when four of the top five are very similar Farr designs. Only fifth placed Armel Le Cléac’h’s Brit Air is from the Finot Conq office.

“There have been the occasional clouds which required the odd adjustment to the sails, but we are well into the southerly trade winds now, well heeled. But this racing is very much like Figaro (one design solo class) racing now.” Explained Le Cléac’h to today’s radio vacation listeners.

While the common consensus among the leading pack was how atypical the conditions have been for them through the Doldrums – no long stops, no big clouds, no squalls – many remarked today that even if they have had it ‘easy’, the passage for the group chasing some 100 or so miles behind looks set to be quicker.

Indeed Dominique Wavre, who leads a Swiss-British trio – his Temenos II, Bahrain Team Pindar and ROXY, was matching the leaders’ speeds this evening, despite being into what was previously considered the domain of the Doldrums. Wavre leads Brian Thompson by ten miles, who in turn still has just six miles on the doggedly persistent Sam Davies on ROXY.

Dee Caffari, GBR, (Aviva) appears to be doing sterling work keeping Michel Desjoyeaux at bay for the moment. The 2001 winner is 11.2 miles behind Caffari this evening.

Steve White, GBR, (Toe in the Water): If I can sort out this problem I’. The pilot works, but it is just the second set of instruments, I just can’t see what it is doing. Once I get the second instruments then I can give it a test and put it to bed and know it all works, but I want to find a definite fault that I can put right rather than just have it start working again so that by the same token it may stop working again. I am looking for a nice clear cause as to why it is not working.

It is a lot easier if you don’t have to re-build the boat as you are going along. And, once this is done, that is pretty much it, regarding big jobs. Then it is a bit of string here, a bit of string there, and get myself up the rig.

We only did about three hours sailing with the new rigging before we set off, and so you just have to go up there for your own peace of mind.

Jonny Malbon, GBR, (Artemis II): It has been a pretty frustrating morning. I had the big spinnaker and full main all of yesterday and most of last night, and then the breeze dropped off a little this morning, so I went for the Code 5, because the angle was a bit hotter, and then that changed again, so I put the 3 up and now we are moving along quite nicely. I was worried that this light stuff would be her Achilles Heel, but touch wood she seems to be going OK at the moment.

I have 24 hours to weather before I get to my waypoint through the Doldrums at around 25 west 5 north, and it I get through.

I have maybe lost a little bit in terms of Distance to Leader, but I do feel I have consolidated a bit more westing. It is frustrating in the sense that I am still learning the modes of the boat, like I have done two big sail changes this morning, when I really only should have done one. That is the frustrating bit. But what will me most frustrated is if we get locked out in the east, that is my only big concern, so at the moment I am taking all the breeze that I can.

Rich Wilson, USA, (Great American III): We have had pretty nice, fast sailing these last 24 hours, full mainsail and big gennaker, nice beautiful sailing, you could not get much better than the last 24 hours.

I have been back on it a lot more, the back is feeling a little bit better, so I can just engage a few more sail manoeuvres and push a bit harder, but it is pretty toasty down here.

I am always rooting for a guy like Unai out there, taking a risk, if he can pull it off I will be delighted for him.

For the first week I was taking a little bit easy, but the back seems to be a little bit easier, and with a few less sail changes in the steadier going it has been a little easier on it

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Vendee Globe: Jean Le Cam claws his way back

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:55:57 +0100

Persistent Loïck Peyron passes into his second week at the head of the Vendée Globe pack, while the recovery of the only skipper to have broken the Gitana Eighty monopoly during that period, Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux), continues ...
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Vendee Globe: Quotes from the boats

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:54:41 +0100

Newswire : Today's best performance

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:41:16 +0100

For the second day in a row, Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty bringing up the rear of the fleet, is awarded the title of today's best performer, having covered 340 miles in 24h between 16h on Thursday and 16h on Friday. The skipper of Groupe Maisonneuve, currently sailing off the Canaries, restarted the race a week after the initial start, in order to carry out repairs to the deck of his boat.

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Newswire : Hot and sticky... for the moment

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:20:13 +0100

After overtaking Steve White (Toe in the Water) and Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas), Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) is in 16th place, 273 miles from the leader with Dee Caffari firmly in his sights. Like the other competitors around him, he has certainly noticed the heat:

"I try to sleep when I can... As soon as I'm no longer under spinnaker, I take advantage to grab some rest. As soon as the wind shifts, like it did during the night, when I was under reacher, I go for a sleep. It's wet here all the time. It's never-ending. The air temperature is around 30°C and it didn't drop off during the night. As soon as you carry out any manoeuvres, you wear just you boxer shorts, or otherwise you'd die with the heat. I just put on my trousers to protect my legs from the sun. It could be a lot worse. I prefer doing manoeuvres sweating like this, as a month from now, when I try to do the same manoeuvre, it will be with a temperature of just 5°C..."

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Vendee Globe: Derek Hatfield talks from Algimouss Spirit of Canada

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:51:30 +0100

The electrical problems have my attention and we are still trying to rectify the problems. It seems that with every Vendee Globe one or more of the fleet is destined to go around with minimal power. It's ironic that I ...
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