BWR: Cheminées Poujoulat completes lap, now must complete race

(March 3, 2015; Day 63) – Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam passed under 5,000 miles to the Barcelona World Race finish line and today also crossed over their own outbound track. The leading duo on Cheminées Poujoulat are starting to feel like the worst of the course is very much behind them. Both skippers have, individually, suffered more than their fair share of ill luck over their careers. Now, if it is not good luck that is running with them it is certainly at least good timing.

Having been pressed east around the big high pressure system in the South Atlantic they have continued to have downwind and broad reaching conditions, making 16,3kts today. But as daytime temperatures rise to become much more acceptable Stamm and Le Cam seem set to gain steadily on their nearest rivals, Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos.

Were it not that it proved to be stuck then there might have been some ceremony yesterday when the leaders tried to slide forwards the protective canopy which protects much of their cockpit space from the sluicing southern ocean waters and driving winds. After a little persuasion they can now enjoy the full ‘al fresco’ experience, rather than huddling under its shelter. And as the canopy rolls back, so too it seems like the weather door may close on their rivals. It is probable that as a new high pressure builds off the South American coast that Neutrogena and GAES Centros Auditivos will lose more time against the Swiss-French duo.

For Neutrogena, Guillermo Altadill and José Munoz have actually been making distance on the leaders, reducing their deficit by a further 30 miles in the last 24 hours. They may now be 970 miles behind the leading duo, but their route north now appears blocked by a zone of high pressure and winds of just 5-8kts. In contrast Cheminées Poujoulat will be into slightly stronger, more settled easterlies allowing them a due north course to the Equator.

Predictably, the race statistics so far show in favour of Cheminées Poujoulat. Until today they have sailed 21,080 Nms on the water, averaging 14.6kts. They hold the highest 24hrs run at 482.8 Nms on 11th February, the highest 4 hours speed gun average at 21.1kts on that same date. They have lead continuiously since 16th January. Their lead was biggest at 1249 Nms on 26th February. And they are on course for the biggest win in the history of the race. (see stats page on http://barcelonaworldrace.geovoile.org/2015/ )

Stamm said today:
“It feels good to change things a bit. We pushed back the protective cover for the first time yesterday. It was a bit stuck and we had a bit of a job pushing it back, but it’s nice now to be able to manoeuvre standing up rather than crouched down under it. When we trim the headsails, we can see them now. That changes things. The speeds are different and the situation has changed.

“What’s happening is that with the lead we have, we can’t control anything. We’re sailing our own route with the weather we get. The high we have just passed was something we had been keeping an eye on since before Cape Horn. We were afraid that it would stop us getting through and that by having to move off to the east, the door would be wide open behind us. But that isn’t the case, and it seems to have favoured us.

“The high was moving. The fear was that it would remain there, but it’s moving again. It’s possible that the door will slam shut again.”

For the ‘three Pacific musketeers’ approaching Cape Horn – We Are Water, One Planet, One Ocean & Pharmaton and Renault Captur, conditions remain favourable. But Jorg Riechers and Seb Audigane in sixth are in front of a big low, getting 30-35kts of NW’ly winds right now, and there is a big low forming off the coast of Chile which will leave beh ind very big seas as they arrive at Cape Horn at the weekend. We Are Water have just over 1000 miles to make to the Horn.

Renault Captur are having to moderate their speeds so they do not pressurize their starboard rudder too much, but they have still been making steady miles under double reefed main and J3 headsail. Reichers reported today:

“For the moment it is OK. We have the J3 and two reefs and that is easy enough. It is OK. We had the J2 and the J1 yesterday and we had some scary moments. So we decided to take it a little easier because where we are here you really do not want to have any problems.

“For the moment the problem with the rudder, which was delaminated and damaged south of New Zealand, is that when it was repaired it was done so without a mould and so with the shape it has it might be a few millimetres out of the range of the original rudder and that creates a lot of pressure on the blade. We think that is the source of the problem.”

Skippers quotes:

Jorg Riechers (GER) Renault Captur:
If we did not have this rudder issue it would be a glamour becasue the boat is going quite well, and Seb and I are going really well, so the manouevres are alright and so life is really good. But knowing we have this rudder issue is like having the sword of Damocles always over us all the time. It gives us a certain amount of stress.

* If their future is solo, what have they learned?
For the Vendée we are thinking about sails, for example, and what works. So probably in theory what you want in the south is this jib top reacher, the Michel Desjoyeaux thing. And the deck layout, you want to be really, really well protected and the boat is easy to work. And also the shape of the hull, where to accelerate, how much rocker it needs to have to surf out of the water at the right moment. When we have time we discuss the perfect boat for the Vendée Globe and then discuss it with the designer, and so it is a good loop. And all of the time, even if we have these issues, I am super happy I am doing this race. The result is not too glamourous at the moment but it is absolutely worthwhile.

Bernard Stamm (SUI) Cheminées Poujoulat:
* Life on board:
It’s been less than 24 hours since we got out of the strong winds and we had quite a lot of maintenance to do aboard the boat, and that took some time. The wind is still with us and we haven’t been stopped so far. Now, we’ve learnt how to walk around again. We can stand up inside the boat and the temperatures are rising, making it pleasant.

* Tiredness and little injuries
It’s clear we’re feeling tired. We’ve got a few little injuries. Jean’s rib is hurting and he feels the pain with every movement. If you go up the mast, you feel sore all over. It builds up over time and it stays with you until you get close to the finish. I think we have lost some weight, but it’s hard to judge. We think more about the boat than ourselves. We’re going to start to remove some layers of clothing soon and we’ll see what’s underneath. We may be in for a few surprises.

Ranking at 14:00 UTC:
1. Cheminées Poujoulat (Bernard Stamm – Jean Le Cam) 4938 nm Distance to Finish
2. Neutrogena (Guillermo Altadill – Jose Muñoz) 970 nm Distance to Lead
3. GAES Centros Auditivos (Anna Corbella – Gerard Marin) 1237 nm DTL
4. We Are Water (Bruno Garcia – Willy Garcia) 3190 nm DTL
5. One Planet One Ocean / Pharmaton (Aleix Gelabert – Didac Costa) 3240 nm DTL
6. Renault Captur (Jörg Riechers – Sebastien Audigane) 3910 nm DTL
7. Spirit of Hungary (Nandor Fa – Conrad Colman) 5430 nm DTL
Hugo Boss (Alex Thomson – Pepe Ribes) Abandon

Tracker – Event details

Report by event media.

Background: The third edition of the Barcelona World Race is the only double-handed, non-stop, round the world race. Eight IMOCA 60 teams started December 31, 2014, with the intent to cover 23,450 nautical miles in a circumnavigation from Barcelona to Barcelona, putting the capes of Good Hope (South Africa), Leeuwin (Australia) and Horn (Chile) to port and the Antarctic to starboard. The finishes are forecasted for the end of March 2015.