Vendée Globe: Prudence and Patience

(February 6, 2017; Day 93, 15:57 FR) – For the seven Vendée Globe skippers racing now in the Northern Hemisphere, the draw of home, of being across the finish line back on solid, dry land, among friends and family grows stronger with every mile sailed. It is a powerful motivation, not least relishing that ultimate release of stress and tension which is unloaded by the sound of the finish gun. But the soloists know that prudence and patience cannot be compromised by the overpowering desire to be done.

Less than 650 miles from the finish line in Les Sables d’Olonne, Nandor Fa still had 35-40kts westerly winds. The skipper of Spirit of Hungary, on course for an excellent eighth place, is in regular contact with his team, his family and knows the legions of Hungarian media and friends await his presence.

Eric Bellion, some 900 miles behind, is in energy conservation mode as he is struggling with engine and charging problems on CommeUnSeulhomme. 360 miles south of him, Conrad Colman needs to make his final routing decisions to Les Sables d’Olonne driven by the need to protect his tired boat and equipment and resist any temptation to try and save hours or even a day as he seeks the best way to deal with the very active low pressure systems crossing the Atlantic at the moment. Meanwhile, in 14th place Rich Wilson can finally contemplate his final 18 or 19 days left at sea after crossing back into what he calls his ‘home hemisphere’.

Wilson on Great American IV crossed the Equator last night at 1816hrs UTC. “Enfin as the French would say,” Wilson quipped as he watched his navigation instruments pass over the famous ‘seven doughnuts’, 00.00.000 becoming 00.00.001N in a matter of seconds. “Seventy eight days in the southern hemisphere. I remember musing going south what the challenges and adventures might be that we would solve or not solve before we headed north across this line again. We are finally here again. Back into the home hemisphere heading for Les Sables d’Olonne.”

Speaking to Vendée Globe HQ this midday, Wilson said: “It took quite a while to get here, that’s for sure! Yesterday, we got almost to the line and then got north winds, so we were beating back up to get to the Northern Hemisphere. It’s a little trying and right now it’s very light. The high has moved a little bit and taken the pressure off the trade winds, so the ITCZ has moved a little way north. So we have a little further to go to get to the other side of the Doldrums. It’s a nice day outside. We have started to prepare for the trade winds. I’ve furled up the genoa and put that away. I’m pretty tired, but we’re making progress. The South American coast is very long and we had a couple of episodes when we were completely becalmed and going in circles. It was very discouraging. You work harder in those conditions for just a few miles than you do when you have strong, steady winds. I’m sure it was the same sort of situation for everybody, so it’s hard to get into a regular sleep pattern. I’ve been checking the boat. We have a few things on our checklist we look at every day. Ahead there are some very strong winds. It may moderate by the time we get there, but the winds will still be fairly strong. I hope we don’t have anything like the current winds. I imagine another two weeks. At this point, the goal is to get there safely and not make any mistakes with the boat or yourself, making sure you don’t get hurt or anything like that. I’m looking for my first meal back at the Buffalo Grill, but I don’t know which day.”

Nandor Fa is expected during the early hours of Wednesday morning, the skipper himself today suggesting it may be closer to the middle of the morning.

Quotes:

Didac Costa (One Planet, One Ocean): “The trade winds push us at constant speed towards the Equator now, and an area of variable width, where the south-easterly trades of the Southern Hemisphere converge with the NE trades of the Northern Hemisphere. The weather forecasts there are not really useful. You can move suddenly from zero wind to a violent squall. In addition to the wind maps, we look at infrared satellite photos and use a recent technique that allows us to deduce the prevailing wind by analysing the surface waves. And we also use intuition to find our way out… After this obstacle, the NE trades await us. If you have followed the route of the other boats in the Vendée Globe, you would have seeing that after the Equator instead of trying to go straight towards Les Sables, they made a big detour around the Azores anticyclone. I broke the support of the starboard hydro-generator yesterday and the rail where it is hold in the transom has also been damaged. Fortunately, it is interchangeable with the port one, which is the one that is working now. Anyway, I should have enough diesel (40-50 litres) to charge the twin alternator we installed in Les Sables.”

Current Ranking – Finished
1. Banque Populaire VIII, Armel Le Cléac’h (FRA), Finished, 74d 03h 35m 46s (1/19/17)
2. Hugo Boss, Alex Thomson (GBR), Finished, 74d 19h 35m 15s (1/20/17)
3. Maître CoQ, Jérémie Beyou (FRA), Finished, 78d 06h 38m 40s (1/23/17)
4. StMichel-Virbac, Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA), Finished, 80d 01h 45m 45s (1/25/17)
5. Queguiner – Leucemie Espoir, Yann Elies, (FRA), Finished, 80d 03h 11m 09s (1/25/17)
6. Finistère Mer Vent, Jean Le Cam (FRA), Finished, 80d 06h 41m 54s (1/25/17)
7. Bureau Vallée, Louis Burton (FRA), Finished, 87d 21h 45m 49s (2/2/17)

Race details – Tracker – Ranking – Facebook – VendeeGlobe TV

Background:
The eighth Vendée Globe, which began November 6 from Les Sables d’Olonn, France, is the only non-stop solo round the world race without assistance. Twenty-nine skippers representing four continents and ten nations set sail on IMOCA 60s in pursuit of the record time set by François Gabart in the 2012-13 race of 78 days, 2 hours and 16 minutes.

For the first time in the history of the event, seven skippers will set sail on IMOCA 60s fitted with foils: six new boats (Banque Populaire VIII, Edmond de Rothschild, Hugo Boss, No Way Back, Safran, and StMichel-Virbac) and one older generation boat (Maitre Coq). The foils allow the boat to reduce displacement for speed gains in certain conditions. It will be a test to see if the gains can topple the traditional daggerboard configuration during the long and demanding race.

Retirements (11):
November 12, Day 7 – Tanguy de Lamotte, Initiatives Coeur, masthead crane failure
November 19, Day 14 – Bertrand de Broc, MACSF, UFO collision
November 22, Day 17 – Vincent Riou, PRB, UFO collision
November 24, Day 19 – Morgan Lagravière, Safran, UFO collision
December 4, Day 29 – Kojiro Shiraishi, Spirit of Yukoh, dismasted
December 6, Day 31 – Kito de Pavant, Bastide Otio, UFO collision
December 7, Day 32 – Sébastien Josse, Edmond de Rothschild, foil damage
December 18, Day 43 – Thomas Ruyant, Le Souffle du Nord, UFO collision
December 24, Day 49 – Stéphane Le Diraison, Compagnie du Lit – Boulogne Billancourt, dismasted
December 24, Day 49 – Paul Meilhat, SMA, keel ram failure
January 1, Day 57 – Enda O’Coineen, Kilcullen Voyager-Team Ireland, dismasted

Source: Vendee Globe