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9:32 PM Thu 13 Nov 2008 GMT
From the Gitana Team.
Setting out from Les Sables d'Olonne last Sunday at 1302 hours, the fleet of Imoca monohulls, which now comprises twenty-six competitors, is slipping along downwind in the tradewinds of the northern hemisphere, down the edge of the Azores High.
The frontrunners have left the island of Madeira in their wake. Battling at the top of the leaderboard from the outset, Gitana Eighty is leading the way southbound this afternoon. In its wake, Sebastien Josse and Jean-Pierre Dick are keeping on the pace and Jean Le Cam is in ambush.
Indeed Loick Peyron and Gitana Eighty have been leading the dance for three consecutive rankings today, which is certainly not down to luck: "You don't get anything without putting in the effort! The boats are noisy and demanding and I have not yet managed to sleep properly since the start." With these words, the skipper of the monohull equipped by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild explained that his look-out position in the cockpit was still preferable today to his comfortable bunk down below.
The fierce gale which manhandled the fleet for the first few hours at sea has certainly left its mark on the sailors in the Vend?e Globe 2008-2009. The most unfortunate of these have seen their round the world dream come to a brutal end, whilst others have had to turn back to make repairs in order to head back into the race, and the remainder have made it through.
However, for those who are now slipping along in the Portuguese tradewinds, the jobs list is a hefty one as Loick Peyron explains: "Two broaches have left their mark. During one of them, I damaged a starboard aft stanchion, which has since been repaired and I almost lost my genoa. I also experienced some problems with my automatic pilot, but it's sorted itself out now."
Psychological warfare or modesty. each solo sailor has been discretely dressing the wounds on their various steeds. However, given the violence of the elements in the Bay of Biscay few seem to have come off scot free. As such, during the daily radio session at midday, Roland Jourdain and Vincent Riou - to name but a few - told of the difficulties they'd faced.
After four days at sea, the head of the fleet in this 6th edition is passing the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira. Sailing along a ridge of high pressure on the eastern edge of the Azores High, the solo sailors are exploiting the now steady NE'ly tradewinds in a bid to make the Canaries and then Cape Verde, before lining themselves up to get through the first Doldrums in this round the world. For the monohull in the colours of the LCF Rothschild Group, along with its rivals, the current strategy is clear: make as much headway as possible towards the equator.
The top four, led by Gitana Eighty, were grouped within 24 miles of each other at the 1600 hour ranking. Though Loick Peyron, Sebastien Josse and Jean-Pierre Dick have opted to leave Madeira to port, Jean Le Cam has opted to pass to windward of the island.
Ranking on 13th November - 1600 hours (French time)
1. Gitana Eighty (Loick Peyron) 22,570 miles from the finish
2. BT (Sebastien Josse) 13.6
3. Paprec Virbac (Jean-Pierre Dick) 18.2
4. VM Materiaux (Jean Le Cam) 24.1
5. Veolia Environnement (Roland Jourdain) 52.9
Abandons: Groupe Bel (Kito de Pavant), Aquarelle.com (Yannick Bestaven), DCNS (Marc Thiercelin) and Hugo Boss (Alex Thomson).
Marc Guillemot on Safran: "I'm in the groove".
Offshore of the Moroccan coast, the first move in the Vend?e Globe chess game is being played as the head of the fleet round Madeira and then the Canaries. Safran - positioned in 9th position at 1100 hours (French time) - looks set to take the inside lane around the first archipelago.
"Clearly I'd have preferred to be in the top three, but I'm not doing too badly all the same! Fifty or seventy miles isn't much when you take into account that the Doldrums is still 1,600 miles away". Aboard Safran this Thursday, Marc Guillemot had the clear voice of a sailor who is powering downwind. "All's well aboard, I'm being accompanied by an ENE'ly breeze and the boat is making 16, 17 knots". The big question today is the rounding of the archipelago of Madeira, which is something the skipper from La Trinit? sur Mer in SW Brittany already seems to have tied up: the trajectory he has selected means that he is inclined towards slipping along between Madeira and the African continent. "I'm probably going to pass upwind of Madeira, explains Marc Guillemot, the idea is that these islands are relatively high and I want to avoid their wind shadow".
For Marc Guillemot, it is still too early to refer to the Doldrums "which we'll only reach early next week. For the time being, we're anticipating the passage around Madeira and then the Canaries, in 400 miles time, where there may well be further strategic options in play. We may not necessarily leave all the islands to starboard, we'll see."
The race has reasserted itself amongst the Vendee Globe fleet and aboard Safran. "I'm in the groove now and everything's going a lot better, assures Marc Guillemot, I'm now completely in phase with the boat, I've managed to rest and recuperate well., I'm on the attack!" At the 1100 hour position report, Safran was in 9th place, 73 miles behind the leader Loick Peyron, and between Yann Elies and Jeremie Beyou. Safran was then sailing at 34?40 N and 15?33 W. One shouldn't read too much into these rankings however, given the positioning game prior to Madeira, where certain boats will distance themselves from the direct course whilst other will close on it.
In fact, the next Justice of the Peace at the start of the Vendee Globe will probably be the Doldrums, the inter-tropical convergence zone into which the fleet are set to enter early next week.
At the rear, Michel Desjoyeaux is over 520 miles from the head of the race and Bernard Stamm set out again from Les Sables d'Olonne in the middle of the night with over 950 miles to make up.
Dominique Wavre on Temenos II: Some rather overly invasive high pressure!
On reading the message sent to race management by Dominique we can imagine that last night was far from restful aboard Temenos II. "It's not a race for those who like to sleep a lot! My daily dose of coffee has been largely exceeded." Dominique is trying to extract his Temenos II from the clutches of the high pressure which has been a little too insistent. The skipper is attempting to hook onto the right wagon so as to stay within a reasonable distance of the leaders, but it's proving to be a difficult task for the skipper, who is experiencing rather different conditions than his predecessors.
Though the high pressure was discrete as the head of the fleet passed by, it now seems to be interfering with the course of the Swiss monohull. Meantime the situation for the back of the fleet is set to deteriorate still further.
Dominique is certainly not giving up though. The skipper is remaining on the deck of his boat, at times trimming, at the helm or manouvring, in order to follow the wind shifts, which are still proving too light and fickle: "It's been a very lively night; I put in four gybes on the edge of the zone of high pressure, which really didn't want to let me through, and this morning I have two hours with virtually no wind. The grib files gave me around 12 knots but I had to make do with 5. The anticyclone has stretched a little wider in relation to yesterday's forecasts. The wind is kicking back in a little but it isn't fully established yet. I have between 8 and 12 knots, not quite at the angle I'd have liked, but it's already better than this morning" recounted Dominique early this afternoon.
The four gybes which peppered the skipper's night weren't enough to free him of the threat of high pressure and, despite his best efforts, Temenos II was still struggling to exceed 10 knots (at the 1600 hour ranking) "There are some big wind shifts so I'm constantly having to trim. I'm also helming a lot in order to try and get the boat as powered up as I can."
Meantime the leaders of the fleet who have managed to hook onto the NE'ly trade winds are only too willing to lengthen their stride. Beam onto the wind, these boats are racking up average speeds of in excess of 16 knots. It'll be a tough day for the chasing pack. "The lead held by the frontrunners will extend still further" forecast Dominique.
As Temenos II drops southwards she should also get into a fresher breeze. Dominique is continuing to keep a close eye on the next 'delights' in store, and is clinging onto the idea that he will make the most of every opportunity to make up ground. "Between the Canaries and the islands of Cape Verde, the tradewinds seem to be easing, which should give us the chance to close on the leaders a little. This remains part of a long term forecast but it would be a nice scenario!"
With a boat which permanently requires the presence of her skipper on deck, this isn't the time for rest, but when you reflect on the lack of sleep with Dominique, his response is unexpected: "It's fine, compared with what we had in the Bay of Biscay, for the time being it's a picnic. At the end of the day it's not such a bad thing to have had to tackle a storm from the outset because, after that, everything appears easy. It's a pure delight!" (laughs)
by Kate Jennings - Expression
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Sailing
