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9:09 PM Mon 19 Jan 2009 GMT
What the Atlantic offered Vendee Globe leader Michel Desjoyeaux by way of a straightforward passage on the southwards, outbound passage, will it now take back some on the return leg now.
The leader has always been confident that he will escape OK from these wide, active Doldrums, but it must be frustrating this evening for The Professor to be stuck doing less than two knots, still more than 90 miles from the Equator. He is making some ten knots less than Roland Jourdain in second who has been advancing at 12.5 knots. Desjoyeaux has encountered the first squalls and unstable winds at 2 degrees South, when normally the Doldrums would be expected between 4 and 8 degrees North.
Now they might retract steadily, keeping the leader snared and allowing the return of Jourdain to continue, or they may stay stationary, where they are and so presenting the same brick wall to the return of Veolia Environnement.
Further south, in third place, Armel Le Cl?ac'h (Brit Air) is not yet getting full advantage of the trade winds which are neither strong nor organized where he is. Hence he is heading due north at under ten knots. This situation will not only assist Samantha Davies (Roxy) in fourth place, but also Marc Guillemot in fifth place. The skipper of Safran is sailing at full speed in the South Atlantic and, when before his stop he was about 280 miles behind, he is now only 125 miles behind Sam Davies and 1000 miles from Le Cl?ac'h.
These three competitors were all granted a time redress for going to the assistance of Yann Eli?s or Jean Le Cam - 82 hours for Guillemot, 32 hours for Davies and 11 hours for Le Cl?ac'h.
Le Cl?ac'h's lead of 1000 miles over Guillemot puts him in the sights of the skipper from La Trinit? with 71 hours corresponding more or less to 750 miles out on the water.
With three weeks to go to the finish, Marc Guillemot is well justified to retain the ambition of a place on the podium in this Vend?e Globe.
That would be a serious achievement for a competitor, who has made two island pit stops to repair his mast track and who is permanently compromised by sailing with two reefs in the mainsail.
Meantime Steve White, GBR, (Toe in the Water) admits to the crime of clock watching, counting down the final 80 miles to Cape Horn, which he should reach between 10pm amd midnight GMT this evening. And Dee Caffari has reaped every benefit going, making back the miles in the strong reaching conditions, to regain seventh position and set her sights on her compatriot Brian Thompson now less than 80 miles ahead.
Steve White (Toe in the Water) in his daily message talking about the damage he suffered this weekend.'Last time I wrote I thought I was in the clear and on the last lap, but there were a couple of what I hope will be the final twists before I round Cape Horn at about 2100 GMT tonight; the first was when I looked up out of my window at first light and saw the rig twisting. Normally this is because when you go downwind with the sails eased too far they can push on the spreaders which is a bad thing, but I don't sail like that, and when I saw some really funny saggy creases in the main as well then I knew I had a problem. I dashed out on deck to look and the main was not attached to the track at the top, the top car, the headboard car, had broken! I got the main down in a hurry because once one car goes, they can all go like a broken zip. There are fifteen cars that run up and down the track on the back of the mast which the mainsail goes up and down on.
Each car has sixty to eighty little plastic ball bearings in to help it run smoothly, but the headboard cars remained jammed on the track up at the top spreaders. The sea state was really chaotic, and it was actually difficult to stand up on deck with no main to steady the boat, so after some deliberation I decided a mast climb could wait until after Cape Horn and flat water. I tried to rig up various things to snag the cars from on deck but they are designed to be smooth and snag free, so that wasn't going to happen, so then I pulled another car up on the halyard and tried to tap them and see if they would come down - all that happened was I sent them further up the mast, above the top spreader and into the real 'No-mans Land' where it is difficult to climb because there's nothing to hold on to. I was pretty despairing at that point....then I had some inspiration! After trying to get them down all day, why didn't I just send them up out of the way? There is spare track at the top, so that's what I did, and there they will stay.
There is no damage to the track itself luckily, I think the cars had got distorted and pinched the balls onto the track tightly enough to stop gravity doing its thing! I spent the rest of the night taking the main off, taking all the cars off, and putting two new cars on at the top for the headboard, and putting them all back on again. The boat was rolling like a pig, and no matter how careful I was there were balls everywhere - it was a bit like one of those games you used to get at Christmas where you have to get several balls into several holes all at once!
Then I found that the aluminium plate which forms the bottom bearing of the gooseneck had broken free where it is welded to the mast base, so I had to winch and beat that back into place and bolt it through the deck (drilling through 10mm of aluminium and 15mm of solid carbon with a blunt drill from underneath with the boat rolling was not easy!) but by 0600 we were up and running with two reefs in again, and I went to bed! '
Rich Wilson, USA, Great American III: 'At one point I could hear some water sloshing around in a compartment which us under the cockpit and that is usually sealed up and dry, and so I had to go back to the lazarette through the little tunnel into the back of the boat. It was pretty violent back there when the stern is jerking around, whenever the wave hits the stern and knocks the boat, you are just rattling around inside it. I had to wear a helmet back there and I am glad I did.
We have been continually bailing since yesterday since the storm abated, just going through the compartments. There was a couple of buckets of water in the bow compartment, but I think we are in pretty good shape.
So we are right on the track for a waypoint which we have 1550 miles to go to (Cape Horn), off the plateau of Tierra del Fuego there, we are making good time.
We have an instrumentation problems, back sailing how we all grow up, looking at the windex at the top of the mast, and the autopilot is fine on 'compass' but I think what is going to mean is I won't be able to sail downwind under true wind angle, which normally you'd be able to do and set for maybe an hour and 15 minutes or so and get a nap, and instead get up every 20 or 30 minutes and check everything is OK.
I keep thinking about how any of these boats survive the beating they take.
It's going to be a great day for the United States for a variety of reasons. Barack Obama is a really smart guy, and certainly the most calm politician I have ever seen in the US. He just does not get rattled, and I think that will help a lot in calming the mood of the country and the world, and that will help towards some rational decisions. There are a long, long list of things that have to be worked on, but it will be a good day for the USA tomorrow.'
Dee Caffari, GBR, Aviva:'It's a little wet and wild at the moment, but all good and going in the right direction, but it is a little full-on. We knew that the wind was coming and we should have it for about 24 hours, which would be good for progress.
I have paid the price for maybe trying to keep up with the boys too hard because I have lost another section of taffeta, so my mini-main is even more of a string vest than it was before, but I am dreaming that ventilation in the main is maybe the way forward.
Aviva has just been on fire. She is on a mission. I have actually had to elect to make the decision to sail with breeze while we have it, and to stay with the guys while I can, and work on the theory that we will all get to lighter airs at about the same time and so we will all slow down at about the same time. And it will be that time then that I can lose less miles. So I am pretty pleased that I am managing to hang in there even with the main which is a little poorly.
We are hoping that we can keep the Trio together. The funny thing is that I have probably been no further than 100 miles from Akena since the Equator on the way south and ever since we caught up with Pindar we have all hung out together so it is amazing to think we have done all those miles together. And so, certainly the party at the end of this is going to be impressive. I spilt my morning cup of tea. The sea temperature has gone up 6 degrees overnight.
I have looked at my keel box literally since the first keel issue was mentioned in the southern ocean, I have checked my keel box area at least once a day, every day, without fail. And I am pleased to say that my keel is all good.'
1500 HRS GMT. Rankings
1 . Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) at 3337.6miles to finish
2 . Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) at 416 miles from first place
3 . Armel Le Cl?ac'h (Brit Air) at 1066.8 miles from first place
4 . Sam Davies (Roxy) at 1883.6 miles from first place
5 . Marc Guillemot (Safran) at 2008.2 miles from first place
6 . Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) at 2703.6 miles from first place
7 . Dee Caffari (Aviva) at 2780.7 miles from first place
8 . Arnaud Boissi?res (Akena V?randas) at 2792 miles from first place
9 . Steve White (Toe in the water) at 3763.9miles from first place
10 . Rich Wilson (Great American III) at 5212.2 miles from first place
11 . Rapha?l Dinelli (Fondation Oc?an Vital) at 6916 miles from first place
12 . Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport . Kapsch) at 6921.7 miles from first place
RDG . Vincent Riou (PRB). 3rd equal. 30 boats started.
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by Vendee Globe media
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