Superyacht Challenge Antigua

http://vimeo.com/37695450

Having seen the success of the St. Barth Bucket, Antigua wanted in on the fun and money. Eighteen excellent boats between 100 and over 200 feet competed in this year's event. This is not the Vendee....

Maserati

Skillful navigating and a good measure of luck allowed the VOR 70 Maserati to approach and round Cape Horn with relative ease — at least in comparison to some such adventures. But their good luck changed after rounding, as they were forced to battle headwinds for five consecutive days.
The ultra-fast offshore racer is skippered by Italian Giovanni Soldini, who, along with an international crew of eight, is attempting to break the New York-to-San Francisco sailing record, now called the Clipper Challenge Cup.


http://maserati.soldini.it/?lang=en

Vendee

As someone who is mesmerized by the sheer athletic ability of racing a powerful Open 60 solo, non-stop around the world in less than 80 days, I can’t help but wonder why this extraordinary accomplishment went completely unnoticed in the American press. Was it because we were waiting with bated breath for the next tidbit about Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o’s imaginary girlfriend, or were we too busy filling out office pools betting on the outcome of Sunday's big game? The answer is, sadly, yes. But despair not, it’s always been like that, it will always be like that, and no matter how much us sailors lament this simple truth, it’s never going change.

A better question would be ‘why is it so?’ To know the answer you have to know the French and you also have to have some historical perspective. In 1968 the very first solo, nonstop race around the world took place. The Sunday Times Golden Globe attracted an odd collection of sailors drawn to the challenge for their own personal reasons. British sailor Robin Knox-Johnston won the event, nutter Donald Crowhurst got the most publicity for the strange faking of his voyage, but it was Moitessier who captured the heart and soul of a nation; and he never even finished the race.

While sailing up the Atlantic toward the finish and certain fame, he made a fateful decision, one that I think changed the face of sailing for generations to come. Moitessier abandoned his race and chose to continue on sailing around the world a second time. He altered course, passed the Cape of Good Hope, sailed under Australia and finally, after 10 months at sea, dropped anchor off Tahiti. This simple gesture, one that spoke volumes about his love for the open ocean, his sense of his purpose in life and his direct snub at fame, say nothing of the race organizers who were British, won him eternal affection from the entire French nation.

Sailing, or yachting as it’s known among the yacht-club types, has long been regarded as a sport for the rich. This is especially true in the US and UK. In France it’s different. Sure they have their yacht clubs, but rather than reveling in pomp and tradition, the French revel in accomplishment. The tougher, the filthier, the more extreme the accomplishment, the more they love it. Back when I did my Whitbread races we would be well scrubbed, shaved and wearing relatively clean clothes when we crossed the finish line. The French, on the other hand, would be in the same clothes that they had worn on start day, unshaven, and even four or five days after finishing they would still be in the same clothes, hair a tangled mess, perpetual gauloises in hand, still not showered. They were French, they personified the French spirit, and the French public loved it.

What Moitessier started Eric Tabarly elevated to the level of kings. After first winning the 1964 transatlantic race and then winning again in 1976, the French public made him a national hero honoring him with a ticker-tape parade down the Champs-Élysées. It was more than just the fact he had won both races; they loved the fact that he was poking it in the eye of their northern neighbors. The Brits had ruled the waves for centuries until along came one man - alone - and beat them at their own game.

Modern day French sailors like Vendée Globe winner Francoise Gabart are, out of necessity, much more sponsor/media savvy than many of their predecessors and the tangled hair and gauloises are gone. When he crossed the finish line to smash a full six days off the record Gabart looked like he had just sailed to Catalina Island and back, not around the world. The look may have changed, but the spirit of sheer adventure and accomplishment has not and it still resonates deeply with the French public. His sponsor, MACIF, is an insurance company, an industry traditionally adverse to taking risks. Three hours behind Gabert came Armel Le Cléac’h on Banque Populaire. Yes Banque means bank, the place where we keep our money. Can you imagine an American bank staking their carefully honed brand on an adventure fraught with the possibility of it all going horribly wrong? People have died doing the Vendée yet these sponsors know that to connect to the French public, their customers, they need the conduit that comes with this kind of sailing adventure.

America is a different nation. Let’s not forget that most of the population lives far from the ocean. The coastline population is not much when compared to the vast hinterland and as such most people that live inland have no clue about sailing. The closest they come to the water is an episode of Jersey Shore; the French have Gabert, we have Snookie, and that’s the way we like it. Walk down the main street of a town in France and all the brands that you see sponsoring sailing are there. Brands like Foncia (realtor), Sodebo (frozen pizza), Groupama (insurance) and Group Bel (the laughing cow that sells 12 billion pieces of cheese each year). They are all there. Walk down a main street in America and the brands you see are the brands that will be advertising during the Super bowl, the brands that advertise during Jersey Shore. It’s no wonder that the sensational victory by Francoise Gabart does not make the papers over here. Outside the fanatical audience that follows sailing on Sailing Anarchy and other online outlets, no one cares and they don’t care because they can’t relate. It’s not in our DNA.


- Brian Hancock

Iceboat sailing

http://youtu.be/GtQ0EUkuels

The 100 year anniversary of the North West iceboat Regatta held at lake Winnebago in Wisconsin was last week. Another cool sport you don't hear much about.

Starting off life

Starting off life as an RC 44 on the first day of fleet racing at the RC44 Oman Cup, Ironbound’s stern was hit by Aqua’s bow at the first weather mark of the last race. When Ironbound was rounding the bottom gate, first a piece of the bottom of her scoop came off and then the entire scoop fell off.

As of Saturday, it became illegal to unlock your cell phone. That means, even if you own it outright, you can't alter the device to make it to work on another carrier without risking a fine.
Why shouldn't you be able to do whatever you want with your own property? Because cell phone companies want to sell more phones, and the Library of Congress rolled over for them.

Alex Thomson

Alex Thomson finishing in third place of the Vendee Globe. A good guy who stayed with a damaged competitor during some rough weather but cost him time. A true sailor!

Alex Thomson finish on the podium in Les Sables D’Olonne where he completed the race in 80 days 19 hours 23 minutes 43 seconds.

Vendee Finishers

Francois Gabart finishes

Armel Le Cléac’h on Banque Populaire finishes

Francois Gabart crossed the finish line of the Vendee Globe in just 78 days, 2 hours, 16 minutes and 40 seconds after he started in a 60′ monohull.

Armel Le Cléac’h crossed the Vendée Globe finish line at 17 hour 35 min 52 seconds GMT. He finishes the race 78 days 5 hours and 33 minutes behind François Gabart. This is the smallest gap between the winner and the second in the Vendée Globe history. A mere 3 hours 17minutes 12 seconds after Francois Gabart.

Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss  gave up his chance to do the same in order to stand by the keel-less JP Dick as low pressure moves over the course. That is selfless seamanship...

Vendée Globe first finishers tomorrow!!!

Barring any major breakages or accidents, the first two Vendée Globe racers are slated to cross the finish line in Les Sables d'Olonne, France, sometime tomorrow. The race's 'golden boy', François Gabart (MACIF), is on track to not only cross the line first, but to also break the world record by solo circumnavigating — his first time, by the way — in just 78 days. He's averaged (averaged!) 15.2 knots since the start of the race. Astounding!

Armel le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire), who had been favored to win at the start, is more than 100 miles behind Gabart and, considering the weather forecast, has little hope of catching up. Here we have to quote today's press release: "[His] main objective at the start was to do better than second but the world will agree that he has delivered a stellar, legendary performance on the track, and he is without doubt a world-class sailor. But it’s not over until it’s over and it’s not over yet."

Up-to-the-minute news reports will be posted at www.vendeeglobe.org/en.

Back at the Azores, Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec 3) has yet to retire from the race after having lost his keel on Monday. He's sailing well with water ballast and reduced sail, but conditions will be deteriorating soon. Consequently, Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) has changed course to remain close to Dick in case he has trouble. "He has not asked me to assist in any way," says Thomson, "but I really feel that I cannot sail off and leave him until I know that he is confident and has confirmed what his intentions are." Undoubtedly Thomson's memories of being rescued by Mike Golding in the Southern Ocean during the 2006 edition of the Velux 5 Oceans are still fresh in his mind. While his diversion will not be likely to affect his shot at third place, it may put him behind his goal to be the first Brit to solo circumnavigate in under 80 days.

Maserati heading North

On day 25, Maserati continues her ascent in the Pacific Ocean sailing at 10 knots with about 20 knots of wind from the North.

Giovanni tells us: “As soon as we passed the high pressure, the winds from North (about 20 knots) arrived. We are going to sail upwind for 12 hours before a cold front gets over us. This cold front comes along with a huge depression, we are really hoping to not have to go completely into it and are able to stay on its edge. Inside the front, the wind will turn coming first from the North-West and then tomorrow from the West. We will eventually reach the high pressure of the South Pacific with its tradewinds”.

 

After rounding Cape Horn, the “Everest of the seas”, the most southerly point of South America, Giovanni Soldini and Maserati‘s team have started sailing back up in the Pacific Ocean along the Chilean coast, following a route that is parallel to the continental rise.

“Everything is going really well and we are in very high spirits  in the last hours a cold front has passed over us. The night was tough because of the unstable winds and the storms. But right now we are sailing windward in excellent weather conditions. In the last 20 days we have worked hard to dry up the interior of Maserati, closing all of the waterways. But outside the biting cold is a big problem, mostly at night. The water is 7 degrees, and I prefer not to know what the air temperature is at night…”

Giovanni Soldini and his crew of eight left New York on December 31, 2012 to challenge the historical Golden Route record, 13.225 miles from New York to San Francisco. They reached the equator in 9 days and 45 minutes and rounded Cape Horn after 21 days, 23 hours and 14 minutes. It is a record time non only compared to Yves Parlier’s Aquitaine Innovations (who holds the record in the monohull category – Maserati’s one – with a time of 57 days and 3 hours) but also compared to Gitana 13, Lionel Lemonchois’ maxi catamaran, that in 2008 took 8 hours more to leave the Atlantic Ocean behind. Gitana 13 holds the record in the multihull category with a time of 43 days and 3 minutes.

Maserati is 6.160 miles from San Francisco.
 

Large Magellanic Cloud

Nearly 200,000 light-years from Earth, the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, floats in space, in a long and slow dance around our galaxy. Vast clouds of gas within it slowly collapse to form new stars. In turn, these light up the gas clouds in a riot of colors, visible in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is ablaze with star-forming regions. From the Tarantula Nebula, the brightest stellar nursery in our cosmic neighborhood, to LHA 120-N 11, part of which is featured in this Hubble image, the small and irregular galaxy is scattered with glowing nebulae, the most noticeable sign that new stars are being born.

Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse's Enigmatic Environment

The red supergiant star Betelgeuse is seen here in a new view from the Herschel Space Observatory, a European Space Agency mission with important NASA participation.

Orion, the famous hunter presiding over northern winter skies, may experience a stellar crash in its future. The red star at its shoulder, Betelgseeu, appears to be set to collide with a dusty "wall" in 5,000 years
Betelgeuse is surrounded by a clumpy envelope of material in its immediate vicinity. The arcs to the left are material ejected from the star as it evolved into a red supergiant, and were shaped by its bow shock interaction with the interstellar medium. A faint linear bar of dust is illuminated at left, and may represent a dusty filament connected to the local galactic magnetic field, or the edge of an interstellar cloud. If so, then Betelgeuse’s motion across the sky implies that the arcs will hit the wall in 5,000 years time, with the star itself colliding with the wall 12,500 years later. Roughly 1,000 times the diameter of our sun and shining 100,000 times more brightly, Betelgeuse is likely on its way to a spectacular supernova explosion. It has already swelled into a red supergiant and shed a significant fraction of its outer layers.

Vendee Update

For the race’s top four boats, this Vendée Globe is well within it’s final week. Considering that the race started more than 73 days ago, a week may seem like nothing, but for Jean-Pierre Dick in third place, it will surely seem like an eternity. The veteran skipper of Virbac-Paprec 3 has lost his keel with just over 2,000 miles left to sail back to Les Sables d’Olonne. In an interview with Vendée Globe TV, Dick described the situation:

“It happened a little before midnight… There were already noises in the boat, rather strong and quite screeching. I thought it was the sound of keel jack but in fact the head of keel was already damaged. All of a sudden there was a popping noise. Fortunately, I was between the outside and inside, there were several squalls and then there was a new squall happening. The boat was lying on its side in a second I realized that the keel had broken. I was able to quickly get to the mainsail winch to ease the mainsail a little. The boat began to luff and went down quickly on the water. There was certainly a moment of doubt about the boat, luckily it did not flip over. After a few minutes I was able to ease the solent (sail) and furl it. The boat was safe enough to put in more ballast and take a risk and further reduce the canvas.

“It is a shame to lose the keel at this stage of the race. About the outcome, I do not know yet, we’ll see what will happen if I continue running or not. Currently, I am still in the race, I did not give up. The mast is there, as are the sails, the boat floats and I took a little advice from a specialist in the field, called Marco (Guillemot). I called him and he gave me some tips. For now I have a lot of ballast filled in my boat and I think I’m in good conditions. The boat is safe enough not to capsize if there is gust of wind. It is always impressive is true but the boat always moves between 11 and 12 knots. We are going at least to the Azores at first.”

For the moment, Dick is still holding off Alex Thomson for third place, but that is sure to change in the near future. What will he do? Will he sail to the Azores, or will he sail for the finish? My money says he’ll go for the finish. After this Vendée, Jean-Pierre is moving on to sail MOD 70’s. This was supposed to be his swan song on the IMOCA circuit. After breaking his boom and having solar power only for much of the 2004-05 Vendée, he finished sixth. With a new boat for the last edition, he was leading when he hit a UFO and broke his rudders. He DNF’ed.

Now sailing towards a podium finish in this Vendée, the two-time Barcelona World Champ, three-time Transat Jacques Vabre Champ and 2011 Yachtsman of the Year has lost his keel. While the third place finish is very likely out of the picture, I believe that we are all about to witness one of the greatest shorthanded offshore sailors in history pull off an incredibly heroic feat and sail his IMOCA 60 more than 2,000 miles back to Les Sables d’Olonne, France and a 4th place finish. Whether Jean-Pierre sails towards Les Sables and the finish or the Azores, he will face significant weather in the area, with two successive lows, each with 50+ knots in their center delivering westerlies and southwesterlies of up to 40+ knots on his route. The southwesterlies at the front of the two lows are the most vicious, although fortunately Biscay offers some shelter from these conditions. All we can do at this point is watch with bated breath as this talented and resourceful skipper attempts to pull of the incredible.

Other skippers weigh in and offer support

With the failure of Jean-Pierre Dick’s keel, more controversy has been raised about keels, their construction, durability and IMOCA class rules. Mike Golding, Alex Thomson and Jean Le Cam have been the most outspoken thus far. Mike Golding, who became the first Vendée Globe skipper to finish the race while missing his keel in 2004-05 added some valuable insight to what likely occurred:

“I think everyone will be looking down in their keel pits and making sure everything is the way, or at least looks the way it should be. The trouble with these fabricated steel failures is there is pretty much no warning, you don’t really see anything, you don’t hear anything, you don’t feel anything, and then right at the end it tends to fail, it tends to release, it bends massively before it breaks. Probably Jean-Pierre mentioned in his report he felt a gust of wind and he went out and checked the sails, the reality is I recall exactly the same experience, in hindsight I don’t think the wind increased at all, there was no gust, the keel was bending and then the bang is when it finally releases. So what happened to JP [Jean-Pierre] sounds extremely similar to what happened to me, I ended up quite confused about why the boat was heeling so much when the keel was seemingly in the right position.”

Alex Thomson, JP’s closest pursuer in the race added: When I joined the class in 2003, I was a little surprised that I had to change the keel on my first boat because it had exceeded its mileage of 80,000 miles. Since then people have been building keels that last only one round the world race to save a few kilos of weight. I came from the world that a keel lasted for the life of the boat and that is where we need to get to. In 2009 IMOCA brought in some regulations to make keels safer but it obviously has not been enough…… Enough is enough, the keels need to be made of solid steel and last the life of the boat, before someone gets hurt.”

Battle at the front getting closer… and farther apart.

Recalling memories of the recent crossing of the doldrums, a desperate Armel Le Cleac’h has gone on the offensive and stolen more miles from race leader Francois Gabart, who was slowed by lighter breeze upon his entrance to the Azores High. With Francois’ lead deteriorating to just 85 miles last night, it is currently hovering right around 100, with both skippers averaging around 11 knots at the last check-in. As the circulation of breeze around the Azores High becomes disrupted by a north-east traveling low, Le Cleac’h now looks like he’ll get trapped in the ridge before the low, further delaying his finish. Estar has run the numbers and a predicted gap of just a few hours at the finish has now grown to a predicted gap of 12 hours. For Gabart, the routing looks fairly straightforward; running in westerlies, and then seeing a clocking breeze from south to northwest as he reaches and runs across the Bay of Biscay. Neither of the two leaders should see breeze forward of the beam for the rest of the race.

Thomson still battling Dick, while the war between Le Cam and Golding continues

Jean-Pierre Dick’s keel fell off, so surely Alex Thomson will finish third place, right? Not necessarily. With breeze aft of the beam until the finish, and Jean-Pierre Dick still in the race and sailing far faster than many would have guessed with no keel, Alex Thomson can’t take his foot out of the throttle just quite yet, although he should be able to absolutely send it from the Azores to Cape Finisterre. Estar’s routing numbers based on revised polars for Dick’s wounded boat suggest AT and Hugo Boss to finish just 3 hours ahead of JP Dick and Virbac-Paprec 3, although I expect this number to grow as JP goes into survival mode and AT goes into “send-it” mode.

Like all great Vendée battles, Jean Le Cam and Mike Golding made a great split and have now come right back together, virtually tied while racing up the coast of Brazil. With Golding sailing a traditional route through the Saint Helena High and Le Cam banging the coast of Brazil near Rio, the pair gained 600 miles of east-west separation before being re-united. Their thrilling battle continues with the pair reaching towards the doldrums in a weak Southeast Tradewind belt, making just 10 and 9 knots respectively. Behind them, the three-way battle of Dominique Wavre (Mirabaud), Javier Sanso (Acciona 100% Ecopowered) and Arnaud Boissieres (Akena Verandas) rages on with the skippers battling themselves and light-air with all three making just 6 to 12 knots at the last check-in’s. Also slowed by a large high and weakened southeast trades, the trio is constantly shedding miles to Tanguy de Lamotte and Bertrand de Broc who are the two fastest sailors in the fleet right now, making between 14 and 16 knots. The benefactors of the most predictable and “normal” ascent up the Atlantic thus far, both sailors have had the luxury of rounding Cape Horn, pointing their bows north and riding consistent breeze aft of the beam. That’s all about to stop however as both sailors are predicted to fall into the same light-air scenario as the three boats in front of them.

Alessandro’s struggles and broken rib

Alessandro di Benedetto continues to smile and laugh in the face of adversity; this time with a broken rib and now missing his small spinnaker, which has washed overboard in the incident, which occurred early on Monday morning. From Alessandro: “About one hour ago at 3AM, I was trying to rest when the boat lay down in a sudden on the port side (I think it’s because of a wave). I was under solent with two reefs in the mainsail. I went out to put everything back together. I was putting down the port rudder when another wave smashed on the boat and made the mainsail go on the starboard side. I caught the mainsail sheet on the right side of my face and I fell on the left side of my chest.”

Before the injury, Alessandro had been up his mast twice for repairs and hadn’t slept in 48 hours. Dealing with intense fatigue, pain during maneuvers and a severe lack of downwind headsail options, Alessandro’s performance is becoming the stuff of legend as he was back up to 16 knots at the last check-in in his ancient 16-year old fixed keel boat.

Will Gabart hold on to win the race? Will JP Dick attempt to sail 2,000 miles to the finish with no keel? Who will break next? Stay tuned for all these answers and more as the Vendée Globe reaches it’s thrilling conclusion.

-Ronnie Simpson

Giovanni Soldini’s Maserati/Gold Rush record attempt, Ryan Breymaier just became the first American in a long time to race around Cape Horn in both directions, and he sent in the latest news

We’re around the Cape Horn with Maserati and everyone is in high spirits to have passed this mythic point. This is the second time i’ve gotten to see this place though I never thought I’d be looking at it over my right shoulder. It’s also funny to be back here with Boris [Hermann, Ryan's co-skipper in the 2011 BWR], we are starting to collect some good memories of this part of the world he and I.
The journey so far has been pretty tough and this boat is not of the forgiving sort. We’ve seen all kinds of conditions since we left New York; first we had 4 days of heavy downwind, followed by some really wet reaching thru the trades. We had no doldrums to speak of and then more tradewinds. We were surprised to get a lot of light air upwind to finish with dead calm for 3 days right before the horn…. Not exactly what we were expecting…
What we did expect were the 25 knot westerlies we are currently beating into after getting a few miles past cape horn. There was definitely a squally zone with convergence along the coast right at the horn, where we had 35 knots and poor visibility. Now, we are going to spend a few more hours on starboard and more or less use Diego Ramirez as our turning mark to head north along the Chilean coast on port.
The latest routing has us 2100 miles from San Fran in 16 days which will be really good going. At the moment we are happy to have gotten around the horn 9 hours faster than the 110 foot catamaran Gitana 13 lthough we are well aware they stopped for a few days before the Horn to wait out the weather.
Roll on the slide northwards and lets get this puppy into the barn.
The boys on board are good, but there is already talk of what we are going to eat first, beer, women, etc. I guess being 30 miles from Puerto Williams in the Beagle channel and having Seb Audigane regale us with tales of the food and wine there are having the expected effect. Not much longer to wait; the return trip is always much shorter then the trip out in the first place.
I am really tired so its time to climb into my sleeping bag and be rocked gently to sleep by crashing upwind for the next 3 hours inside a carbon drum.
-Ryan

Big wave surf...

http://vimeo.com/57832478

Cool video of some big waves and stupid boaters...

Mavericks

The winner takes a spill.

Thousands flooded into Half Moon Bay on Sunday to witness the epic surf contest, but mostly just saw seagulls. They were hoping to see Mavericks, one of the world's toughest, most revered surf competitions. Mavericks was indeed happening, a half-mile offshore, but you'd need a Jet Ski or telescope to actually see it. The lack of prime viewing spots was not unexpected. The beach and bluffs at Pillar Point were closed to the public to prevent a repeat of spectator injuries during previous contests.

Peter Mel, winner of this year's Mavericks Invitational surfed in a less than stellar group, not saying they are not good surfers, but some of the big names couldn't do it due to injury or conflicts. The waves were big but not the massive waves that have come before. I would say it was an average year though a good contest.

Vendee Update

 Here are the plots of the two leaders positions. Still a close race and exciting.

From SA on the keel loss in the Vendee

killer keels

As JP Dick figures out what to do with no keel and a long upwind route to the finish, everyone is thinking about the last Vendee, when Marc Guillemot sailed around 1000 miles to the finish in the same condition; Dick spoke to him by phone today, and we suspect he got a similar story to what Guillemot told us at the start, it wasn’t an experience anyone wants to live again. Meanwhile, Dick’s got a hell of a lot further to go then even Guillemot had.
Even though he’ll likely take over 3rd place sometime tomorrow, Dick’s nearest competitor – Alex Thomson – is seriously pissed. It’s the second keel failure of the race, and attrition has now claimed 9 of the 20 boats; that’s 45%, around the spot that most of IMOCA’s members told us was ‘unsustainable.’ Here’s more from Alex – a man that knows about keel strength.

“I am shocked and gutted at the news that JP Dick has lost his keel. JP has sailed an awesome race and does not deserve this to happen to him. He has worked so hard and maintained his 3^rd position despite having to climb the mast countless times. I am thankful that it has happened here and not in the south although JP will have to go through some significant weather to get to the Azores, potentially up to 40 knots on the 26^th.
I never thought we would see a keel failure on this race. IMOCA has of course a history with keel failures but I really thought all those problems were behind us. It will be interesting to review the failures of Virbac and Safran, both penned from the same designer, to see exactly why these failures have happened.
When I joined the class in 2003 I was a little surprised that I had to change the keel on my first boat because it had exceeded its mileage of 80,000 miles. Since then people have been building keels that last only one round-the-world race to save a few kilos of weight. I came from the world that a keel lasted for the life of the boat and that is where we need to get to. In 2009 IMOCA brought in some regulations to make keels safer but it obviously has not been enough.
Enough is enough, the keels need to be made of solid steel and last the life of the boat, before someone gets hurt.”

Virbac-Paprec 3 loses keel

While sailing in third place in the Vendée Globe about 500 miles northwest of the Cape Verde islands, Jean-Pierre Dick on Virbac-Paprec 3 lost its keel at 23:45 pm (French time). The skipper from Nice has stabilized the situation and the boat is in place, filled ballasts, and sailing at 8 knots towards the Azores with apparently little chance of capsizing.

‘I heard a big bang – a big noise, and the boat started to heel quite quickly, luffing up. At the same time, I let out the main sail quickly and the boom went into the water. The boat then got knocked down rather violently, with the solent sheeted in hard. The boat stayed knocked down quite long, enough for the wind to soften and the squall to pass. At that point, I was able to bear away slowly. The running backstay was on the wrong side of the boom. I was nevertheless able to bear away and then furl the solent. I climbed onto the boom to pass the runner onto the right side. The boat is now on a stable course at around 8kts, heading 330, which is 80 degrees off the wind.’

Maserati

Giovanni Soldini, the legendary Italian racer on his sloop, Maserati,  while beating southwest through the South Atlantic toward Cape Horn, passed near his friend  Alessandro di Benedetto, the only Italian singlehander in the Vendée Globe aboard Team Plastique.

Maserati flying...

The two men apparently only saw each other's boats on radar, but in that part of the world seeing a friendly blip on the radar screen is practically like getting a bear hug. Several other Vendée Globe boats have also passed Maserati as she charges toward the Horn. "Fair winds, Alexander!" Soldini wrote in yesterday's blog post. "Once a day they Vendée Globe organizers sends data about the competitors’ positions and vice versa to avoid the risk of being too close. The ocean is huge, but you never know…"

Vendée Globe Update

With the Vendée Globe’s two leaders now back in the Northern Hemisphere and less than 3,000 miles from Les Sables d’Olonne, a slow and problematic entry into the doldrums for Francois Gabart has allowed Armel Le Cleac’h to make massive gains, further opening the door for a thrilling battle all the way to the finish line. Less than 500 miles behind, an inspired Jean-Pierre Dick clings to the prospect of a podium finish having re-gained the miles he lost to Alex Thomson and Hugo Boss as his westerly option up the coast of South America only made for short-term gains. A further 1,000 miles back sees Jean Le Cam and Mike Golding swapping position repeatedly for 5th place while a multi-national trio is now spread out in formation, drag-racing north desperately trying to re-gain touch and make it a 5 way battle for 5th. Another 1,300 miles behind, Tanguy de Lamotte is beginning to attack Bertrand de Broc, with both sailors having recently rounded the infamous Cape Horn. Alone in the Pacific for a few days, the fleet’s backmarker Alessandro di Benedetto on Team Plastique has also now rounded Cape Horn. With close racing, tactical battles and drama unfolding on every part of the race course, it has now become readily apparent that this will not only go down in history as the fastest Vendée Globe in history, but also the most evenly-paired with all boats projected to finish within 3 weeks of one another.

Gabart and Le Cleac’h back at it

With race leader Francois Gabart on MACIF steadily pulling away to a 270-mile lead up the Atlantic, it was beginning to look like he might have this race all wrapped up barring some major routing error or breakage. Banque Pop appeared slower than polars, and many were speculating that Armel might be missing a sail or fixing damage. But with MACIF slowing down to a crawling six-knots when entering the doldrums, Armel Le Cleac’h and Banque Populaire have come storming back, closing the gap to just over 90 miles as the two leaders exit the doldrums. In the same fashion as we’ve seen earlier in the race, Le Cleac’h took a shorter, more direct route upon entering the doldrums than did MACIF. Now having gained back nearly 200 miles, the big question will be how many of these miles can Cleac’h bank before Gabart slips away when he reaches the fresh breeze. Tactically, Gabart definitely covered Cleac’h, with Estar’s numbers showing that both sailors were sailing 20-25 degrees higher (and further east) than the optimal routing suggests. Is the Jackal setting a trap and hoping that the Golden Boy falls into it? Looking at the routing, it definitely does look like Cleac’h has lured Francois to the east, hoping to trap them both in light air for longer and delay, and slow, Francois’ escape after the doldrums. After the doldrums, it will be an upwind to reaching race through a very distorted NE trades and then negotiating a forming Azores High. Take the outside (west) for more breeze or sail a more direct route in less breeze through the edge of the high? With both sailors claiming to be at 100%, this battle for the lead will be a thriller to the finish.

Dick re-passes AT and pulls away

Alex Thomson and Hugo Boss had done so well on their westerly gamble, turning a 400-mile deficit into a 120-mile advantage, but it was all in the short-term. Once JP Dick got to the trades, he put the hammer down on Virbac-Paprec 3, quickly extending out to what has again become a nearly 300-mile advantage. The race is far from over though as AT looks set to benefit from a narrower passage of the doldrums than his rival Jean-Pierre, as well as a more traditional re-entry into the reaching conditions of the NE trades while Dick may struggle for a day upwind after the doldrums in a still abnormally upwind NE trade wind. Expect Alex to make some solid gains in the next 3 days although how much will have to be seen. Every bit of leverage that he can bank over the next 72 hours will be huge when deciding how to negotiate the high. The race for the final podium position is far from over.

Le Cam and Golding battle while 3-boat pack splits. 2 follow Le Cam, 1 follow Golding

Quite possibly the best battle in the entire fleet right now is that for 5th place. Jean Le Cam and Mike Golding have continued their intense battle that has raged since the start. With Le Cam briefly sailing into a light patch, Golding re-passed “King Jean” and showing good humor, questioned the prospect of Le Cam missing a sail. A bit of ribbing by the Englishman towards the notorious joker from Port-La-Foret who had famously poked Golding a couple of times when Golding was slow in the Indian Ocean. With the pair now negotiating a complex Saint Helena High in the South Atlantic, Le Cam has taken a westerly gamble while Golding has chose the more traditional route to the east. Golding and Gamesa will have a shorter route in lighter air, while Le Cam and Synerciel have had to tack to port clear the coast at Rio, before tacking back and having a tighter angle compared to Golding to clear the Brazilian bulge at Recifé. Virtually tied in the rankings, this is a brilliant battle to follow.
Behind them, the trio of Acciona, Mirabaud and Akena Verandas have also split. With all 3 skippers within about 100 miles of one another in the rankings, Javier Sanso and Acciona 100% Ecopowered have chosen to follow Golding to the east, while the Swissman Wavre on Mirabaud and Boissieres on Akena Verandas have followed Le Cam to the west. Many of the sailors in this 5-boat group are complaining of contradictory forecasts, with forecast breeze out of the west and actual breeze out of the northeast. This was clearly evidenced by seeing boats such as Mirabaud pointed directly into the breeze on the tracker, and still doing 10 knots.

Tanguy attacking de Broc after rounding the Horn

After his first rounding of Cape Horn in 30 knots of breeze, Tanguy de Lamotte finally got a chance to rest after a few hectic days upon his approach. A rejuvenated skipper has emerged on Initiatives-couer and is slowly gaining on Bertrand de Broc, now closing the gap to just under 200 miles. De Broc sounds tired in his interviews and has a boat which needs some work, namely repairing his genoa, which he’s sure to need in the battle against de Lamotte in the days and weeks to come. If Tanguy can reel in de Broc, or if another boat breaks, he will be in the top 10 in a 15-year old boat. Tanguy has sailed an incredible race from day one.

Alessandro’s first Cape Horn rounding since doing it in a jury-rigged 6.5 meter Mini

Sorry for that, I just think it’s always relevant to mention the utter badassery that is Alessandro rounding the Cape in a Mini under jury-rig. If there is one true adventurer in this race, it is and has always been Alessandro di Benedetto. Sailing the oldest boat in the fleet, and the only fixed-keel boat at that, Alessandro is dealing with a number of problems at the moment, but compared to what he dealt with in his last Cape Horn rounding, this must be a cake walk for the Franco-Italian adventurer.
Don’t blink or you’ll miss something in this race. Great battles all over the place. Stay tuned.

-Ronnie Simpson

Maserati and Vendee

The participants of the Vendée Globe (the legendary solo and non-stop race around the world) are running a similar route to Maserati but in the opposite direction. At this very moment many of the Vendée participants are rounding Cape Horn and their routes are now crossing the path of Maserati.
“The organization of the Vendée is very meticulous,” says Giovanni. “Once a day they send us data about the competitors’ positions and vice versa to avoid the risk of being too close. The ocean is huge, but you never know… Many of them have already passed us, we saw them on the radar, but no one close enough. In a while we will pass our friend Alessandro Di Benedetto, the only Italian running the race. Fair winds Alexander! “.


Maserati keeps going towards the South, after a very fast descent from New York to Rio de Janeiro and then a slow down over the last 48 hours due to an unmoving cold front.
“Aboard Maserati everything is fine but the last 48 hours were a nightmare – explains Soldini. We’ve been fighting like mad against the light winds and the sudden wind shifts, wasting our energy without gaining many miles. However, this is a long route and we are aware of the fact that we need to cross different climatic areas. St Helena’s mild climate has been replaced by a biting cold: it’s the door for the renowned Roaring Forties. We are now sailing with spi and mainsail, running along a high pressure area that moves on our left. In an hour we will jibe and sail towards Southwest in order to avoid it”.
Maserati is expected to cross Cape Horn, still 1600 miles away, around January 22.Maserati has already sailed more than 5000 of the 13225 miles on the historical Golden Route, at an average boat speed of 14,2 knots.

Vendee Update

Forty-eight hours ago Francois Gabart (MACIF) was 274 miles ahead of a stalling Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire) and some had begun crowning the young king.

On Wednesday afternoon it is a different picture. The doldrums may have redistributed the wealth and Le Cléac’h may be able to bank some miles. Like all the top four skippers he is beginning to steam in his cabin in temperatures that will hover around 40 degrees. But it is Gabart that will be feeling the pressure now. At 29, the youngest in the fleet, Gabart has seemed publicly impervious to stress so far and has been setting the pace since passing Le Cléac’h in the South Pacific on December 31. But as the finish line approaches the pressure will grow and their ocean match race could restart tomorrow.

Gabart’s lead is just 78.7 miles and falling fast. He is technically out of the doldrums and Le Cléac’h is in them, but weather files and what one finds on the water are not always the same, especially in this dreaded part of the ocean. “The weather files aren’t always reliable in this complicated area,” Le Cléac’h said. “So we also use satellite images to see how different reality is.”

Seeing Gabart’s struggles from before he entered the doldrums, Le Cléac’h headed slightly east, only 30 miles, but enough, perhaps, to find a better passage.

Gabart was reduced to averaging just 7 knots in the last four hours and only 9.9 knots over the last 24 hours in which he has lost 127 miles. It is slow enough to suspect that he may making repairs. Le Cléac’h was still making 14 knots over the last four hours and 15.2 in the last 24. Normally Gabart would hope to extend away now but the forecast for the next 48 hours looks complicated and Le Cléac’h could catch him before he escapes.

Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec 3) has also won back 200 miles on Gabart in the last 48 hours, having trailed by 706 miles on Monday and 504 on Wednesday afternoon. Dick continues to be the fastest in the fleet, averaging 15.9 knots over the last four hours and 16.1 over the last 24, covering 386.5 miles. The forecast suggest Dick will have these 14-16 knots southeast tradewinds until the equator and could make significant ground on the two ahead. It could yet be a three-horse race into Les Sables d’Olonne.


The Thomson comeback starts here?


Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) will be hoping to make it four. He has only been able to watch in frustration, although his speed was picking up and he too should benefit once he passes the longitude of Recife and leaves the coast of Brazil behind. In the last four hours he has already begun to pick up the same breeze and speeds as Dick, averaging 14.7 knots.

Victory may be unlikely but he still has a chance of the podium and was already feeling more positive in his message earlier today: “Yesterday was supremely frustrating, but I had a fairly steady wind overnight and today has been encouraging so far,” he wrote. “In 100 miles or so I won’t have to worry about the coast of Brazil and the wind should start to move more to the south east and hopefully I can ease the sails and go a little faster. I want to stay a good way off the coast for now to make sure I do not get any disruption in the wind caused by the land effect. The weather files show my doldrum crossing point should be less painful than the others but I have heard that one before and we will have to wait and see. I will be in the doldrums in two days.”

But fellow Briton, sixth-placed Mike Golding (Gamesa), continues to suffer. He was the slowest in the fleet over the last four hours – averaging just 6.4 knots and it will have been only small consolation that Jean Le Cam (SynerCiel) was only averaging 9.4 knots. But like Javier Sansó (Acciona 100% EcoPowered) behind him, he is happier on the eastern side of the middle group of five boats, away from the coast of Brazil. Given what has happened ahead of them between Thomson and Dick, the winner of the different strategies may not be clear until after the doldrums, but that’s another headache for another day for this group.

Mavericks is coming this weekend!!!

 The Mavericks surf contest has come back to life. Organizers announced today that the event, plagued by poor surf, a lack of sponsorship and political infighting over the years, will be held Sunday morning at the famed break off Half Moon Bay, with an 8 a.m. start.

 More than anything, though, the Mavericks contest needs to be held. It was last staged in February of 2010, and the last two winters passed quietly, with only a few days of quality big-wave surf and more than a little chaos within the Mavericks infrastructure.

The surf, weather, wind and tides are lined up in harmony for Sunday, almost guaranteeing excellent conditions. Other big-wave events are potentially in play — the Nelscott Reef contest in Oregon, the Eddie Aikau event at Hawaii’s Waimea Bay and a new paddle-in contest at “Jaws” on Maui

 If you surf you know what this is like. Nothing else needs to be said. A real surfer is out on his/her own and it is just you and the water. No hype or grand-standing....

NGC 5477

The constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear) is home to Messier 101, the Pinwheel Galaxy. Messier 101 is one of the biggest and brightest spiral galaxies in the night sky. Like the Milky Way, Messier 101 is not alone, with smaller dwarf galaxies in its neighborhood.

NGC 5477, one of these dwarf galaxies in the Messier 101 group, is the subject of this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Without obvious structure, but with visible signs of ongoing star birth, NGC 5477 looks much like an typical dwar

f irregular galaxy. The bright nebulae that extend across much of the galaxy are clouds of glowing hydrogen gas in which new stars are forming. These glow pinkish red in real life, although the selection of green and infrared filters through which this image was taken makes them appear almost white.

The observations were taken as part of a project to measure accurate distances to a range of galaxies within about 30 million light-years from Earth, by studying the brightness of red giant stars.

In addition to NGC 5477, the image includes numerous galaxies in the background, including some that are visible right through NGC 5477. This serves as a reminder that galaxies, far from being solid, opaque objects, are actually largely made up of the empty space between their stars.

Hot Tub...

This is a map showing average global temperature from 2008 to 2012. The redder the color means a high than average temp, blue is cooler than average. The difference from the mean average temp is about 2 degrees Celsius.

Luna Rossa took their AC 45 out and seems they left something behind.

Luna Rossa out in what has been reported to be winds in the 25 knot range with gusts to 35. What was said, LR was fly and did a fast jibe, the bottom rear part of the wind detached from the top.

California Water Wars....

The Water Issues facing the Delta

The current government water plans include huge Delta Tunnels which will cost 2.5 times the benefits according to the University of the Pacific Study and will decimate the Delta fish, fowl, wildlife and Delta Communities. The tunnels are the latest plan which started with the Peripheral Canal proposal voted down in 1982 because of the known environmental impacts.

The goal of the State Water Contractors is to increase the amount of water exported from the Delta to the Westland farmers in the central valley desert and to Los Angeles Metropolitan District water users.

The issue is that even the current level of water exporting has caused an environmental collapse to the region and has lowered the water quality for the Delta farmers who farm the most fertile soil in the state. Southern interests are doing everything they can to point fingers everywhere except on the effects of over-pumping. Right now the Water Contractors are running the show and the results of their efforts will be bad for the Delta and Northern California. Regardless of the environmental impacts, projects have been continued to be proposed to support increased exports from the Delta. Proposals the past few years have included adding salinization Gates in major waterways throughout the Delta (which would have further impacted fish migration), stopping environmental protections for salmon (to allow more pumping without concern for numerous species of fish), and removing the striped bass from the Delta (a diversionary tactic to avoid reducing the water exports which caused the salmon crisis and to target the bass fisherman who have been loud and vocal opponents of the canal and tunnel projects). These plans and projects are being controlled by the State Water Contractors and have little or no input from the Delta communities that would be so negatively affected by the plans. The projects are moving ahead even though their own scientific advisors report that moving ahead will seriously impact the environment. The proponents are special interests who stand to benefit financially from shipping products (cotton, rice, almonds) overseas and others who are making millions on the resale of agricultural water to urban users. These millionaires are only “concerned” about the Delta ecology in order to obtain their canal permits. Hence Governor Brown is pushing the construction of the tunnels to begin even though his own scientific reports show the significant impact they will have on the environment. Governor Brown plans to build the tunnels now and solve the environmental issues later! The Delta is more than a “plumbing fixture” to export drinking water to Central and Southern California. The Delta is an important freshwater estuary: important for the ecosystem; important the local farmers and local economy; and important to thousands who enjoy swimming, fishing, boating, and water sports. The Delta Tunnels These tunnels would be longer and wider than the Chunnel, which connects Great Britain and France. Their cost, like their precise route, is unknowable at this time; estimates range up to just south of $20 billion and increase each month. Read more in the SFGate Article “Some Thoughts on the Delta Tunnels”. The Tunnels pose the greatest risk to the Delta. The elimination of fresh water flowing through the Delta will cause a total collapse of the ecosystem and destroy the farming and communities in the Delta. Gates In 2009 the 2-Gates “Fish Protection” Project was planned for installation in October 2009 but has been temporarily postponed due to actions by the STCDA (but not “dead”). An alternate Frank’s Tract 2-Gates was planned. These Gates will severely impact recreational boating, impact safety rescue operations (coast guard, marine sheriffs – could cost lives), impact local economies, and negatively effect affect the fish and wildlife. The list of concerns and issues with installing gates in primary navigation waterways is long and significant. In addition, the gates will isolate Discovery Bay by periodically closing off the only unbridged waterway from that town to the rest of the Delta thus could easily end up impacting home values as well as boating safety. The Old River/Connection Slough 2-Gates project was put on-hold by the Obama Administration in December 2009, due to lack of scientific evidence of positive results and additional expense of the project. The California Assembly spent the next 2 years busily implementing MANY new bills that include re-starting and expediting the 2-Gates project. In 2011 there was a proposal to re-start the prior Franks Tract Gates proposal. Any gates are a significant issue. They restrict waterways, negatively impact endangered species their proponents claim to be trying to save, are a significant risk to navigation and boater safety. Currently this project is also shown as “delayed.” Removing Environmental Protections for Salmon Other types of efforts that have been underway include the 2010 “Feinstein Senate Jobs Bill Amendment” to mandate increased pumping levels and suspend protection for the chinook salmon (an amendment which could finally cause the destruction of the remaining salmon in California). This amendment is currently on-hold but Sen. Feinstein has said she “reserves the right to bring it back should it become necessary.” Erradicating the Striped Bass Also in November 2011 – a proposal was being considered by the Fish & Game due to a Agricultural lawsuit which would eliminate the striped bass from the Delta. It proposed that the striped bass were causing the demise of salmon and smelt, NOT excessive pumping of water (opposite all scientific evidence – read more). The bass fish industry provides millions of dollars to the Delta local economies and have co-existed with the salmon for over 100 years. When salmon populations are high, bass populations are high. When salmon populations are low, bass populations are also low. The bass do not feed off or impact the salmon. Fortunately the California Fish and Game Commission in February 2012 took final action to reject the Department of Fish and Game’s controversial proposed changes to striped bass regulations. Seven species of fish in the Delta are listed as threatened or endangered, including Delta smelt, salmon and steelhead. Although the ultimate cause of decline in these species is adverse water management throughout the Central Valley, there is a constant search for ways to increase their numbers without any water costs. Such was the case with the Fish & Game proposal and in the end it was obvious the striped bass are not the issue. It’s the pumps.

Some art..

Just cool...

On Jan. 4 a large presence of stratocumulus clouds was the central focus of camera lenses which remained aimed at the clouds as the Expedition 34 crew members aboard the International Space Station flew above the northwestern Pacific Ocean about 460 miles east of northern Honshu, Japan. This is a descending pass with a panoramic view looking southeast in late afternoon light with the terminator (upper left). The cloud pattern is typical for this part of the world. The low clouds carry cold air over a warmer sea with no discernable storm pattern.

Maserati Update (a couple days ago)...

The weather has been exceptionally kind to us on Maserati thus far as we continue our journey towards San Francisco.

The future also looks good, the latest long term routing has us at 34 S on the other side of South America on the 27th at midday UTC….. That would be incredible going, and given the reliability of the 15 day models, not super likely to play out exactly as advertised. We will see. The end of that routing leaves us more or less 4600 miles to go. Assuming an average of 15 knots, That is a finishing date of the 9th of February, or 40 days.

Fuzzy logic like this is one of the three trains of thought onboard. The other two, both equally important are the eating, shitting, sleeping loop, and the boatspeed loop.

Everyone is more or less the same in regards to the first loop, some eat more (tiger) some shit a lot (various, at least a few are proud to show it off) and others are impossible to wake up (fearless leader)
AS far as the boatspeed loop goes, we have the Ericcsson boys to than for all their hard work 2 boat testing, recutting sails, performance analysis, and general exhaustive documentation which makes sail selection automatic for us.(with a little wiggle room for our judgment of sea state).

We have a team of people looking at the weather onboard, the principals being Boris, Gio, and Seb, each of whom seem to prefer to concentrate on different Information, be it historical patterns, Grib data, scattergrams, or satellite pictures. It all comes together constantly to keep us on the best course and in the nicest wind.

I am very happy to dream of finishing times, sleep, and concentrate on getting every ounce out of the boat during my time helming.

Back to the crystal ball of finish times, the model does not show any lows suddenly developing off Argentina, which i8s quite a common thing, and it shows a low conveniently stationary for just long enough for us to pass the Horn, which is an occurrence not often seen in the south, a stationary low…. Fingers crossed.

Seb has said I have to get up there and drive now.

Ryan out.

(From Sailing Anarchy)

Other Sailing...

 Maserati is now flying south of the equator and running along the coast of Brazil. Still ahead of the record for the New York to San Francisco record.


Also, here a couple of shots of the Falcon and a really big Cat... The Cat is a the worlds largest and the beam of the cat is 1 1/2 time the beam of the Falcon but at half the length. I would love to go for a ride on either one...

Vendee in the Atlantic....

Some traffic...

Around 900 miles away from the duelling duos at the front of the fleet Friday night in Rio De Janeiro breathes party, fiesta, mojitos and caipirinha. But on the ocean a ferociously intense battle has begun, with skippers electing tactical choices, which vie for bold strategic positions. The true outcome is yet to be determined but every pretender is investing in the fight with heart, body and soul. The long awaited great battle of the South Atlantic is now underway and promises to upset hierarchy, confirm the ambitions of some and challenge the existing status quo.
The road ahead is to leeward

As head of the fleet, François Gabart (MACIF) strategic choices are paying dividends without a hitch. By choosing an easterly option, it was road with the least amount of risks and has given him the advantage over Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire). He currently remains in control of the lead, ahead and to leeward. His decision to tack first when sailing around St. Helena High gave him enough of a margin to head directly tip of Brazil. This blend of strategic insight and tactical rigor means that François Gabart (MACIF) has a relatively comfortable cushion, not to mention a psychological advantage over his adversary during this critical time.
Thomson clings to third

Looks good to me too!!

Some could say that Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) is a gambler but really it is simply logic. He was 300 miles behind Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec 3) when he rounded Cape Horn. By deciding to follow the shortest route along the South American coast, he took the risk of being stuck in the unstable air off southern Brazil. Small depressions often form here. Today on Vendée Globe LIVE he said the models were not truly depicting the conditions he was experiencing, “the models say I am doing 15 knots but in truth I am doing zero. I expect the true situation between Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec 3) and me to be realised in around 24 hours. When I run the routing for me and him it comes out more in my favour.” Said Thomson. Thomson is focused on getting passed Brazil, clearing the Doldrums and then the Azores High. He is taking it all one step at a time. For now we must all wait and watch the rankings every four hours to see who will lose and gain in the Atlantic battle.

Duels ahoy.

Going around the bottom.

There is a battle at the front and there are battles at the back. With his primary objective being to reduce his deficit on Jean Le Cam (SynerCiel) who is 136 miles ahead of him this morning, Mike Golding (Gamesa) has gained about some miles on his rival in the last 24 hours, and is consistently around one knot quicker. They are reaching at around 12-14kts on the edge of a big, messy area of high pressure to their west. Longer term it looks as if Le Cam will go into lighter airs first, but this period of the race in the South Atlantic is going to be subject to some ongoing compression and expansion.Meantime, since Cape Horn, Golding has extended on Dominique Wavre (Mirabaud) and the boats behind him, all still south of the Falklands Islands this morning, making less than 10kts and now 260 miles behind.

Behind Mike Golding (Gamesa), there is a new trio Dominique Wavre (Mirabaud), Javier Sanso (Acciona 100% EcoPowered) and Arnaud Bossières (Akena Verandas) who may now see a door open providing them options on the direct route along the coast of Argentina.
At some 800 miles from Cape Horn, Bertrand De Broc (Votre Nom Autour du Monde avec EDM) leads the dance of the last warriors of the Pacific. For now, the ocean air gives them some respite: a westerly wind 15 to 20 knots, sun and deep blue sea. But for Tanguy de Lamotte (Initiatives Cœur) it gave him some time to effect repairs on his mainsail, which he wasn’t anticipating until after Cape Horn.

Alessandro Di Benedetto (Team Plastique) has been fixing his rudders and engine. Up to his elbows in grease offshore sailing is not always a bed of roses.