Vendee Globe update

From the Vendee Globe site:

Jéremie Beyou (Maître CoQ):
Hi all, thanks for being here. The situation is clear, the way the keel head is tied right now will resist the tide and has allowed me to go find a shelter. But it won’t be enough to stand all the pressure and weight throughout the race around the world. I’ve started the engine. The race is over. There’s so much frustration and disappointment, for myself and people who trusted me, especially Stéphane (editor's note: Maître CoQ CEO Stéphane Sallé) and the Maître CoQ staff. I’m angry too, there are so many things than can make such parts of the boat more fragile. I’m glad I have Maître CoQ and Stéphane’s support.
We’ll need to dive under the boat to see what happened exactly. It’s too early to say.
The breakage definitely made me nervous, I was laughing hysterically, then I got really mad but remained focused on repairing. I couldn’t sleep, no way. Eventually, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep last night.
We’ll go to the port, dismantle and remove the hydraulic jack which will be studied and analysed.

Alex Thomson (HUGO BOSS):
It wasn’t the best time to be doing it (repairing the broken rudder bar) to be honest, but we didn’t really have much choice. It seems to be fine, we still have to repair the hydrogenerator bracket I might make start on that today if I can make some progress throught the Doldrums. I just managed to keep the boat going the whole time, I didn’t feel the need to stop, the boat was pretty comfortable and going fast. I just had to do what the guys told me to do.
(On Beyou retiring from the race)

That is very sad. I did suspect that might be the case when I found out that his keel (jack) had broken. I feel very sorry for Jérémie, it’s his second Vendée and second time retiring, I know how it feels. I was only saying the day before that I reckoned I was going to be saying the whole way round the world with him. It’s not only your dreams you take people with you. There is so much work and commitment that goes into it not just by him, but by his family, his friends, his team, his sponsors. Jérémie is going to be feeling absolutely gutted for all of them. It’s a tough race this one, the same with Sam Davies and all the guys who’ve had to retire like Kito (de Pavant), it’s a very sad day when it happens.

I’d say I’m in the Doldrums, I currently have about four knots of wind and I think out here to the east is a good place to be. But to some extent it’s a bit of a lottery because it can change so quickly. The priority now is to try and get south, clear of the Doldrums and into the tradewinds.

I didn’t lose the hydrogenerator, it started vibrating, getting worse and worse and it ripped off the back did a cartwheel and smashed the tie bar, but I was there and managed to get to it quick enough to save the hydrogenerator. I need to repair the bracket and I’ll have it back on the boat in the next couple of days.

Other boats are enjoying some good weather to do repairs and catch up on house keeping. Lets hope that there is no more major problems once they enter the roaring 40's in the southern ocean.