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January 23. 2009 at 13:10Star-gazing Sam

Star-gazing Sam

“I'm writing this as Roxy slips along under a magnificent starry sky... It makes a nice change to the clouds and rain pelting down on the deck! I have been catching up on lost sleep today, having had virtually none in the last 48 hours! It has been bliss, and much needed. I was definitely on the verge of being tired, emotional, and irrational yesterday morning, which for me is very unusual and a warning sign that sleep is necessary! Luckily the conditions allowed me several hours of great sleep! During the middle of last night, I had unenviable job of stacking all my gear from leeward to windward (low side to high side), as the wind built a little and Roxy needed the weight in the right place. Normally stacking is always done before the tack or gybe so I can use gravity to help, but in this situation there is no escaping a tough session of weight training! The positive side is that after the stacking, I get to go on deck to cool down. Admittedly, I would love that the decks were awash with spray, as that would mean we were going fast, but as that is not the case I can make the most of a bit of peaceful star-gazing. I am starting to realise that there are less and less days left in this race and I want to make the most of every minute and every view that I have left. I can’t get enough of it! In the early part of the evening the moon wasn’t out, and as there were no lights, the view was magnificent! There is something quite magical about being alone under such a sky.”
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message
 

January 23. 2009 at 10:19Vendée preparing to welcome home the skippers

Vendée preparing to welcome home the skippers

As the leaders in the Vendée Globe make their way towards Les Sables d’Olonne, Vendée is getting ready to welcome these brave sailors, who have been facing the oceans and weather that has not always been favourable for the past two and a half months. Philippe de Villiers, President of the SEM Vendée, the event organiser, will be present on the Vendée Globe pontoon to congratulate the skippers and pay homage to their courage during this epic round the world voyage. The public will be able to hear the skippers tell their tale and applaud them as they make their way to a podium set up at the end of the Vendée Globe pontoon.

January 23. 2009 at 07:30Electronic problems for Norbert

Electronic problems for Norbert

“These days are for me really a bad time. After the keel problems and some little health problems today my wind system broke down. I started to fix the spare part but as I looked in the carton the new one was also broken, as it has some humidity inside. I installed it anyway but in the end the whole electronic system started having problems, even the autopilot went wrong so I had to disconnect the wind system from the nav bus and I think I have to sail the last few weeks without the elektronic wind system. So, I’m really interested in what happens tomorrow, I hope the wind will come again, that would be a nice surprise.”
Nornert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch) in his daily message
 

January 23. 2009 at 06:53How to climb a mast

How to climb a mast

“Bit of a momentous day here actually. Had that potentially very serious problem with the shock cord aloft that controls the topmast running backstay and middle running backstay that had trapped the topmast runner around the 2nd spreader tip. If the running backstays were winched on with that runner hooked, it would break the spreader and bring down the mast. I had come up with a partial solution, after each gybe/tack to take the whole set of 3 running backstays to the mast, keeping hard tension on the topmast, and lashing them there. But a slip en route could allow the topmast to swing out and hook the spreader. Went up the mast to the 2nd spreader and cut the shock cord, it fell neatly down along the two sets of runners to the deck. The story is how to get up there. We'd tried several systems at the dock and none were very good. So, tried the webbing ladder, with another line and a jumar on it, but trying to find your footholds with the swinging webbing ladder just doesn't work. So went to the system that I'd had in my mind in these last few days. Used Jacques' paragliding harness with the over the shoulder straps. Got my hiking boots on, brought especially for this, put on the new 2 foot ascenders, essentially 2 mini-jumars strapped one to each ankle. these then get hooked onto the two taut lines. then put a carabinier up high on the harness and around the three lines, so that I could climb up the two ropes and not be hanging on with my hands, or that was the idea. Worked fairly well. Went up about 8' and came down to make sure everything worked. Tautened the lines again. Bore the boat off to make it more stable. Went up about 15', came down. Canted the keel to leeward 2/3 so that I could be up against the mainsail. Got two small spring carabiniers on a line from the harness so that once I got up there I could hook on easily to stop the swinging. Tried to take big steps, but my weakened legs couldn't do it, so did small steps. Couple of small steps, then pull the slack line up through the grigri descender. Going well up to first spreader, going well beyond, until the boat took a couple of lurches, and I was at the midpoint of the halyard span from deck to top of mast, and I started swinging back and forth, along the mainsail, which was good, but then out away from it, and got spun around, but when I came back to the mainsail was able to straighten myself out, keep going, keep going, sweating like crazy inside the helmet and padded clothes, got up to the second spreader, used one of the small spring cariabiners on the D2 stay to stabilize, then went for the leatherman, finally got it out of my pocket, opened the knife and cut the shock cord, the two sides slid neatly to the deck, done, now I just have to get back down...”
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message
 

January 23. 2009 at 06:17Brian gets moving again

Brian gets moving again

“It feels like Bahrain Team Pindar is finally getting away from the light wind area that we have been stuck in for 36 hours and beginning to move. Boat speed is now hitting between 10 and 14 knots and I have the big spinnaker and full mainsail flying and the boat is once again slicing through the blue, sparkling waters, almost on course for the corner of Brazil. For 2 nights and a day have been making slow progress out of the high pressure and hoping that it would not expand to trap me further. It may have been slow, but the seas were relatively flat and the skies not squally so it was smooth progress, but with a lot of sail trimming necessary to keep the boat moving. Last night I was going particularly slowly and I had not had a position report and, as usual, you imagine that your nearest rival is catching you up because you are going slowly. I was steering and I saw a light on the starboard side, looking just like a yacht with its spinnaker illuminated and I thought that was Dee for about a entire minute, until that tiniest sliver of faint crescent shape rose even higher on the horizon and I could see I had been duped by the moon playing its best party trick. I have been fooled in the past, but only for a second, so this was the moon in its most subtle disguise yet! During the light winds I spent a good deal of time in the suitcase sized space at the back of the boat, working on the Fleet 77 communication device and managed to get it working! This is fantastic news to be able to download accurate weather off the boat and for uploading images for the website. So now looking at a couple of days of faster sailing to take BTP to the latitude of Rio and I hope to be making up some decent distance on Safran and Roxy ahead.”
Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) in his daily message
 

January 22. 2009 at 19:53Safran renews its partnership

Safran renews its partnership

Today the Safran Group announced that they would be continuing their partnership with Marc Guillemot until 2012… excellent news for the Breton sailor, who was contacted this evening during the weekly radio show in French. Becalmed off the coast of Brazil, « Marco » was clearly back to civilisation. «I’m surrounded by oil rigs and fishing boats. I just got caught up in a drift line. I was doing 10/11 knots and when the fishermen saw me they began to shout on the VHF and chase after me! Then, I went by another one for what must have been two miles. It’s hot and heavy, but unfortunately, there’s no wind. I must admit that this morning I was in a foul mood.»

January 22. 2009 at 11:02ETA Michel Desjoyeaux

ETA Michel Desjoyeaux

The skipper of Foncia is now only 2772 miles from the finish and the Vendée Globe organisers have therefore been looking at his ETA. According to Sylvain Mondon of Météo France, he is likely to reach les Sables d’Olonne between 01h local time (00h GMT) on Saturday 31st January and 01h local time (00h GMT) on Monday 2nd February.

January 22. 2009 at 09:50Bilou back in the Northern Hemisphere

Bilou back in the Northern Hemisphere

The skipper of Veolia Environnement crossed the Equator this morning at 8h30 GMT a little over two days after Foncia.
Michel Desjoyeaux took 71 days 17h and 12 mins to cover the distance from Les Sables- the Equator, while Bilou has taken 73 days 20 hours and 28 minutes. Meanwhile he continues to suffer the effects of the Doldrums and will have to wait a few more hours to find the trade winds in the Northern Hemisphere
 

January 22. 2009 at 08:18Arnaud at the helm

Arnaud at the helm

First the good news. I’m going to be able to send photos of life on board via Iridium, even if it’s a bit long, as I really want to share my experience. The second good news is that I have found some wind. Not very strong but it is pushing my veranda towards the north. After reaching after the Falklands where I lost out to the British, the wind has eased off and shifted making me head northwards, while they continue towards the NE. I am now quite some way to the west with a slight westerly flow, which tends to drag me towards the high... The charts aren’t very clear and different from reality with light winds. On board all is well. Reading, trimming, mostly outside and something I didn’t do much in the Southern Ocean, I’m spending time at the helm without foulies, without a hat, but with sunglasses on!» Arnaud Boissières (Akéna Vérandas) by e-mail.

January 22. 2009 at 07:10Another windless stop

Another windless stop

“Well, I am still trying to escape the clutches of this thundery front! I have been sailing into it all day, but inside the front there are thunderstorms and rain, and no wind, so each time I reach the front, Roxy stops, the front moves forward, and so we find ourselves spat out the back! Then the process starts again! So, it seems that Roxy is only allowed to move forward as fast as the front is oving.... no matter how hard I try! It is hard work, as in the front, before it dies off, the wind is shifty and gusty, so I have been manoeuvring, gybing, tacking.... There are loads of insects hitching a ride on roxy - all kinds of flying things, which are fine during the day, but quite scary at night because when I am wearing my head-torch they keep flying into my face! As you can imagine, a girl with a big moth suddenly flapping around her head -traditional noisy reaction!  As I write, we have come to another windless stop, the sails are flapping around in the swell, and there is torrential rain battering the decks! At least it's warm rain! I have to go and be ready to change trim for the next
puff of wind....”
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message
 

Star-gazing Sam -- SAM DAVIES / ROXY / Vendée Globe