Heavy weather takes its toll
Bernard Stamm's boat ran aground in heavy weather last night so his Vendee race is run. I expect he'll be keeping Dominique Wavre company for quite a while until technical help arrives. Someone saw the funny side.
The top five followers are just about holding on to Jean-Pierre Dick but they're having to sail fast to do so. Expect another breakage soon among the front runners. It's not a question of "if", but "when" and "who"?
Down the ranks, Sam Davies is still charging on Roxy, 90 miles ahead of Brian Thompson. Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty, on the other hand, has slowed right down. He was among those caught in the heaviest winds over the past two days, suffering a series of technical problems: autopilots, torn genoa and damaged mainsail halyard on Maisonneuve.
Over the past 48 hours, all of those at the rear of the fleet have suffered two big depressions with winds of 45 knots, gusting to 60 knots. That's a lot of wind.
It was noticeable that although Loick Peyron is under jury rig and out of the race (although he has not yet been posted as officially retired) he was making better progress in the last session than Steve White in Toe in the Water and has maintained consistently faster speeds than Pete Goss, slowly heading for Capetown in his Cornish Lugger.
The top five followers are just about holding on to Jean-Pierre Dick but they're having to sail fast to do so. Expect another breakage soon among the front runners. It's not a question of "if", but "when" and "who"?
Down the ranks, Sam Davies is still charging on Roxy, 90 miles ahead of Brian Thompson. Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty, on the other hand, has slowed right down. He was among those caught in the heaviest winds over the past two days, suffering a series of technical problems: autopilots, torn genoa and damaged mainsail halyard on Maisonneuve.
Over the past 48 hours, all of those at the rear of the fleet have suffered two big depressions with winds of 45 knots, gusting to 60 knots. That's a lot of wind.
It was noticeable that although Loick Peyron is under jury rig and out of the race (although he has not yet been posted as officially retired) he was making better progress in the last session than Steve White in Toe in the Water and has maintained consistently faster speeds than Pete Goss, slowly heading for Capetown in his Cornish Lugger.
Labels: Bernard Stamm, Brian Thompson, Dominique Wavre, Jean-Baptise Dejeanty, Jean-Pierre Dick, Maisonneuve, Roxy, Sam Davies
posted by Richard Donkin at
11:32 AM
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