Vendee has a new leader

As the boats compress, approaching the St Helena high pressure system, Loick Peyron has lost the the Vendee Globe lead to Sebastien Josse after setting the pace for 14 days. The exchange of lead shows just how tight this race remains after thousands of miles of full-on ocean racing.

Mike Golding seemed to have slowed to the west in the last few hours although his distance from the lead is still narrowing, now under 60 miles.

Michel Desjoyeaux is still charging, meanwhile, on Foncia, and, while nearly two days sailing away from the leaders, could make much of that up in the next couple of weeks, given the progress he has made already since he was forced back to the race start.

Still tight in the Vendee

There's no denying it - I have become addicted to the Vendee Globe and can't get through the day without my morning and evening "fix," looking at the positions. It's good to move close in on the tracker (link in sidebar) to see the relative positions of the boats.

The leading boats are too spread from east to west now for front runner, Loik Peyron, to shadow each of the following pack and there is no doubt the pack is closing up. At 62 miles out from the lead, Mike Golding is gradually closing the gap, as are the others. Sebastien Josse is just 17 miles off the lead this morning and Armel Le Cleac'h is charging in fourth place.

The speeds are climbing but the competition is so intense that not one of this leading group can afford a mistake. All the boats are well west of the rhumb line (in this case the line representing the shortest distance of the course). This is because they want to avoid the light winds associated with a high pressure weather system that sits over St Helena (The so-called St Helena High).

But at some stage they will have to increase their easting as they approach the Cape of Good Hope. The skippers face a constant speed-against-distance judgement. Golding has moved out west in search of speed, a tactic that has rewarded him well although all the leading boats are recording good speeds just now.

Meanwhile Brian Thompson has dropped 244 miles behind the leading boat while Marc Guillemot has moved within 200 miles. It's important that Thompson stays focused, as Golding is, on the leading boat and no other.

Of course sustaining high speeds over long distances means that some boats will fail at some point. Jérémie Beyou is the latest retirement. He won't be the last.

Golding in the groove

Mike Golding appears to be sailing "in the groove" on Ecover III just now, breaking French dominance in the top 10 and shifting in to sixth place, his highest position since the start of the Vendee.

As the race goes in to its third week, it is still relatively tight with less than a hundred miles between the first and ninth boats.

The need for continuous checking and maintenance was underlined today when Jeremie Beyou was forced to head off towards Brazil for an unassisted pit stop in order to fix some damaged spreaders.

The top half of the order is divided in to two distinct packs now, with the top nine moving a hundred miles clear of Wavre, Guillemot, Thompson and Davies. If Golding can maintain his consistent 12+ knots progress he will soon be up among the leading boats within 50 miles of pace setter Loick Peyron.

If the race has demonstrated anything so far, it is the excellence of the single-handed French Figaro racing where the leading sailors have all cut their competitive teeth. The message for other nationalities has to be, either get in to Figaro racing, start a similar series elsewhere, or get used to the best French sailors setting the pace.

Of course fortunes will change as boats begin to suffer damage. Few, if any, of these competitors can expect to achieve a problem free rounding. The winner will be the one who can race consistently fast while keeping problems to a minimum.

Both Golding and Thompson among the British sailors have the quality to threaten although Thompson has been struggling with a sail repair. Sam Davies is sailing well too but her less powerful boat was always going to lack the speed of the leaders.

If Golding can keep his boat together - and that's a big if that applies to all the skippers - he could get in to contention for the latter half of the race. If Brian Thompson can keep his sails together and begin to exploit Bahrain Team Pindar's power advantage, he too could soon see himself in the top 10 but he must start to make an impression on the leaders soon. The reality is today he is 224 miles behind the leading boat after closing the gap to just over 180 miles last week.

Even more disappointing is the performance of Jonny Malbon on Artemis. This is a well funded boat, purpose built for the race, yet he has fallen 610 miles behind the leader in 20th place, trailing behind Steve White who had to scratch around for funding in a relatively old boat.

Much of the fleet must have passed Pete Goss in his Cornish Lugger on the Equator yesterday although Goss makes no mention in his blog.


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Sam Davies gets her kit off

Sam Davies looks to be enjoying her race on Roxy in the Vendee. As the competition and the weather heats up, she's shed her foulies and donned her bikini. Among all those rugged weatherbeaten Frenchman, she has revealed her secret media weapon - a belly-button stud.

It's still not quite enough to push John Sergeant off the front pages but it just might begin to arouse one or two tired sports editors - the sort who like nothing more than a Wimbledon knicker shot. Of course if she were to shed a little more she could wake up the Sun newsdesk too.

I was going to headline this note: "Sam Davies sheds her foulies," then I thought: what would the Sun headline say?

Vendee boats catching the Mystery

By my reckoning the first of the Vendee boats should be just about overtaking Pete Goss in his Spirit of Mystery today somewhere in the Doldrums.

It says something for the efficiency of the latest Vendee yachts that Loick Peyron, maintained speeds of up to 9 knots in calm seas yesterday, stretching his lead by something like 15 miles.

This meant that although Mike Golding had moved in to seventh place overnight - his highest position so far - he dropped miles on Peyron.

By 11am today, however, when the next set of position reports came in, conditions and fortunes were changing again.

Peyron's boat speed had dropped to 2 knots and Golding had closed the gap to 76 miles. It looks as if the race has reached that bunching up stage expected in the Doldrums. Sebastien Josse is just 14 miles off the lead with the third, fourth and fifth boats about 16 miles or so behind him.

A lot can happen in the next 24 to 48 hours. There is a real opportunity here for boats to catch up. The first to spring out of the Doldrums will have the chance to speed away from the pack, demoralising those behind.

Peyron is most likely to get away first as he has been shadowing his closest competitors. But there could be a chance for a boat that has made a bit of a gamble on its routing to make a big gain if it pays off - or fall further behind if it doesn't.

This is tactical long distance racing at its best. Imagine lone sailors, fighting with sleep deprivation in cloying heat and humidity, needing to concentrate and trim as if they were in a round-the-cans race. It's impossible to match such short-term, intense levels of concentration but those who can maintain high levels of trimming will see the pay-off in these light conditions.

As Goss points out in his slow moving lugger, this is the first time he has been heading for the Equator when he has not been racing. What luxury.

See links to Mystery Blog and Vendee positions in sidebar

Wavre back in the fight

It's great to see Dominique Wavre - forced to return soon after the race start - fighting his way back in to the following pack as the Vendee fleet heads in to the Doldrums. Sam Davies is doing well too, overtaking Brian Thompson who must be disappointed to find himself in 13th position behind a much older boat as Mike Golding shifts in to 7th place less than 90 miles adrift of the leader,Loick Peyron.

I would expect the leaders to be very close just now to the latitude reached by Pete Goss in Spirit of Mystery but I can't see his weblog as I post this note. I have posted the link anyway so you can see for yourself when the blog is fixed. Vendee links are in the right hand side-bar.

Thompson may be struggling now but his boat is powerful enough to pick up steam as the fleet heads south in to windier waters. His challenge now is to keep in touch in the light winds. The leading Frenchmen are going to take some catching but Golding isn't letting go. The race has been remarkably open so far, the lead changing hands often without anyone getting too far ahead. As the fleet leaves the Doldrums it may give someone the opportunity to make a break. We shall soon see

On shore woes

It's not looking good for Alex Thomson's Hugo Boss. Could this be this year's Vendee's first retirement?

Meanwhile it's sporting of Bahrain Team Pindar to be helping Derek Hatfield. You wouldn't see that in the Ferrari pit for Lewis Hamilton.

Goss recalls the Vendee

As the Vendee boats approach Madeira I'm struck by how close the race is at this juncture with the lead still changing hands. It's fun to look at the tracker (see right hand link) which shows how the boats are bunched.

The two lead boats must be in good sight of each other, spurring each other on. Further back, I suspect that Brian Thompson has Mike Golding in sight now too. This makes a difference competitively although it's important that those further down the field do not begin having their own private race without keeping an eye on the bigger picture.

I'm watching Michel Desjoyeaux too striving to get back in to contention. At the rate he's going he has a good chance. Dominique Wavre, meanwhile, is almost back with the top half of the field.

Separately I have been dipping in to Pete Goss's blog (link in right hand side bar)and his own tracker here. He's hoping that he might catch sight of the approaching Vendee fleet at some stage soon. The fleet includes Raphael Dinelli, who Goss famously rescued in the 1996-97 Vendée Globe.

Goss turned back and sailed upwind to save the French man who had capsized, out of reach of any other possible rescue. The rescue earned Goss the Légion d'Honneur and a lasting friendship with Dinelli.

About the Vendee, he says: "The Vendee is more than a race, and it is how the person reacts to whatever fate chooses to throw at them that counts. It's private, something that the podium can't get to grips with as it lacks the depth, but it is real and lasting to the individual who has endured and enjoyed the ups and downs."

French skippers dominate early Vendee running

It's still very early days in the Vendee Globe race, but as the boats approach Madeira with nearly 800 miles already covered it's disappointing as a Brit to note that the top 10 places are held exclusively by Frenchmen - and this is without Michel Desjoyeaux who is putting in some strong times after returning to the start.

The next four places are held by British skippers, two of them women. Sooner or later I would expect Mike Golding and Brian Thompson to begin mixing it in that leading group although Thompson must still take a four hour penalty he incurred as a result of a rule infringement just before the start.

The British women, Sam Davies and Dee Caffari are sailing exceptionally well. Davies has a second generation boat, less powerful than many others in the field including that of Thompson who still trails her.

While Caffari's boat, Aviva is a more powerful third generation yacht, identical to Golding's Ecover 3, she has much less experience in downwind racing at this level. To be keeping pace with Golding shows just how much her technique has improved in the past year.

It's no surprise, however, to see Davies doing well as she trains with the elite French squad. The squad system seems to be paying off just now but there is still a long way to go. All the same, you wouldn't be betting just now against yet another French win. I still think that Thompson has the power and Golding the experience to mount strong challenges but they cannot afford to let the leaders move too far ahead.

When leading boats begin to pick up new weather systems ahead of the rest it can really split the field. So tactical decisions over the next two or three days could prove crucial. Keep an eye on Dominique Wavre. He's been putting in some blistering times after his early reversal.

You can click on the Vendee Positions link in the right hand side bar to keep up with the times.

Are the Vendee boats tough enough?

Nine boats of the 30 that set out on the Vendee Globe - almost a third of the fleet - have been forced back to port, including Alex Thomson's Hugo Boss.

There is still plenty time for them to catch up as Dominic Wavre is proving, back in the reckoning after returning to the start on Sunday for electrical repairs.

The weather has been rough with 55 mph winds but the fleet has to expect these conditions in a round-the world race. If so many boats are experiencing such problems at the start of the race, it doesn't bode well for the rest of the event.

I think we're going to be looking at a lot of withdrawals before the race is finished. There is no turning back in the Southern Ocean.

Speed and seaworthiness

It raises the question of whether some designers have struck the right balance between speed and seaworthiness. You should never compromise on the latter for round-the-world sailing but, such is the technical input in to modern racing yachts, that I wonder if some designers are tempted to under-engineer, however unwittingly, as they strive to build the fastest boat.

Then there are the skippers themselves, under pressure right from the start although, as circumstances have shown already in this race, fortunes can be reversed in a matter of hours.

Sam Davies has the right idea. Her latest report shows just what is involved. She is no Amazon but what she lacks in body strength she makes up for in guts.

Enormous waves

She says: "It was pretty rough out there yesterday - I saw gusts of 55knots of wind, and the waves were enormous. I had set up my strong wind configuration in plenty of time, and Roxy hung in there under pilot as I braced myself at the chart table. It was full-on!

"The front went through early in the evening with a nicely timed wind shift that meant I was sailing directly into the path of a big ship. It was pretty close, as I could easily see the ship and there was close to zero visibility, so I had to crash tack to avoid it.

Bucking bronco

"Luckily, due to the wind shift, the tack put me on a perfect course. However, because of the urgency of the manoeuvre, I had had no time to do ballast or stacking. So, as a consequence, I spent my night stacking (sails) to windward, in a bucking bronco. As you can imagine it was pretty much impossible!

"So, right now, things are drying out. There is a nice 15 knots of wind and we are just about to round Cap Finisterre, where I should be able to put the gennaker up. I am totally shattered. It has been a big start to this Vendee Globe. I am desperately in need of some sleep and rest, to try to get rid of the cold I left with on Sunday. I also need to have some time to clean up the oil that is sliding around the aft compartment. I reckon I am not the only skipper with these needs."

Sam is holding her position well just outside the top 10. The leading Briton now is Mike Golding who moved in to the top 10 during the day.

Naked truth

I have only met Sam in her foulies so was surprised to find how she looked in her warpaint for this Daily Mail coverage (well, not that much coverage!) which, being the Daily Mail, just had to tell its readers that Samantha sometimes likes to sail naked (this blog would never stoop to such blatent sensationalism). Save it for the Equator Sam!

By my reckoning she's almost within binocular range of Brian Thompson. Now there's an incentive.

A tough first night for the Vendee boats

It's far too early to venture any opinion on the Vendee Globe race that started yesterday but after a tough night in 20 to 30 knot winds Dee Caffari must be delighted that she is the front-running British sailor among the early leaders.

Three boats have had to turn back for repairs and will need to do some catching up. But there is still plenty of time. This is a marathon, not a sprint, which is why it seems strange that someone with the experience of Mike Golding should have gone over the line early. It was so unnecessary.

Looking at the distance covered between the last two rankings, however, he seems to be cranking up his speed.So is Sam Davies on Roxy. Comparing their readings with that of Brian Thompson it would look as if Thompson has had a problem.

Surfing the web

Gybe away to your heart's content. I haven't hit anything yet, apart from the odd buoy. If only the Solent was like this.