Jonah talk
Surely nothing can stop Michel Desjoyeaux now from claiming victory in the Vendee Globe? Well one or two things could - a collision with a whale or some other debris could take off his keel and capsize the boat although no heavy winds are forecast for his final few miles. Certainly it would need something of such catastrophic proportions to stop him now, and that looks unlikely.
Sadly it is second placed Roland Jourdain, now more than a thousand miles behind him, who is sailing gingerly just now after losing the bulb of his keel due, he thinks, to damage caused near the tip of South America when he collided with a sea mammal, most probably a whale.
If the weather forecasts look kind enough for Cape Finisterre and Biscay I think he will probably try to complete his circumnavigation. By the time he reaches the Azores he will have had time to assess the handling qualities of the boat in order to make a judgement about its seaworthiness.
As Desjoyeaux sails in to a rapturous French welcome on Sunday, spare a thought for Raphael Dinelli and Norbert Sedlacek who will be setting their boats to round Cape Horn. One of Dinelli's biggest worries just now is whether his supplies will last another three weeks. By the time they sale in to port, the crowds will have thinned somewhat but I'm sure the people of Les Sables d'Olonne will be there to greet them. The French respect their sailors.
Between first and last, however, we might see some jostling for position around fifth and sixth place. Jourdain will almost certainly lose his second place to Armel Le Cleac'h, so that would put him joint third with the already placed Vincent Rou (as a result of redress given earlier in the race).
More than a thousand miles behind Le Cleac'h is Sam Davies. She is about 300 miles ahead of Marc Guillemot but needs a much bigger margin (about 600 miles) since he was given redress for going to the aid of Yann Elies.
About 350 miles behind Davies is Brian Thompson on the powerful Bahrain Team Pindar. And only 90 miles behind Thompson is Dee Caffari. The question is whether Thompson will pull all the stops out to try and overhaul Davies.
He would dearly love to be the first Briton back but the challenge may be beyond him. There were some high expectations placed on his Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed boat before the race. It's the most powerful boat in the fleet with the biggest righting moment. But it is by no means nimble to manouevre for a loan yachtsman.
I was speaking with Juan K yesterday and he pointed out that the boat had been designed for crewed sailing. Many of Brian's posts have outlined difficulties he has experienced with various parts of the boat, such as the longitudinals, the alternator and the the big D3 sail that was damaged beyond repair at sea.
"All these repairs mean that I cannot be quite as on top of the sailing as I would like and I consequently end up reacting to events rather than anticipating them and taking best advantage of them," he said in one of his posts.
On the other hand, as Juan K pointed out, all the skippers have faced technical problems. Dee Caffari looked to be losing her deteriorating mainsail at one stage until drastic repairs contained the problem for a while (although the damage has revealed itself once more).
I've written a feature on the race for Saturday's Financial Times - a bit of a round up plus some discussion about boat design, given the high rates of equipment failure during the race.
For now, though, the race is still on. Thompson's big boat could be set up well for his 3,000 mile run to the finish. Could it be time to make a charge?
Sadly it is second placed Roland Jourdain, now more than a thousand miles behind him, who is sailing gingerly just now after losing the bulb of his keel due, he thinks, to damage caused near the tip of South America when he collided with a sea mammal, most probably a whale.
If the weather forecasts look kind enough for Cape Finisterre and Biscay I think he will probably try to complete his circumnavigation. By the time he reaches the Azores he will have had time to assess the handling qualities of the boat in order to make a judgement about its seaworthiness.
As Desjoyeaux sails in to a rapturous French welcome on Sunday, spare a thought for Raphael Dinelli and Norbert Sedlacek who will be setting their boats to round Cape Horn. One of Dinelli's biggest worries just now is whether his supplies will last another three weeks. By the time they sale in to port, the crowds will have thinned somewhat but I'm sure the people of Les Sables d'Olonne will be there to greet them. The French respect their sailors.
Between first and last, however, we might see some jostling for position around fifth and sixth place. Jourdain will almost certainly lose his second place to Armel Le Cleac'h, so that would put him joint third with the already placed Vincent Rou (as a result of redress given earlier in the race).
More than a thousand miles behind Le Cleac'h is Sam Davies. She is about 300 miles ahead of Marc Guillemot but needs a much bigger margin (about 600 miles) since he was given redress for going to the aid of Yann Elies.
About 350 miles behind Davies is Brian Thompson on the powerful Bahrain Team Pindar. And only 90 miles behind Thompson is Dee Caffari. The question is whether Thompson will pull all the stops out to try and overhaul Davies.
He would dearly love to be the first Briton back but the challenge may be beyond him. There were some high expectations placed on his Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed boat before the race. It's the most powerful boat in the fleet with the biggest righting moment. But it is by no means nimble to manouevre for a loan yachtsman.
I was speaking with Juan K yesterday and he pointed out that the boat had been designed for crewed sailing. Many of Brian's posts have outlined difficulties he has experienced with various parts of the boat, such as the longitudinals, the alternator and the the big D3 sail that was damaged beyond repair at sea.
"All these repairs mean that I cannot be quite as on top of the sailing as I would like and I consequently end up reacting to events rather than anticipating them and taking best advantage of them," he said in one of his posts.
On the other hand, as Juan K pointed out, all the skippers have faced technical problems. Dee Caffari looked to be losing her deteriorating mainsail at one stage until drastic repairs contained the problem for a while (although the damage has revealed itself once more).
I've written a feature on the race for Saturday's Financial Times - a bit of a round up plus some discussion about boat design, given the high rates of equipment failure during the race.
For now, though, the race is still on. Thompson's big boat could be set up well for his 3,000 mile run to the finish. Could it be time to make a charge?
Labels: Armel Le Cleac'h, Brian Thompson, Cape Finisterre, Dee Caffari, Juan Kouyoumdjian, Les Sables d'Olonne, Michel Desjoyeaux, Norbert Sedlacek, Raphael Dinelli, Yann Elies
posted by Richard Donkin at
2:43 PM
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