Winners and losers

As Michel Desjoyeaux begins to savour his Vendee triumph it might be an idea to assess the fortunes of other competitors as a race like this has many winners and losers when you look at its impact on their careers. For some it will not be evident yet since some changes will only occur in time. But here is my assessment of twenty of them. The rest either retired early or simply didn't register enough as racers:

Michel Desjoyeaux: an obvious winner, his reputation is enhanced and his future can only be defined by his remaining ambition.

Sam Davies: Another big winner, came to public attention in the UK, and popular with race followers, should help her get a a state of the art boat if she chooses to do the race next time.

Jonny Malbon: Failed to enhance his reputation and will leave a question mark for sponsors. Will Artemis stay with him in the long term? On the other hand he has built a good relationship with his sponsor who knows that his boat probably needed longer to establish itself.

Brian Thompson: Looked after his boat and enhanced his reputation as a reliable sailor. But does he have the potential to challenge the fastest French skippers in the long run?

Alex Thompson: Can he shake off the reputation of a "crash and burn" sailor? He needs to finish more often. While he came second in the Barcelona round the world race he was sailing with the immensely experienced Andrew Cape.

Mike Golding: Has nothing left to prove as a round the world sailor, but does he believe that? He knows what it is to be beaten by a Frenchman. Has it happened once too often? Sponsorship assured so he can go on as long as he feels.

Roland Jourdain: his already excellent reputation has not suffered, could easily have won and would have liked to have pushed Desjoyeaux harder in the later stages had he not suffered keel damage. Should be back next time.

Jean Le Cam: Will want to return one more time because he knows he can win it.

Yann Elies: Still young, will have learned a lot, will almost certainly want to come back. His retirement was cruel bad luck.

Marc Guillemot: A fine seaman, again with nothing to prove. A top five spot looks to be his. Again he may question whether he wants to come back in four years' time.

Loick Peyron: Knows he can win this race, still young enough, so I'm sure he'll be up for another go. Sponsors know they will get value for money.

Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty: Has youth on his side but needs to improve to keep his sponsors happy (and possibly to keep his sponsors).

Vincent Riou: A past winner, would have chased Desjoyeaux all the way to the line had he not damaged his boat going to the aid of Jean Le Cam. His reputation is secure and he will be back.

Steve White: Steve who? Some may have asked this before the race but not any more. He gambled everything on this race, scrambling together his entry at the last minute. If White set out on a wing and prayer that prayer must surely be answered with some solid sponsorship in future. He deserves it.

Dee Caffari: In spite of her previous circumnavigation she was one the least experienced skippers in the race at this level of competition but has done herself a lot of good, preserving her boat so far (if not her mainsail). Her sponsors should be happy.

Dominique Wavre: He was 53 when he set out. A fine sailor who acquitted himself well before his retirement, but will he want to return in four years time?

Sebastien Josse: Probably pushed too hard but will have learned much and should be back with confident sponsors. Could win this race next time.

Armel Le Cléac´h: This is a great result for Le Cleac'h who may yet secure second place in his first Vendee. In showing he can race fast and preserve his boat, he has to be a hot tip for the future.

Raphael Dinelli: Simply doesn't have the pace to win. Is it enough any more just to take part?

Bernard Stamm: Did enough to confirm his reputation as a solid performer. Will probably want and should get the sponsorship for another crack at the race.

To push, or not to push?

It must be pretty miserable for Mike Golding and the other retirees stuck in the southern ocean more than a thousand miles from land. The little white triangles that represent the boats on the web-based tracker board look quite forlorn.

For Loick Peyron and Golding, sailing under jury rigs, the reality is that they will be unlikely to make landfall before Christmas. Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty is also making his way to his nearest port after retiring through a combination of problems.

I don't think Golding can blame himself for the dismasting. He's one of the most experienced sailors out there. The reality is that to give yourself a chance of getting ahead and staying ahead in this race, you have to push your boat, such is the fierceness of the competition.

But Golding says he wasn't pushing particularly hard when the squall hit, it was simply that his sails were set for a lighter wind and could not cope with the swift rush of wind that gave him no time to respond.

What he needed and what the winner will need, is some luck. But squalls are a part of racing, as are collisions with growlers (ice) and cetations. The skippers just have to cross their fingers and hope they're not going to draw the short straws.

This is not the first time that Golding has been forced out through damage to his boat. He twice had the lead in the 2004 Vendee, only to be forced out by halyard breakages.

Right now he'll be preoccupied with putting together a reasonable jury rig, but when he has time for reflection during the slow journey to Australia, I'm sure Mike will go over his decisions a thousand times, wondering if he should have set a more cautious sail pattern. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

The dismastings of Peyron and Golding, both vastly experienced skippers, plus the damage to Jean-Pierre Dick's boat, should inject some caution in to the fleet. At the very least the front runners now should be doing some long, hard thinking. With at least 4,000 miles of southern ocean yet to cover, the canniest of them might think about reigning back a little. But human nature doesn't work like that when there's a boat gaining on you fast a few miles astern. There's a temptation, also, to try and get a jump on the leading pack.

But if they do continue to nudge the 20 kt mark in confused seas we shall yet see more retirements. So far, the damage has been to steering, keels, mast and riggings. The nagging fear is that sooner or later a breakage may prove life-threatening. It is an ever-present danger.

It will be interesting to watch Michel Desjoyeaux in the next week. We know, from his earlier performance in the race, he has the out-and-out speed to sail faster than any other competitor. But he knows that out-and-out speed carries a risk, particularly in heavy weather. The sensible approach might be to sprint in the best conditions and reign back conservatively when the heaviest depressions pass over. Sebastien Josse seems to playing the risks well. I note he had three reefs in his mainsail during the worst of the most recent storm.

Ultimately, the success of these skippers will be measured over 24,000 miles and they have yet to cover half that distance. Those trailing doggedly behind the leading pack should take heart. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Sam Davies in a top five position at the end of the race. Anyone who can manage that, from 30 starters, deserves to take a bow.

Another one bites the dust

Dominique Wavre is heading for the Kerguelen Islands after damaging his keel on Temenos II. He was back in the top 10 and pushing hard at the time.

The good news is that he is just just 150 miles from the Islands. The bad news is that the keel is swinging freely. If it were to fall off he would be struggling to keep the boat upright. It looks like his race is run.

Canting keels are a constant worry in this kind of racing. They have become a feature of modern design but there needs to be a continuing debate about their use, something I discussed here.

Meanwhile Steve White has had to retrace his course, frustratingly, as he missed an ice gate. Mike Golding finds some time for reflection, including a conclusion that Desjoyeaux is the man to beat. Loick Peyron might have been many people's favourite at the start after winning the Artemis Transat earlier in the year, but his challenge is over.

Loick Peyron dismasts

Loick Peyron is safe aboard his yacht, Gitana Eighty, after losing his mast in 30 kts of wind and a single reef in the sail. He was inside his boat and escaped injury when the mast fell.

Peyron was in third place, 180 miles south of the Crozet Island and 650 miles from the Kerguelen Islands when the incident happened at 1pm today.

He still has his boom and must decide now where to head under a jury rig (a makeshift sail arrangement). Peyron had led the race for 16 days heading south in the Atlantic and was continuing to press hard in the leading pack.

Peyron had experienced halyard problems on his gennaker before entering the Indian Ocean and climbed the mast yesterday to deal with it. It isn't know yet whether this was a contributory cause.

One worry for the rest of the fleet is that the seas have not been particularly heavy for southern ocean sailing in the past few days. While 30 kts is a strong breeze, the boats can expect heavier winds than this before they reach Cape Horn.

Peyron said: "There were thirty knots of wind and Gitana Eighty had one reef in the main and was under Solent. There were no particular reasons for the damage and everything was fine on board, when the mast suddenly came down without forewarning. I was inside when I heard a loud noise. When I went outside on the deck, I could see the mast had gone. I still have the boom and we're currently considering our plans."

One thing that puzzles me about the incident is where the 30 kts of wind came from. It wasn't showing up on the wind indicators displayed on the tracking board. Perhaps they do not always reflect the actual conditions. That said, it could have been an unexpected gust as a weather front came through the fleet. Whatever the reason, Peyron's race is over. He gave it his all and I'm sure he'll be back.

French yachts in a "Tour du Monde"

The Vendee Globe just gets better and better. Jean-Pierre Dick's boldness after the last ice gate in taking the most southerly route has paid off, allowing him to snatch the lead in Paprec-Virbac 2.

But the fastest skippers in the last the session, all averaging over 18 kts, were Mike Golding, Loick Peyron and Michel Desjoyeaux. Desjoyeaux has moved serenely in to seventh place, almost neck and neck with Jean Le Cam, both sailing in the wake of Mike Golding.

Desjoyeaux seems unstoppable just now and Golding too seems to be flying. But it is impossible to tell what these speeds are demanding in concentration. The harder these skippers push, the more likely it is that someone makes a mistake.

But this race is so competitive that none of the leading pack can afford to let up. This new generation of Open 60 yachts is proving remarkably resilient.

I can't help but notice, however, that Brian Thompson has lost more miles on the front runners, now 527 miles behind and very much in the following pack. Mike Golding proved in the last Vendee that kind of deficit can be made up. Indeed Michel Desjoyeaux has done just that after finding himself 671 miles behind the leaders when still in the North Atlantic.

If Thompson is to stand a realistic chance of getting back in to contention he will need to begin pushing the boat harder. Any reticence to do so is understandable since the boat has not long been equipped with a new mast. But at this stage in the race, with so many boats flying along ahead, there is unlikely to be a second chance.

The lead has changed hands so often that the French sailors almost seem to be racing like cyclists in the Tour de France, taking it in turns as pace setters in what amounts to a "Tour du Monde". Certainly it must relieve the pressure to hand over the lead for a while. I wonder if this is part of the tactics? I know the French sailors speak to each other regularly so they are well appraised of their respective positions.

Desjoyeaux "in the zone"

Knowing what it's like to spend time at sea, attempting to maintain racing speeds,I feel a little bit guilty consulting the Vendee Globe tracker software from the comfort of my living room.

You see the positions and the average speeds and you find yourself wondering why so-and-so has lost time. Then you have to punch yourself to recall the conditions out there, except you can't recall them because your system has blotted out all the bad memories.

Some of the speeds I can only imagine. Michael Desjoyeaux has clocked 30 knots on Foncia. The fastest I have travelled on a yacht was 26 knots on ABN Amro One during an in port race in the last Volvo Ocean race and that was in a relatively benign sea.

Desjoyeaux's performance in the last two weeks has stood out for me in this race. The Vendee holder is not letting go of his title without a fight and if he continues to maintain his pace he will win again.

But there are a lot of "ifs" in this race. The consistency of the leaders, where the lead has changed hands several times, underlines the competitiveness of the event. Yann Elies on Generali has his nose in front just now but there is still less than a 100 miles separating the top nine boats.

And who continues to make ground on that pack, now only 120 miles from the lead and 30 or so miles from Mike Golding? It's that man Desjoyeaux.

We don't see this racing as it really is. We see pictures taken by on-board cameras of skippers enjoying a quiet moment away from the helm that is on auto pilot. We don't see them up the mast and rarely on the helm. Yet Desjoyeaux helmed for 21 hours at a stretch a day or two back. I guess he must have had the odd pee break and food break in that time. But the point is that he wanted to be driving his boat on in an effort to make up miles on the leaders.

The auto helms work well but, as Brian Thompson pointed out in one of his reports, self-helming maintains better average speeds.

Vendee racing is the sternest test of such abilities. If I was Josse or Peyron or Elies just now I would be worrying less about my immediate rivals and more about Desjoyeaux. He's not going to slow down and he's not going to worry about any of them. He's sailing his own race and he's in the zone.

Again, what is difficult to know without being there, is just how much these skippers have in reserve. The next two weeks will test that reserve to the limit.

Reading Pete Goss's blogg, it seems he did spot one of the Vendee boats the other night.

First albatross as Thompson stands still

What a difference the weekend has made in the Vendee Globe. Michel Desjoyeaux has called on all his experience to sail in to 11th position, now 221 miles behind the leader and fairly tramming along at 18 knots in the last seession.

He had moved 120 miles in front of Brian Thompson who finally bit the bullet today and took a four hour time penalty incurred at the race start.

The penalty proved a little more costly for Thompson since the wind deserted him for another two hours, leaving him with a lot to make up, but his sail repair is completed and he sounded to be still in good spirits in his report today, having seen his first albatross of the race.

Meanwhile Dee Caffari in 15th place is struggling with a knee injury.

The boats that have sailed furthest south in to the "roaring forties" have yet to see much of a speed advantage so far but that could still happen. In the meantime Sebastien Josse has moved 42 miles ahead of Loick Peyron.

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.

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

Whales make waves in transat

A fifth place for Sam Davies and Roxy in the Artemis Transat race was very much what I expected. Although some might point to the three retirements that elevated her position, the whole point of long distance solo racing is to get your boat to the finish.

The race was won for the third time by by Loick Peyron of France on Gitana 80 who finished the race in Boston with a time of 12 days 11hr 45min 35 sec, just over three-and-a-half-hours faster than the race record set four years ago by Mike Golding.

While Roxy's competitiveness has been diminished by the new generation of Open 60s, she is a proven design after completing (and winning) two earlier Vendee Globes and should give Davies every reason to be optimistic of completing the round-the-world race that starts in November.

It should be noted that three of the new generation boats - those of Mike Golding, Brian Thompson and Jonny Malbon, did not even make the Artemis start line, in two cases due to keel problems and the need for further testing.

The durability of some of the newer canting keels in round-the-world sailing has been the subject of some debate recently, not least because it raises significant safety issues for skippers. No-one wants to shed a keel and capsize a thousand miles out in the Southern Ocean.

Davies was one of two skippers who had collisions with whales during the transat race. Such hazards should not be taken lightly. You rarely hear anyone speaking up for the whale in these circumstances. It is as if the whale gets in my way, so tough.

But there is an argument that whales are not so much a hazard for racing yachts as the yachts are for whales. Whales have very good hearing. Is it beyond our capabilities to create some kind of ultrasonic device that would deter them from coming close to yachts?

Moreover the torpedo shape of the kanting keel is more hazardous for a whale than than a flaired keel. The torpedo acts like a hook. I haven't heard much discussion of this problem, yet it's a very real and serious issue for racers (and whales).

The very nature of round the world sailing means that some boats will not finish the Vendee. The race is a combination of speed, sailing ability, endurance, robustness of design and seamanship. This last point should not be underestimated. Seamanship is about taking account of many possibilities and trying to reduce risks in what is inevitably an event full of risk.

The transat will have been a disappointment for Dee Caffari who had the benefit of a new boat. No-one can question her gutsiness after sailing around the world alone against the winds and currents, but does she have what it takes to compete with the best French and British sailors in downwind events? She still has much to prove.