Desjoyeaux wins Vendee in record time

Michel Desjoyeaux crossed the finish line at 15:11 GMT today to win the Vendee Globe for the second time in a record time of 84 days (three days ahead of the previous record), averaging 13.2 kts over 28,000 miles, and accompanied in to port by a small armada of well wishers.

Looking at the boat on a live stream from Les Sables des L'Onnes, it's a big, broad triangular saucer with a mast. It's easy to forget when following this race that the participants are undertaking something which for part of my lifetime had never been done before.

It's easy to be blase about this, comparing boat speeds all the time, but the whole undertaking - keeping awake, dealing with solitude, undertaking repairs, trimming and all the rest is such a monumental task that anyone who gets to the end can feel justifiably proud of their achievement. To do all this at racing speeds while boat after boat crashes out of the race, is something else. This race is still one of the world's great adventures.


It must be an odd moment for all of those still at sea, particularly Raphael Dinelli and Norbert Sedlacek who are just about to round Cape Horn. They must be feeling a long way from home. But each of them will have their home-comings to savour and there can be nothing better.

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.

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?

Can there be any more surprises left?

Michel Desjoyeaux has pulled out a 500 miles lead on Roland Jourdain in the Vendee Globe. Even with the compression that will probably occur in the doldrums, that looks like too much to overhaul now as long as Desjoyeaux's boat holds together.

The winds became so heavy just north of Cape Horn last week that Brian Thompson made the prudent decision to head for shelter, making no headway for some time in order to stay south of the worst of the weather.

He and those around him - Dee Caffari and Arnaud Boissières - know they can't catch the leaders. Sam Davies in Roxy is also probably out of reach of Thompson now as she is nearly a thousand miles ahead. While the positions may change among the three behind Roxy its is difficult to see the running order change much nearer the front unless Davies can overcome the redress given to Marc Guillemot on Safran.

Steve White has stuck to his task on Toe in The Water and looks set to be rewarded with a top 10 finish. Getting round the world will be accomplishment enough for the relatively inexperienced and underfunded Englishman.

With less than 3,500 miles to go Desjoyeaux must be beginning to scent victory but those behind can't afford to slacken off. Everyone in the fleet will remember what happened to Mike Golding when in the lead. Equipment failure can happen at any time.

Thirty boats set out on this adventure. Twelve remain.

Rounding the Horn

As I'm writing this Michel Desjoyeaux is just about to start rounding Cape Horn in the Vendee Globe. It's a big day for the race because this is a place that stirs the heart of every sailor.

It brings back memories for me. Twelve years ago I rounded the horn from east to west in the BT Global Challenge race. Some might regard it as an ignominious rounding as I was in my bunk when we crossed the exact co-ordinate. It was during the night, there was nothing to see and frankly there seemed not much worth celebrating with thousands of miles of ocean to cross before New Zealand.

The Vendee sailors might view it somewhat differently. Some are heading there for the first time and all of them will be boosted psychologically once they have "turned the corner". One who will not make it is Jonny Malbon who has retired on Artemis because of his deteriorating mainsail. It's a tough end to what has not been a great race for Malbon.

Desjoyeaux, of course, could find his way round with his eyes closed. His boat seems to be sailing well and he doesn't report any problems. But then he prepared well. A lot can go wrong still and something probably will, but I wouldn't bet against him at this stage, unless I happened to be Roland Jourdain who knows the lead is well within his grasp. The more he can pressure Desjoyeaux, the more chance there is of forcing an error. But such pressure works both ways, as those following understand. Anything can happen in this last long haul northwards.

Looking after Chuck

As the leading Vendee Globe skippers bear down on Cape Horn in preparation for the long haul northwards, Jean-Pierre Dick on Paprec-Virbac II is heading northwards in to calmer waters after damage to his second rudder ended his race.

Just half of the starting boats are left in the race and many of those have problems that are hampering their progress. I understand the mainsails on Jonny Malbon and Dee Caffari's yachts are deteriorating rapidly while Steve White has been struggling to repair his gooseneck - the bit that attaches the boom to the mast.

In spite of electrical problems, Brian Thompson on Bahrain Team Pindar has improved his speed over the past two or three days but Sam Davies has found herself in a pocket of slack winds. Davies has been one of the stars of this race, always upbeat and cheerful, always looking at the glass-half full. I'm sure that this attitude, added to her strong engineering skills, is helping her maintain consistency in a race where the "hares" keep falling by the wayside.

A few weeks ago there were a dozen yachts in front of her. Now there are five, all top class French racers. I don't expect Sam to have the raw speed to overtake them, but if she can keep her boat together, and one or two of the others in front have problems, a podium finish is not beyond her.

In her latest log she writes: "I used to be a "bow chick" (numero 1) on fully crewed boats, so I'm used to the tough jobs up forward whilst speeding along. But the difference now is that there is no back-up behind me, and I am no longer trusting a skilled helmsman not to "wipeout", "chinese gybe" or "stuff it" on each wave. I just have Chuck (the nickname she gives to her autopilot).

She also includes some new year's resolutions:

* Sail around the world.
* Take a photo of Cape Horn.
* Stop eating the Nutella out of the pot with my fingers.
* Do not fall asleep with the motor on charging the batteries.
* Sponge the bilges every day.
* Brush hair more than once a week.
* Eat more BUT eat less chocolate.
* Cancel the above resolution as it is impossible.
* Catch up some miles on the leaders.
* Be nice to Chuck, the autopilot.
* Take no risks.

The first one and last one are probably the most important reminders for anyone seeking to complete a round-the-world race. It's not bad advice for the potential winners, either.


During this mid section of the race I have been impressed with the way that Roland Jourdain has hung on to Michel Desjoyeaux. Every time that Desjoyeaux has looked like breaking away Jourdain has raised his game so that he remains just a few hours behind.

Stop press: sailors racing

The British newspaper coverage of the Vendee Globe race has been scant. Apart from a few news stories of the "British heroine goes to the aid of stricken sailor" type when Sam Davies - who happens to be young, pretty and female - diverted her course to help Yann Elies, there have been very few reports.

I was surprised, therefore, to find a report on page 11 of today's Daily Telegraph, focusing on Jonny Malbon in 13th place just 4,000 miles behind the leader. Then I noticed it said "special report" with "in association with Artemis, The Profit Hunter" at the end of the report. I don't like this kind of advertorial as it is dressed up to look like a piece of journalism when in fact the journalist is simply pandering to the wishes of an advertiser.

Then again, I would question the news values of British sports editors who have studiously ignored one of the most dramatic of sporting events. Why does this happen? I would list several reasons:

Xenophobia: there is a parochialism about sports coverage that, in this case, is magnified since the best round-the-world sailors are almost all French.

Obsession with football: this really does not need any other explanation.

Perceived elitism: it's not easy to be a round-the-world sailor and most of them rely on corporate sponsors. That most have not enjoyed privileged backgrounds but have worked for years to get the chance to enter this event does not seem to influence such judgements.

Technical terms: sailing is a highly technical sport and sailing writers must try to balance a desire for specialist information and terminology with non-specialist interest among a wider audience.

A world apart: This kind of sailing is so different, so extreme, that it's difficult to make comparisons. Even accomplished dinghy sailors cannot imagine the conditions in which this race is undertaken unless they have experienced them at first hand.

Sport versus adventure: Some editors and, indeed, some sailors, still equate round-the-world sailing with the "big adventure," that getting around the world is an achievement in itself - as it is. But the Vendee is a full on race. Mike Golding has sailed round the world many times. But his ambition is to win the Vendee and for that he must sail at speeds that will test any weakness in a boat. Some top "round-the-cans" sailors sometimes disparage endurance sailors, possibly out of envy. It is a different sport with different demands and they should understand this.

It's not just editors who must reflect on their prejudices. Sponsors must examine their expectations too. I am sure that none of them issue orders to the sailors to simply get around the course, although I am sure that many are dispirited when a boat fails early in a race.

Having said that, I have no doubt that Aviva, the sponsors of Dee Caffari, and Caffari herself, are looking for a finish in the Vendee. Caffari is a fine, gutsy and likeable endurance sailor, but she is not among the fastest female sailors in the world. Her status relies on having done something first. She was the first woman to sail around the world single-handedly against the winds and currents. If she finishes this race she will be the first to have done so in both directions.

Other sailors shouldn't begrudge her sponsorship but learn from the way she has positioned herself. Caffari delivers value to her sponsors, not by winning, but by sticking to her game. She is still learning and two round-the-world events must command the respect of her fellow sailors.

Sam Davies demands even more respect. Caffari has the advantage of one of the new generation of faster boats but Davies is 800 miles ahead of her in an older boat. In turn, Caffari is 1,600 miles ahead of Jonny Malbon, also skippering a well-sponsored modern boat.

None of this is to disparage the achievements of Malbon and Caffari, but simply to put their performance in context with that of superior sailing at the head of the fleet. It seems unfair to write this from the comfort of an armchair when all these sailors are giving their all in the world's most inhospitable seas. But those who sail understand these differences and so should a wider audience.

It is more difficult to pass judgement on Brian Thompson who has been struggling with a high performing new boat, spending more time below deck than above in the past two weeks, making repairs. But unless he can improve on the speeds he set earlier in the race, he too will know that he must work harder to get in to the French-dominated big league.

Thompson does not strike me as a "crash and burn" competitor but as a dogged performer intent on going the whole way. He is one of the fleet's nice guys and I want him to do well. But I'd like to see him going a bit faster. How can I say this of a family man when sailing is so dangerous? The danger is a given. Thompson and the rest of them are there because they choose to be there. They put themselves on the line and know that their times and performances will be scrutinised in the data logs. They look at the same data and they know, in their hearts, that Michel Desjoyeaux is a sailor apart. Even Golding said that and Golding can match the Frenchman for speed.

The British might look at the elite French squad system that prepares its sailors for these events but you can't say that of Steve White, the British skipper of Toe in the Water, who got to the start line in an underfunded yacht through the generosity of a handful of supporters. Yet today he is 800 miles ahead of Artemis.

For this reason the Telegraph should have refused the Artemis shilling and told the story as it should be told. Its readers deserve better and so does sailing.

Mystery tortoise and the Vendee hares

It's been more than a week since my last note on the Vendee Globe and a lot has happened in the interim.

Looking at the rankings nothing seems to have changed as the distance between the leader, Michel Desjoyeaux, and second placed Roland Jourdain, is much the same.

But there is no longer Sebastienne Josse trying to stay in touch. A big knock down did for his boat, BT, and he was forced to retire. Derek Hatfield is another retiree after losing his top spreaders.

Brian Thompson has lost a lot of distance on the leaders after spending time making repairs to cracks in his fore peak, but his speeds seem to be climbing again.

Other skippers who have lost time with boat problems include Marc Guillemot and Jeane Pierre Dick. So many boats have been damaged or retired that Samantha Davies now finds herself in 7th place on Roxy.

The four Frenchmen between Davies and Jourdain must be hoping now that a mechanical failure among the two leaders might present them with some opportunity. I can't see either Desjoyeaux or Jourdain slowing their pace. The closeness of the two boats means that they can't let up and the harder they press, the more chance there is of a mechanical failure.

That seemed to be Josse's theory, however, and, even after reigning back a little, he was still caught by heavy weather. Desjoyeaux has sailed almost faultlessly so far and those behind must be asking asking themselves whether he can keep going. He seems to thrive on pressure, sailing fast but steadily.

It's good to see that the two women skippers are still in the race with a fleet almost halved from its starting strength due to retirements.

Meanwhile Pete Goss and his family crew on Spirit of Mystery made Cape Town safely on Christmas Day after experiencing their first seriously heavy seas. There will be many more like that on the leg to Australia.

Elies safe

Yann Elies, the Vendee competitor, has been rescued today by the Australian navy. His boat Generali, has been abandoned, under a light sail. Like a toy yacht on a park lake it should sail on until a motor launch with Generali team members can meet it. The boat has a tracker so its position can be monitored.

So that's another one gone as Michel Desjoyeaux at the front of the fleet maintains his lead with Roland Jourdain staying close. The best that the rest can hope for now is that a mechanical failure or damage (by no means unlikely) hampers Desjoyeaux's progress. I don't think another sailor in the fleet has the ability to catch him and that is not to underestimate the others. It is simply that Desjoyeaux is so exceptional.

This means that 12 of the original fleet of 30 are now out of the race. With more than half of the race still to run it would not be surprising to be looking at a final retirement list of two thirds of the starters.

Another thing about Desjoyeaux is that he very rarely admits to any problems. All of these skippers have had mishaps of some kind and we hear of them regularly in their reports. But if anything is worrying the Frenchman, you wouldn't know it. He said today he been playing Sudoku to keep himself occupied!

Of the two women starters I think that Sam Davies is in with a shout of a top five spot. For Dee Caffari there is a strong incentive to finish as it would make her the first woman to have rounded the world in opposite directions.

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.

Golding is dismasted

Got out of bed, brushed my teeth, got dressed, fired up the computer, clicked on to the Vendee positions and there was Michel Desjoyeaux at the front of the fleet. Where was Mike Golding?

He's floating around the southern ocean without a mast. He had grabbed the lead but it was short lived before his boat was hit by a 50 kt squall that took away his mast and sails.

This means that Golding is out of the the race and with his dismasting goes any hope of a British win. The nearest Brit now is Sam Davies in Roxy, nearly 900 miles behind the leader, in 10th position. She's performing exceptionally on Roxy but her older boat can't hope to match those of Desjoyeaux and Roland Jourdain for speed (although it may prove tougher in this race of attrition). The reality is that there are nine fast Frenchmen ahead of her.

I'm so saddened for Mike. But he can come home - and he still has a few sea miles to cover yet - with his head held high. He gave it everything and has nothing more to prove as one of the world's best long distance sallors.

Golding poised for Vendee lead

It's not a question of "if" there will be another breakage in the Vendee Globe but "when" and "who" I said in this morning's blog. Well it turned out that it was just a few hours later that leader Jean-Pierre Dick's boat Paprec-Virbac 2 hit something that kicked up his starboard rudder.

He says that the connecting arm which joins the two rudders is broken and that the rudder stock is also damaged. Dick has been forced to slow his boat and is now sailing with only his port rudder down.

During the last position report he was sailing at nearly 12 kts an hour in heavy winds of between 35 and 40 kts, while second placed Mike Golding was screaming along at just under 20 kts.

Dick's misfortune is Golding's opportunity. Unless the Frenchman can effect a quick repair, he will be overtaken in a matter of hours and the leader board will be showing a British name for the first time in the race.

The downside for Golding is that he can't afford to slack off since Roland Jourdain and Michel Desjoyeaux are both breathing down his neck. In fact, I suspect he will be feeling slightly uncomfortable, leading, with so much French talent on his tail. But it's a great opportunity nevertheless. Golding has worked as hard as anyone to be in this position. I shall be keeping my fingers crossed for him. There's such a long way to go.

Golding moves in to second place

While Mike Golding has moved in to second place in the Vendee Globe, his highest position so far in the race, he and the rest of the following pack have actually lost ground on the leader Jean-Pierre Dick who managed to pull 50 miles ahead in the past day.

Fifty miles remains a narrow margin and Golding's more southerly course may help him to pick up distance on the northerly boats that have had the best of the wind in the past day or two.

The tactics among the leaders appear to be those of staying with each other and covering any possible breaks. Michel Desjoyeaux, having charged to join the front runners, seems to be pacing himself for now, regaining his strength ahead of another push later on.

Golding has spoken of sticking close to the leaders ahead of a charge up the on the final stretch, a feat he performed outstandingly in the last Vendee, but I am sure he too he will be looking for a possible break.

Meanwhile Bernard Stamm draws ever nearer Brian Thompson. While Golding showed in the last race that distances of 700 miles on the leaders can be made up from this stage, I think that those behind Dominique Wavre in 11th place may be looking at best now for a position in the top 10.

If Samantha Davies can do that in Roxy, she will have excelled herself as the boat is slower than many of her rivals. In the same way, Steve White, is still punching away after losing a sail on his under funded boat. Jonny Malbon, trailing White on the well-funded Artemis, seems to be having a pretty miserable time, having twisted his ankle to add to his woes. He is one of a number of skippers to have passed icebergs. I wouldn't have expected them so far north.

Imagine trying to grab an hour's sleep when your boat is speeding along at 20 knots at night with the possibility of an iceberg out in front. Yes, the boats have radar but some of these bergs are quite low in the water and you can't watch the radar constantly.

By the way, I cannot understand why the mainstream press is ignoring this race. Perhaps it's because the Vendee's own web site covers it so well. But I'm sure if more was done to bring it to the attention of the public there would be a lot more interest. Unfortunately, as in the past, the press only gets interested when there is life-threatening drama and no-one wants to see that happen.

The Vendee has already suffered two deaths in its history and no-one should be under any misapprehension that better boats and better communications have made the race safe. The boats are much faster than they were in the past and speed brings added risk. It's one tough race. You have to really want to be there.

No respite in the Vendee

Mike Golding has progressed well in the Vendee Globe so far, focusing only on the leader during any section of the race. But now, perhaps, he will need to focus on someone else. Indeed the whole fleet, including race leader Jean-Pierre Dick should be watching one man, Michel Desjoyeaux.

Desjoyeaux on Foncia has jumped two places in the last eight hours putting him neck and neck with second placed Roland Jourdain, just 35 miles behind the lead. If anyone can break away from the pack it is Desjoyeaux. The way he has driven his boat from a position 40 hours behind the fleet after a problem forced his return at the start of the race, has been the hallmark of a true racer.

Golding and the rest of the French skippers at the front of the pack have the class to stay with him but will they be able to match his single-minded drive and willingness to force the pace. Some will be worrying about yesterday's dismasting of Loick Peyron. How much should they push their boats with nearly 16,000 miles still ahead of them?

There may be no choice. Two skippers further back deserve a mention for the way they are trying to haul their boats back in to contention - Bernard Stamm, who is catching Brian Thompson, and Dominique Wavre. Both could yet figure in the final mix.

Peyron's misfortune is a sharp reminder to the front runners that, however well engineered their boats, this kind of racing will expose any weaknesses. These are sailing boats maintaining power-boat speeds in the world's most inhospitable ocean. The weather readings are forecasting 40 knots winds in the next day or two. There really is no respite.

Following pack fall behind

The following pack in the Vendee Globe now find themselves in a different weather system from the leaders. This one has lighter airs, meaning that it becomes ever more difficult to catch up. But there may be a little reordering in this group during the next day or two as both Bernard Stamm and Sam Davies are closing in on Brian Thompson.

Thompson seems to be struggling to get the best out of Bahrain Team Pindar which, in terms of its righting motion, is one of the most powerful boats in the fleet.

The followers, however, have the benefit of reading the strategies of those ahead and they would do well to recognise the advantage won by Jean-Pierre Dick in taking the most southerly route and stretching his lead to nearly 40 miles. Meanwhile Michel Desjoyeaux has picked off yet another of the leaders, moving to sixth place.

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 and Golding press the leaders

Had Michel Desjoyeaux not lost 40 hours at the start of the Vendee Globe there can be no doubt he would have been out in front at this stage. As it is, today, he is within 90 miles of the leader and part of the leading pack in ninth place.

He and Mike Golding are well positioned to move further up the field approaching the next way point. I cannot understand why the mainstream media isn't picking up on this race. The competitiveness and closeness of the event at this stage of the race is astonishing.

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.

Foncia moves closer

As the Vendee Globe fleet lines up for their first ice gate (a way point established to prevent the boats going in to colder more southerly waters where icebergs are common) it is still tight among the leading pack.

But the boat I have been watching for days now is Michel Desjoyeaux's Foncia that has moved in to the top 10 just 200 or so miles behind the leader. After returning to the start for repairs, Desjoyeaux faced the equivalent in motor racing of starting from the pit lane when the rest of the field was out of sight. Since then he has made spectacular progress to the stage where he is almost back in contention.

Brian Thompson and Sam Davies, on the other hand, have fallen back from the leading pack. Thompson is now almost 500 miles behind the leader at a stage of the race where he really needs to be closer. Two hundred miles is a relatively small gap on a round-the-world race, but 500 miles is becoming significant.

It's not been plain sailing for Thompson as he explains in his latest report, describing a trip up the mast to deal with some chafe on the lower shrouds:

"I got all rigged up with the climbing gear, and went half way up the mast level with the damaged section of shroud. It did not look too bad at all. I would just need to put some tape on it. But how to get two metres out from the mast when I am getting thrown around?

"I had brought a boat hook with me to snare the shroud and pull me out, but I realised that I could get left swinging a long way if I let go, and holding onto the stay would be no easy task.

"I was getting banged around enough just holding on to the mast. I was starting to wonder how I could do this when I tried putting my feet on the mast and trapezing off it, I could just reach the shroud, so working horizontally, with my back to the deck, I wrapped the tape at arm's length around the shroud. It was a good ab workout!

"The boat’s motion was getting more and more violent as a wind shift had made the autopilot steer more into the swells, so I was glad to finish the taping and descend to the deck, only slightly sore in my legs from getting thrown around the mast. So job done, the tape should stop the sunlight getting to the PBO fibres that are inside the shroud."

This was in addition to further sail repairs and the heavy job of shifting sails on deck before a gybe. It's tough out there.

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.

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.