Please select your home edition
Edition
Lloyd Stevenson - SYA3 728x90px TOP

Vendee Globe - Golding contemplates Doldrums passage

by Emily Caroe on 20 Nov 2012
Mike Golding, Gamesa - 2012 Vendee Globe Mike Golding Yacht Racing http://www.mikegolding.com
In the Vendee Globe, benefiting from the unfortunate problem of Jérémie Beyou – who has a broken ram which controls the keel head on Maitre Coq – and has slowed to try and repair - and trading places with nearest rivals Jean Le Cam on SynerCiel and Dominique Wavre on Mirabaud. He has a positive outlook on the week ahead as he contemplates his passage across the Doldrums, which will start tomorrow.

Racing south, nearly 300 miles SW of the Cape Verde islands, Golding has had some unsettled breezes through the night but has stuck with a big, code sail in the 11-12kts of wind he had early this morning.

'I am sure we have the effect of some turbulence from the islands, they may be a long way off but you can see it on the weather files, and we have been slowed and knocked [headed so the boat is making a lower course]. I have stuck with the Code sail rather than the Genoa for the moment and I think the other two have been on Genoa, and in fact I saw Dominique last night and he was.

'They have been sailing a different angle and I have been wondering if they are lining up to cross the Doldrums in a different place. That kind of shakes your confidence and you go back and look at everything again but it looks OK where I am headed.

'The leaders should go in today and to be honest it is now looking OK for them and they should not lose too much.

'Overall I feel like I am getting down the track nicely now. I am very much into my routine with the boat. I don’t feel like I have made any big errors and I am now sailing the boat OK. It is a little bit of a surprise to see Dominique up here at this stage, but good on him, he got the entry to the high and the low pressure right and is going well.'

Monday 19 November 2012 12:00 GMT Update: Transcript of Radio Vacs conversation with Mike Golding:

When asked about the Swiss-French alliance with Dominique Wavre and Jean Le Cam against the English [the three boats are in a tight match race] and how he feels: 'Good luck with that! The night was fine; I was having a nice sleep actually [when they called].

'We are 100% focused on the Doldrums strategy because it is all about where we are going to enter the Doldrums and each evolution of the model gives a slightly different outcome, we only have a limited amount of time, very limited now, to adjust our course to hit in the optimum place. Right now the Doldrums are front and centre of our minds and not the boats around us.

Can you close the gap now? 'Well, we were separated in a weather system, compressed in a weather system, it can happen. The reality is that it is possible, but it is not looking great for the Doldrums, but we'll see. We have one file one day, each evolution of the file shows a different outcome. Sometimes I run their routes and we make a little catch up and other times we don't. It is changing because the doldrums are so dynamic; it changes literally from hour to Vendee Globe website

SOUTHERN-SPARS-AGLAIA-SPARS_728X90 BottomVaikobi 2024 FOOTERArmstrong 728x90 - Wing FG Board Range - BOTTOM

Related Articles

44Cup Baiona Day 2
Switzerland's day in the sun History was made on the 44Cup today when, for the first time, a team representing land-locked Switzerland was top scoring boat of the day.
Posted on 10 May
IOM Nationals at Poole
74 IOM sailors travelled from many UK clubs, plus visitors from foreign parts 74 IOM sailors travelled from many UK clubs, plus visitors from foreign parts including France, The Netherlands and Fleetwood.
Posted on 10 May
49er & 49er FX Europeans & Nacra 17 Worlds Day 4
Uruguay surges to the top of the 49ers Uruguay has never qualified a 49er to the Olympic Games. In fact across the whole history of the modern Olympics the South American nation has just won 10 medals, none yet in sailing.
Posted on 10 May
Cup Spy May 9: Testing the wind machine
Luna Rossa have been testing the old and new AC75 wingfoils as they wind down in Cagliari Luna Rossa sailed for the fourth successive day from Cagliari, Sardinia. A point of interest on Thursday was the relative performance of its two wing foils - one to the new AC75 Class Rule, the other a legacy foil used in the 2021 America's Cup.
Posted on 10 May
Clarisse Crémer resumes The Transat CIC
After a 5-day technical stopover in Horta After discovering a crack of over 4.20 meters on her boat during the race, Clarisse had to make a technical stopover in Horta for repairs last Monday.
Posted on 10 May
Ambrogio Beccaria wins The Transat CIC in Class40
Crossing the line of the historic race at 03:47:55 hrs this morning Italy's Ambrogio Beccaria on his all Italian designed and built Musa 40 Alla Grande Pirelli added the hugely prestigious Transat CIC Class 40 title to his steadily growing collection of solo and short handed ocean racing honours this morning.
Posted on 10 May
Is this the slipperiest AC75 boat in the fleet?
There's plenty to suggest American Magic's 'Patriot' is the most refined aerodynamic package so far There's plenty to suggest that American Magic's AC75 'Patriot' is the most refined aerodynamic package so far and if that's the case the team's new machine could be the lowest drag Cup boat out there.
Posted on 10 May
Marina Portoroz Melges 24 Regatta preview
Melges 24 European Sailing Series event to set sail on Friday It's that time of the year again when Portoroz beckons the international Melges 24 fleet as the Melges 24 European Sailing Series 2024 makes its next stop in this picturesque Slovenian coastal town.
Posted on 9 May
The 5 Minute Warning
Andy Rice & Matt Sheahan's 5min racing update PlanetSail's Matt Sheahan catches up with Sailjuice's Andy Rice who's reporting from the South of France. Andy's at the last big regatta for the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 classes before the Olympic Games just over a couple of months from now.
Posted on 9 May
Encouraging start for Calero Sailing Team
The Lanzarote team had a troublesome first race, but came back strongly on day 1 of 44Cup Baiona Daniel Calero's Calero Sailing Team is still the greenest of the elite teams competing on the 44Cup circuit for the high-performance owner-driver RC44 one designs.
Posted on 9 May