Vendee Globe - Golding feeling good on board Gamesa

by Emily Caroe on 30 Nov 2012 Mike Golding, on board Gamesa, discusses his progress in the Vendee Globe and his outlook on what is to come:

'I'm feeling good. I think we are in a good place, Jean [Le Cam] is in a better place. Overall we are going to make a close on the lead group and that is the most important thing at this stage. The exact amount is difficult to predict. Armel [Le Cléac'h, current race leader] is going better than I would have forecast, but none the less, he did well on the last poll, Alex [Thomson] is keeping going which is good, but again, we seem to make little gains on each poll and that is how we lost the miles and that is how we get them back.

'I think everyone was expecting this front to come in harder than it has, certainly I was. And we are pretty close to being down south, it is cooling off, the shorts are off, we are in foulies on deck and it is time to get wet. But still it is a beautifully sunny day, blue skies, very fast sailing, we aren't quite there yet [the Southern Ocean], but not far away.'

Luc Talbourdet (President IMOCA): You are not about to enter the south and it is like your garden as you are so experienced in the south. I think it is like a new start, you have caught up with the fleet and will continue to over the next few days. Do you agree?

'I think so. Once you are in the south, I will hook up with the weather system and move with them. The good news here is that not only have we made a catch up, but we are operating in the same weather system, which is really important. It is a good opportunity, but I think also a time to take care because if I remember the last race well, it was at this time that everyone pushed hard and there were a lot of breakages.'

Thursday 29 November 2012 06:00 GMT:

For the past 24 hours, Mike Golding and Gamesa have swapped positions with their French rival, Jean Le Cam (SynerCiel), and on this morning's 0400 GMT classement is lying in seventh, 22 miles behind Jean and 342 miles to the current leader of the Vendée Globe, Armel Le Cléach'h (Banque Populaire), who is 750km East of Golding.

Speaking this morning to his shore team back in the UK he commented, 'I’m just waiting for a bit more wind which should be coming but it’s a bit frustrating because it has not come through as expected just yet. I have just 10 knots of wind at the moment. I changed down from the Code Zero to the Genoa and if it is going to stay like this I need to think about changing back up, but at the moment I’d lose as much in the change, so I’m just hanging on to see if it happens.

'The breeze is due to come round and the direction is as forecast but it just does not have the strength. We have been catching the leader as expected, not quite as quickly as I’d have liked, and Armel does seem to have got away with a bit more than it looked like he had but they [Banque Populaire and Hugo Boss] will be headed and slower for longer. We have a net gain I’m sure, not as big as we’d hoped, but it’s all good.'

Golding is expected to speak live on Vendée Globe TV at 1200 GMT today. Watch on the Vendee Globe Mike Golding website