Vendee Globe- Cat and Mouse as leaders dodge Kerguelen Islands

by Brian Hancock on 1 Dec 2016 Some of the most amazing sailing footage has just been posted on the web.

If you have ever wondered what it looks like out there is the middle of the open ocean thousands of miles from land sailing an IMOCA 60 at full speed, wonder no more. The french navy stationed at Kerguelen Island intercepted the two leading boats in the Vendée Globe and captured some incredible footage.

They first zoomed in on Armel Le Cléac’h aboard Banque Populaire who was leading at the time, and shot some excellent footage from a chopper. They then surprised Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss and got the Boss Boat sailing at full tilt. Wet and wild and pretty remote. When I sailed the Southern Ocean we would describe the weather as’ gray on gray with gray trim’. That about sums it up as you can see in this video.

And while you watch think of a lone sailor dealing with a boat that powerful. He needs to eat, sleep, navigate, change sails, keep the boat maintained and keep his sense of humor for almost three months without seeing another human. No one ever said the Vendée Globe was easy but looking at these two amazing skippers they sure make it look easy.



Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss

In my previous blog (see below) I speculated that Alex Thomson was making it up that he had lost his starboard foil in an effort to confuse his competition, but it sure looks from this video that the starboard foil on Hugo Boss has indeed broken off. And in my previous blog I also mentioned that Hugo Boss trailed Banque Populaire by ten miles. Well that changed overnight as Alex retook the lead and is ahead of Le Cléac’h by a mere half mile as of writing. Southern Ocean match racing - quite extraordinary.


Cat and mouse in the deep south

There is a cat and mouse game underway in the Southern Ocean along with a handful of intrigue. After a record setting run from France to the Cape of Good Hope Alex Thomson aboard Hugo Boss has finally relinquished his lead to Armel Le Cléac’h aboard Banque Populaire. It’s a case of The Jackal and The Boss as the two skippers duke it out as if joined by a bungee cord. Le Cléac’h is nicknamed The Jackal because of his ability to seek out and hunt down prey and hunt he did making up a deficit of over 100 miles to overtaking Hugo Boss earlier this week, but his top spot was short-lived.

Thompson had gybed to the north in a lessening breeze and strictly on a ‘distance to finish’ basis he fell behind Banque Populaire, but once he gybed south again Hugo Boss reclaimed the lead but that too was short-lived. Le Cléac’h found a wind lane and practically in sight of Hugo Boss he snuck by to take over the lead once again. As of writing Banque Populaire holds a 12 mile lead over Hugo Boss as both boats gybe along the ice exclusion zone.

Race organizers have demarcated an exclusion zone that runs roughly along the 44th parallel for the first part of the Indian Ocean dropping down to 50 degrees south halfway between South Africa and Australia. There is a very real threat of ice and no one taking any chances. You don’t have to hit an iceberg to have a problem; hit a growler or bergy bit sailing at 25 knots and it straight down to Davey Jones’ Locker for the boat and skipper.

The problem with the exclusion area is that most skippers want to sail as far south as possible to take advantage of the Great Circle route, but this means sailing right along the edge of the zone forcing multiple gybes. The Great Circle route, by the way, is the shortest distance between two points on the globe. Because of the curvature of the earth the shortest distance between Cape Town and Cape Horn is right over Antarctica and not in a straight line between the two points. With satellite tracking you can bet that the Race Officials are keeping a close eye on things to make sure no skipper crosses the imaginary line.

Now to the intrigue. Alex Thompson reported a few days ago that he had snapped off his starboard foil and was sailing a crippled boat. Despite this he continued at a full-on pace even on port tack when the stump of his foil would have been causing a good amount of drag. Asked for some photos of the broken foil Thompson claimed that it was too wet and rough to take any, but the weather has since moderated.

Indeed yesterday Alex did a nice selfie video shot in light winds and sunshine. He referenced the foil but did not snap a pic leading many to believe that he has been playing mind games with his competitors. Did he really break the foil or has it all been a ruse? His shore team have indicated that he has a spare foil on board and that when the time is right he will ditch the broken foil and replace it with the spare. When Alex was asked directly if he had a spare on board he was more than a little coy about it. My guess is that it’s a mind game which makes this whole cat and mouse thing even more interesting.

Brian Hancock is the author of the definitive book on sailmaking - Maximum Sail Power - and the author of the All About Sails blog.

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