Malbon damages daggerboard in whale strike

Artemis II, hits whale, and then completes his start penalty Mark Lloyd/ DDPI/Vendee Globe http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/

Jonny Malbon © Mark Lloyd http://www.lloyd-images.com

'At approx 12:36 UTC today I hit a large animal, probably a whale at 15 knots. The boat stopped dead in the water, and remained there for about a minute until the animal released itself from the daggerboard. I was under 1 reef and Jibtop at the time. Once we had broken free, we sailed off vey quickly, but I could clearly see the animal astern in a lot of trouble.

I have some serious damage to my starboard daggerboard, but the boat is fine and the structure surrounding the daggerboard is intact. We have not taken on any water. I will be continuing to race, and will monitor the condition of both the board and the boat.'

Malbon has also completed his 30-minute penalty this morning at 8h05 UTC, as did Steve White, GBR, (Toe in the Water) currently in 17th place , taking his penalty yesterday evening, taking advantage of slowing to a stop for half an hour making a check of his mainsail, and now is just three miles ahead of Malbon.

Like several other competitors, they were given the penalty by the International Jury for passing a buoy on the wrong side shortly after the start from Les Sables d'Olonne.

With about 350 miles to run east to the first ice gate, Seb Josse has seen his lead expand and contract by a matter of 10 miles over the course of today, while Yann Eliès has been consistently quick with a more northerly track on Generali, although there is little to choose, as Jean Pierre Dick (Paprec Virbac) has gained in the south to return to third place having earlier been down to sixth. But there is still just 40 miles between third and ninth.

On Ecover 3 Mike Golding (Ecover 3) has been paced by Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux) who takes eighth place just now, with Golding ninth.

Loïck Peyron had re-charged his personal batteries with a two hour spell in his bunk not long after struggling to bring his gennaker back on board Gitana Eighty after it tumbled into the water and became temporarily trapped around the keel. Peyron confirmed that he will have to climb his mast at some point in the future to retrieve the halyard.

They need to remain vigilant at all times at high speed, so if they want to sleep, they have to ease off slightly.This often affects the performance at night. If Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux) was able to claw back 20 miles from Mike Golding, GBR, (Ecover 3), you can be sure he spent the night working hard. Another competitor, who could not have got much sleep is Michel Desjoyeaux who is now only 6.8 miles behind Marc Guillemot's Safran. He achieved the best average speed during the night of 16.5 knots.

Vendee Globe leaders - 15:00 HRS GMT. Rankings, (FRA, unless stated)
1- Seb Josse (BT) at 18577 miles
2- Yann Elies (Generali) + 37.7 miles
3 - Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) +56.4 miles
4 -Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty) + 64 miles
5 - Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) + 65.2 miles

Selected International

9- Mike Golding, GBR, (ECOVER 3) at + 94 miles

12- Dominique Wavre, SUI, (Temenos 2) at + 223.3 miles
13- Brian Thompson, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar) at + 413 miles
14- Sam Davies, GBR,(ROXY) at + 479.5 miles
15- Dee Caffari, GBR, (AVIVA) at + 637.8 miles
17- Bernard Stamm, SUI, (Cheminées Poujoulat) at + 754.6 miles
18 - Johnny Malbon, GBR, (Artemis) at + 763.5 miles
19 - Steve White, GBR, (Toe in the Water) at + 775.5 miles
20- Rich Wilson, USA, (Great America III) at + 877.2 miles
21- Unai Basurko, ESP, (Pakea Bizkaia) at + 977.2 miles
23- Norbert Sedlacek, AUT, (Nauticsport-Kapsch) +1486.6 miles
25- Derek Hatfield, CAN, (Algimouss Spirit of Canada) at + 1532.2 miles

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