Vendee Globe- Search for Generali abandoned

by Vendee Globe media on 29 Dec 2008
Vendee Globe news. While Yann Eliès' health has now improved sufficiently to allow him to be flown home this Wednesday 31 December, the Generali IMOCA Open 60 is considered lost at sea some 700 miles south of Australia.

As the medical teams were busy taking care of Yann following his accident, Generali launched an operation to recover the boat. Two members of Team Generali arrived in Fremantle, Australia and identified a suitable boat to take them to where the Open 60 was abandoned.

On 23 December, the Race Directors realized that the positioning beacon on the Generali was no longer transmitting. They were informed by the French Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (CROSS Gris Nez) that the COSPAS SARSAT distress beacon had been triggered. The Generali team was immediately informed.

Philippe Laot, the technical director of Yann Eliès' team and Jean-Baptiste Epron, a Generali crew member were able to set off in a fishing boat on Wednesday 25 December, but soon encountered very bad wind and sea conditions.

While they were on passage to the expected location on Friday 26 December, they were told by the Generali shore team that the distress beacon had stopped transmitting. It was therefore no longer possible to identify the boat's position. The weather conditions worsened (7-8m high waves and crossed seas) and the team was forced to call off the search.

Since being capsized on Boxing Day Seb Josse has made nearly 500 miles north towards better weather conditions to try to make repairs to the rudder of his BT and see what can be done with the cracking on the deck of the British Open 60.

Sam Davies, GBR, (Roxy) still holds a strong eighth place. From being 606 miles behind seventh placed Jean Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac) she is now 263 miles behind this morning.

At the front of the fleet only Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) has managed to stay within 100 miles of leader Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia). Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux) is third at 280.6 miles behind, while the Le Cléach and Riou duo are now the best part of 500 miles behind the leader in fourth and fifth. Again last night the pair passed with less than three miles between them.

Derek Hatfield is reported to have retired from the Vendée Globe and is making steady progress towards Australia preserving his rig which lost the support of two top spreaders after being knocked over late on Saturday night.

Vendee Globe ranking - 04:00 HRS GMT. Rankings, (FRA, unless stated)

1. Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) at + 1009.4 miles
2. Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) at + 88.1 miles
3. Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux) at + 280.6 miles
4. Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) at 494.4 miles
5. Vincent Riou (PRB) at + 500.2 miles

Selected International

8. Sam Davies, GBR, (ROXY) at + 1504.9 miles
10. Brian Thompson, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar) at + 2181.7 miles
11. Dee Caffari, GBR, (AVIVA) at + 2222.9 miles
13. Steve White, GBR, (Toe in the Water) at + 2867.5 miles
14. Johnny Malbon, GBR, (Artemis) at + 3641.7 miles
15. Rich Wilson, USA, (Great American III) at + 3728.2 miles
16. Derek Hatfield, CAN, (Algimouss Spirit of Canada) at + 4010.8 miles
17. Norbert Sedlacek, AUT, (Nauticsport.Kapsch) + 4659.8 miles

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) in his daily message.

'For once, I'm going to talk about sailing. I know that's not really an original idea, but it is in the news. Today I lowered the mainsail to replace a batten and that is the first time I've had to do that on this boat. Eight years ago, I had to do that almost every day, changing them over, repairing them, as I only had 12. Up until the Azores I worked on them. In the end, I was an expert. I hoisted the mainsail in two goes, really annoyed. In fact, what is hard is not lowering the sail nor changing the battens, although it was the top one, it is getting the sail around the outside of the lazy jacks, as this requires patience and care. I had forgotten how good it was to see the job done. In any case, the Pacific is being kind to us for the moment with lots of sunny days, which is a change in the dark world we had on the other side of Tasmania. Perfect for some work in the garden this afternoon.'

Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message.

'Despondent about Derek. After returning for repairs after the start, he had sailed brilliantly through the Atlantic, catching up many miles. He was relentless and had gained on our group of 2 (with Artemis) to make a group of 3. Brothers in arms through the last week of severe gales of 45-55knots each. Our group talked on the phone through these gales, and through Christmas. We were all in the same sea state that rolled Derek, so it could have happened to any of our 3, frightening. We will miss him from our little group. Derek's project is one of the great ones in the Vendee Globe.

Starting with no sponsor, no boat, he raised money via a group of 10,000 supporters that he gained one by one by relentless pr work, he built the boat by himself, an extraordinary feat, he made hundreds of corporate presentations to no sponsorship avail until the very end, almost too late to help, no big shore crew, and on and on. He is a great ambassador for the Vendee Globe to Canada and North America. He has so much to be proud of with his project, even if he won't finish this race. Surely hundreds of thousands of people are inspired by his total effort, people whom he will never meet will change their lives because of him, and his retirement from the race does not dilute this impact one bit. Derek, I'm sure you'll be disappointed and discouraged by not finishing this course, but be proud of your total effort, be proud of the inspirational impact you will have on countless numbers of people. You're an inspiration to me for certain.'

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