Vendee Globe - Jourdain heads to the Azores after losing keel bulb

by Vendee Globe media on 30 Jan 2009
Roland Jourdain is making five-six knots towards the Azores with his badly compromised Veolia Environnment which lost the keel bulb yesterday morning.

While others are trying to find the best route to get back to Les Sables d’Olonne, for the moment that is not the worry for Roland Jourdain. His immediate goal is to ensure that Veolia Environnement remains as stable as possible.

Riding low in the water, the hull of Bilou’s boat is certainly less efficient, but this is his only, and safest way to sail. Jourdain is aiming to take his boat to the Azores, before deciding whether he can go all the way to Les Sables d’Olonne. That will depend on the assessment of the likely weather conditions for the final 1200 miles, not least the passage past the notorious Cape Finisterre.

Race leader Michel Desjoyeaux is making between 15 and 17 knots towards the finish this morning, with just over 700 miles to run at 0330hrs. He has favourable 25 knots winds and is balancing sailing fast with his desire to stay as careful as possible in terms of his routing. The leading skipper is expected to finish Sunday morning.

For some of the other competitors, the worries are rather different: Raphaël Dinelli admitted he is beginning to take stock of his food reserves, while Armel Le Cléac’h knows he will need to finish before 6th February, unless he wants to go on a diet.

Le Cléac’h’s course has been simple and direct since the start of the South Atlantic, and the Vendée Globe rookie, like Brian Thompson and Dee Caffari further behind him, has been blessed with generally favourable wind angles all the way north. Now Le Cléac’h is less than 400 miles behind Veolia Environnement and was making a steady 9-10 knots.

Sam Davies has emerged from the Doldrums this morning with a lead of 107 miles over her rival for fourth place Marc Guillemot on Safran. Roxy’s position – to Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch) in his daily message
the east and north of Safran, means that Davies should be able to take first bite at the NE’ly trades this morning and so she might expect her lead to grow still more.

Guillemot’s strategy is more long term, he considers, and Davies really needs something closer to two days advantage over Safran, considering his redress, to be able to challenge realistically for his place. Davies had a steady night averaging 11 – 11.5 knots on Roxy, while Guillemot has been slightly quicker this morning.

Dee Caffari has taken back over 60 miles on Brian Thompson since the same time early yesterday morning as the pair work through a relatively compact and not very active belt of Doldrums weather. Thompson had a couple of sticking points yesterday afternoon and evening – small slow downs – but Caffari has been generally quicker.

Steve White is now 390 miles SE of Rio de Janeiro and appears to have more favourable 30 knots easterly breezes for a change. He has been unable to make any impact in the lead of Arnaud Boissières who is 850 miles further up the Brasilian coast than him.

Catching it from two different low pressure systems Rich Wilson is having another difficult 36 hours. Sailing under three reefs in the mainsail and storm jib, he has big breaking seas and described the conditions on Great American III as ‘violent outside, violent inside’.

Raphael Dinelli and Norbert Sedlacek, AUT, (Nauticsport Kapsch) now have 800 and 900 miles respectively to Cape Horn, with the Austrian skipper losing some miles to his French rival over the last 24 hours.

Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch) in his daily message: 'I’m sailing very close to the wind on my way down to the Horn. My ETA at the Horn is now early on Monday. For the moment, life is very uncomfortable on board. Maybe it would be better to say that there is no real life on board. The temperature is falling as we head south. So, I’m drinking lots of tea and wearing the thickest fleeces. The only really positive point since Wednesday is that I haven’t had any new technical problems. At least I haven’t spotted any...'

Vendee Globe - 04:00 HRS GMT. Rankings

1 . Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) at 712.1 miles to finish
2 . Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) at 979.8 miles from first place
3 . Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) at 1355.6 miles from first place
4 . Sam Davies (Roxy) at 2417.5 miles from first place
5 . Marc Guillemot (Safran) at 2524 miles from first place
6 . Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) at 2647.4 miles from first place
7 . Dee Caffari (Aviva) at 2769 miles from first place
8 . Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas) at 3473.1 miles from first place
9 . Steve White (Toe in the Water) 4310.9 miles
10 . Rich Wilson (Great American III) at 5566 miles from first place
11 . Raphaël Dinelli (Fondation Océan Vital) at 7131 miles from first place
12 . Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport - Kapsch) at 7948.7 miles from first place
RDG . Vincent Riou (PRB). 3rd . 30 boats started.

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