New York Vendée-Les Sables d'Olonne - Day 4
by Vendee Globe 2 Jun 2024 11:47 PDT
2 June 2024
Holcim-PRB - New York Vendée © Julien Champolion - polaRYSE / Holcim-PRB
Late news, broken bowsprit for Nicolas Lunven (Holcim PRB) (adapted from team statement):
Nicolas Lunven has informed his shore team that the bowsprit of his IMOCA Holcim-PRB has broken. Already having suffered damage to his bowsprit during the outbound race to the United States in The Transat CIC, he knows he will not be able to exploit the full potential of his IMOCA on the way to Les Sables d'Olonne, but he remains in the race. The breakage occurred around 1100hrs (CET) this morning. He had spent the night under J2 and J3 sails and was about to change the sail. The bowsprit broke just as the skipper had unfurled one of his downwind sails. He battled for over an hour and finally managed to retrieve the sail and the bowsprit. For now, he does not know the reason for this breakage.
He said, "I don't know why it broke. During the outbound Transatlantic, we immediately knew what had happened. A furler had detached and hit the bowsprit, seriously damaging it. This bowsprit was repaired in New York. For the first three days of the race, we sailed mainly downwind or in light conditions, so mostly under J0. Last night, I changed it. During the night, we were sailing more upwind, using J2 or J3, so not on the bow sprit.
This morning, I wanted to set another sail on the bowsprit, a quite large sail. After preparing everything, I unfurled it. I had barely tightened it when the bowsprit broke immediately. I hadn't noticed anything unusual before."
After a relatively slow start to the New York Vendée-Les Sables d'Olonne solo Transatlantic race, compounded more recently by the complicated, stop-start passage of low pressure trough, the race leaders appear to be into a better breeze now, but the pacemakers look set to be spending the next few days sailing upwind towards Europe.
Beyou's record is safe?
For the moment, at four days into the race, the record for this solo contest from New York to Les Sables d'Olonne, the home of the Vendée Globe on the French Vendée coast, seems to be quite secure. The benchmark of 9 days 16 hours 57 mins 52 seconds in 2016 was established at the end of the first and only edition of the 3,100 nautical miles course, by the inaugural winner Jéremie Béyou.
Right now with just over one third of the course sailed at four days since leaving the start last Wednesday Germany's Boris Herrmann (Malizia-Seaexplorer) is stretching out a lead over French ace Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé et Prévoyance). In the most northerly position of the leaders Herrmann has been first and fastest to break into the stronger southerly breeze. This Sunday afternoon he had extended to be some 40 miles ahead of Dalin and he was still pressing north eastwards. The leading duo seem to be the only pair to have really broken clear of this low pressure trough, their advantage should continue to accumulate - and may yet prove decisive.
Herrmann in control
Fresh from a career best second on the solo outbound transat, Herrmann is on great form and his VPLP design has new foils which have improved the boat's upwind ability which will be key over the coming days in what looks like it might be a duel with Dalin. And in the IMOCA fleet he is the skipper who has raced the most hard miles on his boat while Dalin of course missed last Autumn's two transats due to a medical issue. France's third placed Nico Lunven (Holcim PRB) - who was racing side by side with his former The Ocean Race skipper not 24 hours ago - is now dropped to be over 110 miles behind.
Swiss skipper Justine Mettraux (Teamwork-Team SNEF) has found some good speed today and is back up to sixth place as the pack reshuffles slightly as some of the main group have had better periods of more solid, stable breeze. The IMOCA Globe Series champion of 2023 Sam Goodchild (Vulnerable) is eighth and Yoann Richomme (Paprec-Arkéa) recent winner of the Transat CIC is 12th, 160 miles off the lead.
But trying to break though this low pressure line has been tough and frustrating. The confluence of a set of different weather and Gulf Stream current effects has been mentally taxing on the skippers and for many it has been back to basics, reverting to first principles, as those adopted by Pip Hare who was up to eighth today on Medallia, pacing Goodchild.
"So it is back to basics, looking at synoptic charts, at satellite imagery, making a rationale - where do I want to go? How am I going to get there? How am I going to cross these features? How do I tell where the features are if the GRIB files are not telling me the information. So it is back to old school navigation. And ahead it is not going to be downwind.....there is a low pressure and a high pressure and they have basically swapped places....they did not like their positions in life! There is a low pressure at the Azores and a high pressure off Ireland which is bulging out all the way across the Atlantic. There is no route round the top of the high and so the only option I see is to go between the low and the high. That depends on how stationary the high is and how active the low becomes. But nothing is moving hugely and so I think I just need to take it on feature by feature. The main goal right now is to keep the boat moving as best I can." Hare reported today
Most of the fleet are moving better this afternoon. The exception has been French skipper Manu Cousin whose Coup de Pouce was struck by lightning in the small hours of the morning, seemingly killing off his wind instruments which feed his autopilots. He was making slow speeds this afternoon looking for a solution.
And Canada's Scott Shawyer (Be Water Positive) - on his first solo IMOCA Ocean Race - is going well in 26th. He explained today, "It has been gruelling so far, a lot more challenging than I thought, that is for sure. The weather looked very straightforward from on shore, it still looks straightforward but it is anything but straightforward. It is not playing out to be anywhere near what the models are showing. The Gulf Stream is having a huge effect, you can see that on the routing and on the performances as well. It is taking lot more time, and energy and sail changes, and attending to the boat. I am getting pretty run down, I am not getting enough sleep. I need to sleep. I have been catnapping in 30 minute chunks and at night it has been calmer, a little easier at times. I have had maybe three hours sleep each night, not a lot but I have functioned on that before. But today feels a happier day on the boat, but I did just look up and see a small tear in my A3, so I need to monitor that.
It has been challenging with the weather, for sure, but I have found when I have been sailing I have been sailing well. But I have also sat with the wind going in circles."
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