Vendee- Artemis II (Jonny Malbon - GBR) hits whale

by Vendee Globe Media on 2 Dec 2008 It is the ability to pace themselves consistently now which is making the difference at the front of the Vendée Globe fleet, with just 100 miles between first and 10th, less than two miles between second and third, and less than two miles between fourth and seventh.

Seb Josse (BT) has made another small gain, to 48.7 miles from 44.2 miles last night, and is now back in phase with Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty) in second.

Yann Eliès has had a good night, pushing hard to gain about ten miles on the lead to lie just less than two miles behind Peyron, while the tight group of fourth to seventh – Vincent Riou (PRB), Armel Le Cléac'h (Brit Air), Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) and Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) have all got just less than two miles separating them in terms of distance to finish. Riou has regained third for the moment.

Racing downwind in 20-25 knots of wind, down the same track on the heels of the same weather system, the gains made by the skippers now are largely down to their ability to have the right sail up and their angle to the wind. With the wind directly from astern, the speed drops off, so they need to find a compromise between course and speed. This depends on several factors: sea state, the ability of the boat to sustain long surfs, the amount of sail and of course, how tired the sailor is.

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.

Jonny Malbon, GBR, (Artemis II) reports damage to his starboard daggerboard after he hit a whale yesterday afternoon.

'At approx 1236 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.'

Jonny 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, GBR, (Artemis II). 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.

0400 HRS GMT. Rankings, Monday Tuesday 2nd December 2008
1- Seb Josse (BT) at 18741 miles
2- Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty) + 48.7 miles
3- Yann Elies (Generali) + 50.3 miles
4 – Vincent Riou (PRB) at + 75.9miles
5- Armel Le Cléac'h at + 76.2 miles

Selected International
8- Mike Golding, GBR, (ECOVER 3) at + 99.8 miles
12- Dominique Wavre, SUI, (Temenos 2) at + 223.2 miles
13- Brian Thompson, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar) at + 348.6 miles
14- Sam Davies, GBR,(ROXY) at + 414.5 miles
15- Dee Caffari, GBR, (AVIVA) at + 563.7 miles
17 - Steve White, GBR, (Toe in the Water) at + 706.3 miles
18 - Johnny Malbon, GBR, (Artemis) at + 709.2 miles
19- Bernard Stamm, SUI, (Cheminées Poujoulat) at + 715.8 miles
20- Rich Wilson, USA, (Great America III) at + 828.2 miles
21- Unai Basurko, ESP, (Pakea Bizkaia) at + 906.4 miles
22- Norbert Sedlacek, AUT, (Nauticsport-Kapsch) +1414.3 miles
25- Derek Hatfield, CAN, (Algimouss Spirit of Canada) at + 1513.8 miles

www.vendeeglobe.org