Vendee Globe
December 17, 2008 07:23 by Bang The Corner | 0 comments
Brian reverses into a 'chinky' and Le Professeur in first after giving the rest a 40 hour head start and BT spray rails.
Mark Lloyd/DPPI
“Yesterday was a day of big winds and even bigger seas as I head away from the Kerguelens and onwards to the first Australian ice gate. Lots of squalls with sun glimpses made a pleasant change from drizzle and fog. But the day will be especially memorable for Bahrain Team Pindar doing a manoeuvre so unusual, so bizarre, that it doesn’t even have a name that I know of. Perhaps only freestyle windsurfers will have one.
This is how it goes – take one IMOCA 60 going downwind with 3 reefs and the J2 sail, add 35 knot of wind and a big wave. Then watch boat round up, the pilot give up the ghost, and the wheel spin hard over. This will take the IMOCA 60 rapidly through head to wind and then settle on to the other tack. This is when a combination of gravity from all the keel, water ballast and spares on the wrong side, and the back winded sails will neatly push the mast to 90 degrees.
So at this point I climbed out of the hatch to, yet again, sort out a boat on its ear. It was a spectacular sight, looking out along the horizontal mast, seeing the masthead just 3 metres off the sea, normally it is 32 metres from the sea. To sort out it took a while as I had to furl the J2 and then tack around, reef the main to 4th reef close reaching slowly and then set the J3 when downwind. Perhaps I should call the trick the ‘reverse chinese’. Once in a lifetime trick I hope.”
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Jean M Liot/DPPI
Meanwhile Michel Desjoyeaux is leading the Vendee Globe having re-started in Les Sables DOlonne, 40 hours after the rest of the competitors.Desjoyeaux is known as Le Professeur because of his detailed preparation and attitude towards yacht racing but in truth he loves what he does and that is what gives him his drive,
I was priviledged to interview Michel Desjoyeaux aboard Foncia before the race and also Seb Josse aboard BT. The interviews will appear shortly onhttp://www.boatson.tv
Jean M Liot/DPPI
One thing I would say is that Foncia, designed by Farr is certainly not the best design for heavy weather, it is extremely minimalistic with all the weight in the bulb. BT on the other hand is also from the drawing board of Farr but has pronounced spray rails for lift and ease of work on the bow in heavy weather. Chararchteristics which would suggest this is a boat that is optimised for everything the Southern Ocean can throw at it.
