Whether we are talking about the Indian or the Pacific, there is hardly ever any colour in the Southern Ocean, which is misty for the leaders, very windy for the pack east of the Kerguelens, rainy for the chasing boats in the Tasman Sea… The full moon can hardly be seen through the dull skies and there are only a few rays of sunshine from time to time. Welcome to a dark, dingy, oppressive world, where solo skippers have to hide in their “caves.”
Grey. Light grey. Dark grey. Every shade imaginable… The Southern Ocean offers you them all. A world where everything is wet and if the sun peeks through, you get the impression it is a finger of God pointing angrily down to man. When the skies are a bit clearer and the clouds stop weeping, and when the fog doesn’t merge with the ocean and the drizzle doesn’t permeate your body, which is now like a sponge soaking up all the humidity, it’s like a firework display. Moonlight sets the world ablaze. Outside it is so horrible that the sailors take refuge in their cavern like Neanderthal man… The slightest hint of a colour or the flight of an albatross or the appearance of a dolphin is greeted with joy, a sign of the hope of a return to a more civilised world and the light at the end of the tunnel. That is why Cape Horn is seen as the way out. An end to all this, whereas in fact, it is itself a desolate place. Jagged rocks, shipwrecks and steep cliffs.
The little bit of sunlight, which brightened up the horizon for the two leaders just two days ago has given way to a dull, monochromatic atmosphere with thick, penetrating fog. There is still some breeze to push them towards Tierra del Fuego, but the Pacific swell isn’t really doing its job for Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire VIII) and Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss). The former is in a NW’ly flow, which has strengthened again, while the latter is flapping about in variable light airs. The gap has widened considerably, and the British sailor will not be able to do much about it until mid-afternoon, when he should make the most of a front on its way down from the north. While the leader looks like he will be able to stay on the edge of the high and hop onto a low moving up from the south, his close rival is likely to see the wind run out of breath on Sunday and is likely to find himself stuck in this quagmire.
The British skipper has no solution to get back up there and threaten the leader before Cape Horn, which Armel Le Cléac’h is expected to round on Thursday thanks to a strong westerly air stream at 50°S. He can look forward to accelerating away with a low spiraling around Patagonia and the Antarctic Peninsula in the middle of next week.… Alex Thomson will be running into a high-pressure area this week-end and will be seeing the two boats behind speeding towards him like bees attracted to honey. Jérémie Beyou (Maître CoQ) and Paul Meilhat (SMA) who was overtaken during the night, will be taking advantage of a low, which has formed to their NE. Even if it will rapidly break down, it will leave behind it enough air to allow them to narrow the gap on Thomson, who should nevertheless keep up a lead of a few hundred miles before he gets going again.
Battles throughout the fleet
Approaching Campbell Island, the following trio will be getting back together around these islands with the westerly wind forcing Yann Eliès (Quéguiner-Leucémie Espoir) and then Jean Le Cam (Finistère Mer Vent) to gybe to avoid entering the exclusion zone. Jean-Pierre Dick (StMichel-Virbac) will be able to remain on his current tack to cross in front of the other two. Things have worked out well for Dick after his voyage through the Bass Strait above Tasmania. All alone, Thomas Ruyant (Le Souffle du Nord pour le projet Imagine), who has just entered the Pacific and Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée), who is sailing along the edge of the exclusion zone to the south of Australia, are getting ready for a weekend of study. One will be trying to avoid the strong winds associated with a deepening low in the Tasman Sea, while the other will be hoping to avoid the worst of the gales sweeping in from the West.
A deep low is affecting the chasing boats later today with the pack in the middle at the moment. To the south, Rich Wilson (Great America IV), Alan Roura (La Fabrique) and Enda O’Coineen (Kilcullen Voyager-Team Ireland) are experiencing SW’ly winds in excess of forty knots. To the north, Fabrice Amedeo (Newrest-Matmut), Arnaud Boissières (La Mie Câline) and Conrad Colman (Foresight Natural Energy) are sailing ahead of a front with NW’ly winds in excess of thirty knots. Éric Bellion (Commeunseulhomme) has decided he wants nothing to do with these nasty winds and seas and has sailed to the NE to avoid the worst of the gales. Nándor Fa (Spirit of Hungary) and Stéphane Le Diraison (Compagnie du Lit-Boulogne Billancourt) are passing the longitude of Cape Leeuwin this morning. The moderate westerly winds will be replaced by the new low moving in bringing 30-35 knot NW’ly winds this weekend. Even the three tail-enders will be having a busy weekend pushed along by strong winds in an Argentinean low… Another grey day in the South.
Dominic Bourgeois/M&M
Quotes
Rich Wilson (Great American IV) talking about the big blow on Wednesday night: “The wind got up to 35-40 knots. In these conditions, some will still be ‘racing’, but not me. For me it is preserve the boat and preserve the skipper. The conditions on board cannot be described, nor filmed. The boat is going fast and it is ricocheting off randomly oriented waves in an entirely unpredictable manner. It is violent. In the cabin we have 10 handholds all within reach. If one misses one, you might lose all your teeth, or crack your skull open if you go flying across the cabin. The boat might move 8 feet underneath you all of a sudden, and you’re either holding on, or you’re not. When I went to the foredeck before dark to hoist the roller furled storm jib, when I got to the mast, I crawled to the sail, and did all the connections on my hands and knees. This was by far safer than trying to stand up.”
Source: Vendee Globe
