2010-'11 Barcelona World Race

[MLovett]

Barcelona, 11 January 2011 Day 11

Foncia heading to Recife after crash box damage Sunday


Jean Paul Roux, director of the Mer Agitée received a call Sunday 9th January from Michel Desjoyeaux, the Foncia skipper to say that they had suffered damage to the crash box on the bow of their IMOCA Open 60. The crash box is broken off, the victim of a shock with a floating object.

The crash box is a sacrificial section of the bow which is designed to absorb such impacts and help protect the hull itself.

There is no immediate danger to the crew or the boat and the duo Desjoyeaux and co-skipper François Gabart plan to head for Recife on the Brazilian east coast. That decision is not yet definitive.

The technical team are already working to have a replacement section manufactured ready to change when the boat arrives in Recife, projected to be around Friday 14th January.

This morning Foncia was 1100 miles from Recife and making 16.3 knots on the 0400hrs UTC ranking. Such a technical stop is not penalised under the race rules until after Australia when a mandatory 48 hours stop must be taken.

[MLovett]

11 January 2011

Day 11

Barcelona World Race: Misfortunes, mishaps and Mapfre making miles


The strong trade winds and high speeds south from the Canary islands have taken a toll on the Barcelona World Race fleet as Jean Le Cam and Bruno Dubois head for the Cape Verde islands this afternoon after losing the mast of their IMOCA Open 60 Président.

After hitting some type of floating object which has damaged the crash box on the bow of Foncia which they noticed on Sunday, Michel Desjoyeaux and François Gabart confirmed this morning that they are preparing to make a technical stop in Brazil, probably in Recife to repair or replace the sacrificial section which served its purpose, preventing damage to the bow section.

Speeds have dropped now for the leaders who keep pressing hard down towards the Doldrums, but who will be taking the chance to re-group, to recharge their energies after three seemingly endless days and nights of on-the-edge sailing. For the leading duo the passage across the Doldrums looks to be relatively straightforward, and they will start to feel the effects of the convergence zone this evening. The slow-down for the leaders might be scarcely noticeable and last around 24-36 hours. Leader Virbac-Paprec 3 might even expect to be sliding into the southern hemisphere, across the Equator by Wednesday evening around 1800-1900hrs

The top half of the fleet have a time window of around 48 hours to get down to the Doldrums, but then as the Trade Winds in the north start to diminish, the light winds convergence zone spreads north and the later arrivals might lose up to another half a day or so, on the leading pack.

The technical stopover for Michel Desjoyeaux and François Gabart, expected to be in Recife this Friday, is expected to be relatively straightforward, and requires a detour which is not too far off the course considering the present position of the St Helena high pressure system which presses the fleet closer to the Brazilian coast. The ‘nose job’ procedure could take as little as four hours to complete with the boat required to be lifted out of the water.

But for Le Cam and his Catalan co-skipper, the prospects are much bleaker. The French skipper might be more battle scarred, hardened by the slings and arrows of misfortune on the oceans over his 25 year career than the full time cardiologist Garcia, but both were putting a stoic, brave face on their fate. Garcia, whose childhood dream of racing round the world looks to be over for the moment, said:

“I’m touched by it. I have thought about it all night. But there is nothing either of us can do about it. Life is like this. Sometimes you just have to take it. I never expected this at all.”

Messages of solidarity and support were received by the Président duo, not least the practical advice from Alex Pella, Garcia’s fellow Barcelona skipper who offered a list of personal advice, having had to stop there after losing the mast of his Mini in 2007, not least to enjoy the Portuguese beer and pizzas in the yacht club.

While Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron extended their lead to 83.2 miles this afternoon over Foncia, Spain’s Olympic duo Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez proved the quickest in the fleet, sailing 424 miles in 24 hours, the greatest distance yet in this edition of the Barcelona World Race. They are up to fourth place now, passing Mirabaud, and are just 40 miles behind their compatriots on Estrella Damm, Pepe Ribes and Alex Pella.

Quotes

Jean Le Cam (FRA) President:

“It happened at about 1900 hrs, so it wasn’t yet dark. There were 20-25 knots of wind and we slammed into a wave. We were under gennaker, but it was nothing exceptional. How and why it happened, I’ve no idea. It wasn’t really as if we were digging into a wave. We just slammed into it. It had already happened twenty times before.

As we hit the wave, we heard a cracking sound. It was all over in two seconds. You start to look up and it’s already over. I’ve no idea what really happened.

I was at the helm and Bruno at the nav station on stand-by.

The mast fell forwards. It just snapped. I can’t really say any more than that. It must have broken in several pieces.

After that there’s always the same worry. You want to avoid damaging the hull. We had to get it all out of the way as quickly as possible. We cut the halyards and everything else away and got rid of it to make sure the boat was clear. Then we started up the engine immediately.”

Xabi Fernandez (ESP), Mapfre
“We are fine. We are resting a little bit and enjoying everything which went well for us yesterday and today. A few days ago we chose to go to the west and we have been pushing very hard since. And now we are very happy to be between Mirabaud and Estrella Damm.

We are making good averages, normally we go with the A3 and one reef or the small spinnaker and all the time on the helm.

We knew that President had some problems but the information chilled us a bit, it is a real pity and we wish them all the best and send them a big hug.”

Pepe Ribes (ESP) Estrella Damm:
“We're a bit tired from the incident with the A6 two nights ago.
Now we have 20 knots of NE, trade winds. The winds has dropped a bit, allowing us to rest a bit. The mood is very good, as always.
Any time is a chance because Foncia is faster, but it is also true that they have a considerable advantage. Our objective is to make a good race. There are faster and slower boats but we must always try to sail at our max but above all without breaking anything. It's a very long race and you have to push but not break.
We are looking to the forecasts and it seems it will not be very different. The Doldrums are very narrow. It seems that going to the west of 26 we would be able to cross relatively quickly.
Today we must seize the opportunities with winds of between 25 and 30 knots to run as much as we can. Tomorrow will trim more where we can cross with satellite photos.
Now 28 and 22 knots boat speed, surfing.

We go under A3, the staysail and the full main.
The waves are a bit smaller and are between 4 and 5 meters. It's nice to drive the boat. Normally we spend the watches driving. The waves are quite long and can make very long surfs. It’s very enjoyable.”

Michel Desjoyeaux, Foncia:

“The bow of Foncia is damaged. The lower part of the bow there is a foam section better known as the crash box. It is laminated to the hull covered with several layers of carbon.

Sunday while on the bow we noticed that there was no carbon on the foam anymore. Foam is green and the carbon is black. The difference is obvious.

There is not much that we can do about it from here. The foam section is still whole from what we can see, it is our bumper. It is impossible to complete the rest of the course like this, both in terms of safety and performance.

The crash box is there just in case of hitting an unidentified floating object, and behind it is the proper structural bow, but that is not good at sustained high speeds. Our choice is to replace this ‘fuse’.”

“ We discovered this just before the Cape Verde islands, but by then it was too late to react. We can take the risk to push on to the Brazilian coast and waste less time But we have been at around 17 knots averages for three days. Considering the volume of water which is pushed under the bow in these we did not fancy sticking our heads down any closer!

And so we can’t really see how clean it is. We will have to see if we need to remove skin from the foam before we re-laminate. We can’t go up the front of the boat every two minutes to check. Even if the foam washes of it is not too serious, but it is not very hydrodynamic.”

[MLovett]

Barcelona, 12 January 2011
Day 12
Short stops, grand prix stops and full stops




While Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron may be contemplating passing into the southern hemisphere, due to cross the Equator some time Wednesday morning, having escaped relatively lightly from the Doldrums on Virbac-Paprec 3, Jean Le Cam and Bruno Garcia were coming to terms with their official retirement from the Barcelona World Race.

The duo who lost their mast on Sunday night arrived safely under engine last night in Mindelo on the island of Sao Vicente, the second largest island of the group. They were helping deal with the practical issues of repatriating the boat and getting used to the idea that their race is over, but they received many messages of support from other skippers again today on the Race’s radio and video broadcasts, and from race fans.

Dick and Peyron had around 120 miles to run to the Equator at 1530hrs UTC today with a lead of just over 42 miles on second placed Foncia, Michel Desjoyeaux and François Gabart. The chasing duo seem little compromised by their crash box damage which is expected to see them stop in Recife, Brazil on Friday and were matching the leading boat for pace through today.

The Foncia technical team will be awaiting the arrival of the duo for an operation which they anticipate will take around 20 hours. With Estrella Damm, Pepe Ribes and Alex Pella, now less than 100 miles behind, and closing still this afternoon, the clock will be ticking as the Foncia team set up a grand-prix pit-stop to replace sacrificial ‘nose cone’.

Estrella Dammstill have the Doldrums to contend with, and face the prospect of going through tonight at least some of the time in darkness. When the light winds convergence zone is narrow as it is now, the difference between a daylight and night passage can be significant. Of course by day the duos can monitor cloud activity more accurately, and watch the actions of the wind on the water. But the Spanish duo Pella and Ribes seem to have lined up neatly with a westerly position on their rivals.

Gabart, the second youngest co-skipper in the race by a matter of two months, relayed his impressions of his first Doldrums crossing this morning. “ This is getting towards the real doldrums experience. In a few minutes it went from light to grey to black in the Pot au Noir and the wind went from 25 knots to 0 knots in one direction and another. 30 then 40 knots. Not really time, then, to have a wash in the rain, then!”wrote Gabart.

Meantime Dominque Wavre – who said today that he has been through the Doldrums around 30 times and Michèle Paret reported that their progress is being hampered by damage to their large gennaker.

The course has been modified slightly this morning with Race Direction notifying the skippers that they now need to leave Gough Island (40°16S.09°57W) to starboard.

This will effectively corral the fleet slightly more to the east and prevent them running deeper to the south, where there may be concerns about ice, and ‘hooking’ back north to satisfy the first safety gate, the Atlantic Gate at 42°00S. 001°00E - 011°00E where one of the two points must be left to starboard.

Dominique Wavre (SUI), Mirabaud:
“It does not feel too much like the Doldrums for us at the moment. It is bit grey with some cloud cover, but no obvious distinguishing marks of the Doldrums at the moment. It looks like it will be quite easy to pass, very good news for us.Yesterday we ripped our gennaker, so we don’t have the est sail for these conditions at the moment.
The situation is a little difficult, to repair it we would need it to be calm, flat seas to spread it over a dry deck. So at the moment we are a gennaker down. So we need some luck with the weather. The last few hours have been difficult without the best sail you need. It is one of the reasons we are now positioned most in the east. Outside it is misty, hardly resembling the trade winds which brings a very blue sky. Here the sky is quite white and the night stars are not visible. That does not make sailing at night very easy.
I think I have passed through the Doldrums about 30 times. This time looks a little easier than in my memory. We should be through by tomorrow evening.

Pachi Rivero (ESP), Renault ZE Sailing Team:
“ Now we have 21 knots of wind from the NW and steering 52 degrees. We are making 17 knots of speed and sometimes reaching 20 knots. We are calm, we have one day left with good trade winds. But they are dropping. To pass Neutrogena before the doldrums would be very difficult. We passed the girls but they are more in the west and so that will be better for them. If the wind drops then we will change sails and go more downwind. Going through Cabo Verde we wanted to leave the islands to port but we are now in the south west after Cabo Verde it will be calmer, before this it was just sleep and drive, sleep and drive. Now it is a nice day and we might have a shower. We are kind of dirty now, but we are more worried about the meteo than a shower.”
“ We are evaluating the meteo for the Doldrums looking at a strategy.”

Boris Herrmann (GER) Neutrogena:
“Today is perfect but the last few days have been difficult, crossed seas and rough seas so the boat was nosediving and going everywhere so we are through that and moving fast, at 20 knots now. We have 24 hours of good winds then we will slow down and the passage of the doldrums looks very manageable.”

[MLovett]

Barcelona, 13 January 2011
Day 13
Crossing the line and crossed lines




Three of the Barcelona World Race fleet have now crossed the Equator. After Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron at around 0215hrs UTC this morning on Virbac-Paprec 3, and second placed Foncia about an hour later, around 1305hrs UTC after the French leaders it was Barcelona duo Pepe Ribes and Alex Pella on Estrella Damm who crossed the line into at around 1405hrs this afternoon

The Spanish duo remarked how easy and straightforward their Doldrums crossing was, their strategy and speed over recent days bringing them to just over 100 miles behind the leader, scarcely slowing below nine knots.

Behind them the Doldrums are starting to expand north deteriorating the trade winds and encroaching on the teams who are in pursuit. The leading pack of four or five boats look set to have been gifted a pretty benign doldrums crossing, though once again there was the occasion for a Doldrums first timer – Ryan Breymaier (USA) – to marvel at the experience of their boat taking off in the wrong direction when a huge wind shift arrived completely unannounced.

Aboard Hugo Boss Wouter Verbraak (NED) admitted today that there had been some mixed emotions on board following last night’s news that Alex Thomson would not be joining his IMOCA Open 60. Instead Verbraak, who expected to be a safe pair of hands until Thomson was declared fit after his appendectomy, will continue with Andy Meiklejohn. He confirmed on today’s radio vacation with Barcelona that their strategy will be to stay in the game until the finish, ready to take what opportunities that come their way;

“ There have been 24 hours of mixed emotions. On the one hand we are very happy that the decision has been made. We are very happy that we can go on, but at same time we can see that Alex is going through a very tough time at home, and so our thoughts are with him. And we hope that it is all resolved for the best.

We have discussed this a lot. We always had the focus on Alex joining the boat in Cape Verde. We have had to make a mental switch, and I have had to inform my family that I wont be home but will probably be home in another 70 days. So it is all a bit surreal really.” Said Verbraak.

Ironically the Dutch navigator and weather specialist, who lives in Norway, will have to sail around the world not only in Thomson’s ‘shoes’ but in his clothes. Because there was no time to have a full set of clothing made for Verbraak he is wearing Thomson’s clothing which is a full size larger.

Dee Caffari and Anna Corbella continue their close fight with their Spanish counterparts on Renault ZE Sailing Team. The British round the world record holding skipper said today that they had found the hard going in the strong trade winds very tough, and they chose to ease off to ensure they could preserve themselves and their boat GAES Centros Auditivos:

“ We got stuck. We fell of the back of the pack we were with and for quite a while it was hard to push. It was such a white knuckle ride. I bottled it a little bit and we went for a more conservative option for a while. While everyone was on the edge all the time, we have everything working, we have no problems with the boat, but we did lose some miles.”Said Caffari.

There was a humorous moment as well this afternoon when today’s videoconference linked Michel Desjoyeaux on Foncia with Xabi Martinez on MAPFRE, the Vendée Globe winner’s former IMOCA Open 60.

“Wait a few hours for us til we get the boat fixed?”asked Desjoyeaux

“Not likely, you did not wait for us in the Med.” Was the double Olympic medallists retort.

In fact both Spain’s third and fourth placed IMOCA Open 60’s are respectively the former Paprec-Virbac and the ex Foncia.

Quotes

Wouter Verbraak (NED) Hugo Boss:

“ There have been 24 hours of mixed emotions. On the one hand we are very happy that the decision has been made. We are very happy that we can go on, but at same time we can see that Alex is going through a very tough time at home, and so our thoughts are with him. And we hope that it is all resolved for the best.

We have discussed this a lot. We always had the focus on Alex joining the boat in Cape Verde. We have had to make a mental switch, and I have had to inform my family that I won’t be home but will probably be home in another 70 days. So it is all a bit surreal really.

We got the message from our team yesterday around midday. And at that stage it came as a bit of a surprise to us. We have been taking this whole trip so far just living in the moment and doing the best we can, but we said ‘ well actually this has been working quite well, let us continue doing what we have been doing, and let us concentrate on being fast to the equator, and try to catch up with the group ahead of us.

There will be a bungee effect but yesterday afternoon we were next to one of the other Open 60’s and we have put 12 miles on them so we have potential and that we can do a job.

Long term we have to realise that this is like a basketball game, there will be a lot of opportunities to go back and forwards, and making some good moves and trying to put some points on the board, but in the end it goes down to the last few minutes of the race, the final sprint up the Atlantic and so our focus is to keep in the game, focus on making good moves and not wearing ourselves out and being ready to punch in the last part of the game

Physically we have to say that this boat is a handful. Having gone from crewed sailing it is a very different level of exhaustion that we are learning to experience. But mentally we have been in such limbo these last days that today it is a feeling of relief, and focus on catching up.

Actually as Alex would not have been able to bring anything on the boat, we have all his clothes on the boat. Before the race start there was too little time to get a full supply of clothes for myself. So I find myself in Alex’ clothes for this trip around the world. And he is an XL (Extra Large) and I am a Large, I have plenty of space in them!

Actually the funny thing is there is a lot of Norwegian food on the boat which only I am able to know what it is (he lives in Norway). Andy has to ask me what we can have for dinner.”

Dee Caffari (GBR) GAES Centros Auditivos:

“We expected more of a drop in the breeze, but we still have 15-20 knots, and more in the puffs. But we are keeping up good boatspeeds. I think we will some changes in the weather and maybe suffer a bit today.”

I have a feeling their crossing of the Doldrums they hardly slowed and they are away and we will not have it so easy. Ours will be slightly different.”

It is about time that the Renault boys caught up with us, we have been waiting for them.

We got stuck. We fell of the back of the pack we were with and for quite a while it was hard to push. It was such a white knuckle ride. I bottled it a little bit and we went for a more conservative option for a while. While everyone was on the edge all the time, we have everything working, we have no problems with the boat, but we did lose some miles.

So it is good to have a pacemaker with us, even just to give an indicator of how we are doing on the rankings.”

It was like being in the rinse cycle of a washing machine. At that stage it is quite physical to drive and you have to drive all the time to be fast. And at that stage we lost a bit like that. Someone like Iker and Xabi, they are born to do that, and it shows in their speed which was amazing to see.

I don’t think they will have the same effect in the Southern Ocean.”

Alex Pella (ESP) Estrella Damm:

“ Inside the boat we have 30 degrees, we have 10-12 knots and we are doing about 11 knots of boat speed. We have a bit to go to the equator. We have passed a really easy Doldrums. We are really happy with the way the race is going. We have the new boats ahead of us and they set a really high level and so we have to keep making the distance bigger. We only really have to see how they go. These Doldrums have been a really easy, comfortable passage. The boat has been going very well, we are very comfortable, enjoying the day to day life. We have made some mistakes but we have learned from then, but there are still a lot of things can happen, we have made some small repairs and work, nothing significant but we need to have the boat at 100%.”

Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA) Foncia:

“We swapped hemispheres after crossing the Equator last night. Francois is hardly a beginner. He will not need me.

With wind will be a little stronger, more southerly. But it starts to heads us and we are well heeled.

We are under Solent and full main. We are almost fully ballasted. We have about 15 knots of wind and are making nearly 10 knots. The seas is always a bit disorganized where the northern hemisphere meets the southern hemisphere. They are hardly in agreement.

We should arrive in Recife during the night of the 14th to the 15th. The shore team is already there and is seeing what the best place will be. Either it will be Recife or Suave where we have some French contacts who could help with the job. We hope to spend as little time as possible there, but that will depend on what conditions that we get to work, and what the exact state of the repair required is. At the moment the foam is still there with some small holes on either side. Part of the laminate is still there on the port side.

We will take the advantage because there is waiting time while the resin hardens. We could have done some of these repairs at sea, but on land it will be easier and there will be help for us”

[MLovett]

Barcelona, 13 January 2011
Day 13
Technical repair stop in Brasil for Barcelona World Race leader Virbac-Paprec 3




Barcelona World Race leaders Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron are preparing to make a technical stop in Brasil to make a repair to their main sheet track on Virbac-Paprec 3.

A length of around 2.50 metres of the track is reported to have been lifted away from the deck.

Virbac-Paprec 3 is sailing presently off the coast of Brasil in SE’ly winds of 15 knots under full main and Solent headsail.

The duo lead the race by approximately 50 miles from Foncia, Michel Desjoyeaux and Francois Gabart, who are also preparing for a stop in or near Récife, arriving between Friday night and Saturday.

Dick and co-skipper Loïck Peyron have made the decision to head for Récife, Brasil which is 434 miles to their SW, to repair this vital control. The duo are expecting to arrive in the Brasilian port in around 48 hours (Saturday) where their technical team will be waiting for them.

Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA), winner of the first edition of the Barcelona World Race contacted by phone said:

“I was outside when it happened. Loïck was sleeping. The mainsail track came away for 2.5 m. We can’t really trim the mainsail. It happened in the conditions which were bizarrely benign. There was a little choppy, 14-15 knots, nothing exceptional. It was an otherwise nondescript afternoon. There was not even great pressure on the track, we were under full mainsail and Solent. I don’t really know exactly what happened. We will head for Récife to repair it. It is better to have it happen, than in the South!”