Foncia leads around Cape Horn

Michel Desjoyeux aboard Foncia (pictured above) is expected to round Cape Horn between Sunday and Monday, leading the Vendee Globe solo race. He continues to set a blistering pace, with his closest challenger, Roland Jourdain more than 80 nautical miles behind him.

We received news this weekend of another retirement. Jonny Malbon on Artemis has been forced to abandon the race because of a series of problems with his mainsail. He has also been wrestling with a malfunctioning rudder, damaged earlier in a collision with a whale. We're sorry to hear about Jonny's misfortune. We wish him well. His on-shore support team cheered on Derek Hatfield earlier in the race and I'm sure the Canadian was very grateful, as we were, watching from the safety of terra firma.  Jonny now is making way towards the South Island of New Zealand for repairs.

Hatfield, meanwhile, arrived in Hobart, Tasmania, after a slow journey from the windy southern latitudes.  His team will assess the damage on Spirit of Canada and decide how to proceed for the return home.  Derek has a lot of fans in Canada and everyone is glad to see him safely into port after his earlier capsizing.

(Photo courtesy of the race organizers at www.vendeeglobe.org/en)
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An update from the South Atlantic: message from Spirit of Canada

Here's another dispatch from Derek Hatfield. He writes:

"Great sailing for the last 24 hours, a personal best in mileage at around 368 miles. Knock on wood (carbon), the weather forecast is still showing the possibility of cutting the corner on the St. Helena High and making some miles on the leaders. I'm watching this very closely as I don't want to get caught in the high pressure system that is coming, it will be brutally windless in this area for a few days on the weekend.

The temperature is still very warm and daytime it's shorts and t-shirt and night time a fleece. I can feel the coolness in the air as I head south and it won't be long until the full layers of long underwear and fleece are required. Of course, on deck, it's foul weather gear all the time due to the spray and waves breaking over the boat.

Top speed last night was 22 knots with sustained surfs on 18 knots for long periods of time, it was fantastic sailing. Today I've had to back off a gear from the genoa to the solent as the wind is getting up to high 20's. The boat is on the very edge of control and I felt it better to save the genoa to fight another day, given that it's the only one I have on board.

Word from back in Canada is that the government is in a bit of turmoil and the economy is at scary levels. I'm sure more than one of our sponsors are feeling the pinch of the recession. Hang in there and never give up on your goals. I feel a little guilty that I'm out here away from all of these woes but maybe some of you following the race can at least find it a motivating diversion from the financial situation.

Take care, Derek."

Hatfield sends a message

Courtesy François Van Malleghem/DPPI/Vendée Globe, as posted on vendéeglobe.org .
With permission

Here's the photograph from the Vendée Globe that shows Derek Hatfield on his way again.

On the race website, he says, “Things are very good, I am just rounding Cape Finisterre and so we are making good progress across the Bay of Biscay, not like the first time coming out. Leaving Les Sables d’Olonne it was a little bit emotional, things there are kind of winding down but I was very happy to get away. Team Pindar helped me get up and running again, team members from Ecover and Hugo Boss also helped me, and so it was a great collaboration.”

“ I am brining in the wind from astern and so I am a little closer to Bernard (Stamm), but of course he is a great competitor, so hopefully we will have a battle pushing each other towards the front of the fleet. I am going to race hard, but you know I need to get my head into this, and my motivation is to get around the world and see how we can do against the rest of the fleet, we are a little handicapped now, but I feel very comfortable and very confident now, I am taking care of the boat now.”

In the last 24 hours a number of teams have experienced intermittent problems with their autopilots. Normally, the autopilot takes over the steering of the vessel when the skippers try to catch a quick nap or when they work on other tasks. On at least two boats, Temenos and Bahrain Team Pindar, the computer seems to have suddenly malfunctioned, with almost disastrous results.

Here's how Dominque Wavre on Temenos describes it:

"Fine night, choppy to begin with, but steady trade wind with a moon lighting the way. Broad reaching with automatic pilot and big gennaker. I start to snooze, keeping one eye on the dials, as frequently surfing at 20-22 knots, and heeling over occasionally. All of a sudden the pilot alarm went off. I rushed outside and saw we were broaching. I leapt to the helm without my foul weather gear on, with tons of water crashing down. We were under gennaker (300 m2), staysail and mainsail and heeled over at 50°. I turned the alarm off and bore away and to my surprise, Temenos righted herself. We were still sailing quickly and the leeward rudder stayed in the water. Got the boat back on track and put the pilot back on and it seemed to work...."

Brian Thompson on Bahrain Team Pindar has experienced four occurrences of the autopilot switching itself of. The problems could be related to the batteries or the computers on the boats. The sailors would be happy to do without the sudden rushes of adrenaline.

Gitana Eighty continues to lead the race.

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Spirit of Canada back in the race

Good news today for Canadian fans of the Vendée Globe race.

Derek Hatfield is back at sea and chasing the rest of the field after completing repairs at Les Sables D'Olonne, France.

The Spirit of Canada team, with a smaller budget than many other groups, received vital assistance from the technical staff of Bahrain Team Pindar.

Most of the field is now near the Canary Islands, off the coast of Africa, but the race has a long way to go and nothing can be taken for granted. Four boats have officially retired from the race.

Here was the news Canadians had been waiting for, as communicated in the Spirit of Canada's web site by Patianne Verburgh:

"It’s official, Derek crossed the start line once again after making repairs to Algimouss Spirit of Canada at 02.00hr local time in France. Derek is unbelievable lucky to be able to repair the boat once again and commence racing. The repairs were made possible because of the involvement of Bahrain Team Pindar’s Technical Team and help from Andrew Pindar in particular. We did not have the resources to do this ourselves.

"Derek is currently doing 10 kts of boat speed with 23598 nm to finish. What a Herculean effort this has been for him; he continues to make us very proud."

Photo courtesy of http://www.vendéeglobe.org/

Getting ready for a round-the-world race

In less than two weeks, I will be updating you on an exciting event. It's a single-handed, round-the-world yacht race known as the Vendée Globe.

Just to qualify is a gruelling matter, and this year 30 skippers are ready to challenge themselves to the limits of endurance. The race begins in France and the sailors will follow the old Clipper Route around the globe. They will sail south in the Atlantic Ocean, round the tip of Africa and then continue East below Australia, out into the vast emptiness of the Pacific Ocean and then round Cape Horn at the tip of South America before heading north in the Atlantic again to return to France.

Weather and fatigue are going to be treacherous. In previous editions, storms have scrambled the field, damaged boats and killed competitors. Everyone hopes for none of these things and for good, fast sailing instead. The winner of the last race (2004-5), Vincent Riou of France, finished in 87 days, 10 hours and 47 minutes.

I hope to follow one boat in particular: The Algimouss Spirit of Canada. It will be skippered by Derek Hatfield, a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The boat was prepared in Port Credit, Ontario, not far from where I live.

Hatfield updates his sponsors by posting regular items on the team's website. Here's his latest update:

"As the countdown to the start of the 6th edition of the Vendee Globe clicks away, the Spirit of Canada team continues to carry out final modifications and preparations to make sure that the boat is ready. As you can imagine, one missed detail will result in a performance issue and in a worse case scenario, create a disastrous situation where I might have to stop, leading to disqualification. So, check… check…. check each small component and then check it again and then have someone else check it. The race village is now open and in full swing. Attendance is staggering with the first Sunday seeing 68,000 people on the pontoon. I haven't heard the numbers but this past weekend was even busier and I wouldn't be surprised if over 100,000 people walked past Spirit of Canada. It's impossible for the skippers to walk down the dock as they are swamped with people wanting autographs. It's absolutely unbelievable to have so much attention."

Hatfield reports the boat has passed its safety inspection and can now be loaded with the 84 food bags he will need for the event. The race begins November 9th.

For more information see the race website: Vendée Globe

The Spirit of Canada home page is here.

Photos on this page show Algimouss Spirit of Canada + Derek Hatfield. They are used with permission, courtesy of www.VendéeGlobe.org.
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