All things being equal, nothing untoward happening and wind in the right direction Michel Desjoyeaux is expected to cross the finish line off Les Sables d’Olonne on Sunday morning.
After a brisk morning in favourable winds of 25 knots from the SW, Desjoyeaux was due to take one last test from the Atlantic as he passes Cape Finisterre, back across the threshold to the Bay of Biscay, an area which proved the graveyard for the hopes of no fewer than four Vendée Globe entrants less than 12 weeks ago when this great adventure started.
Desjoyeaux missed out on the very worst of the storm off Cape Finisterre on his outward trip. He made his U-turn around 0820hrs on the morning of the 10th November, but is not getting back easily.
He is expected to be encountering one final Atlantic low pressure system later today, 45-50 knots in the gusts according to Meteo France.
Thereafter he is expected to have a slow-down through Saturday with a small high pressure ridge to cross in the Bay of Biscay and then favourable winds which should see him secure his historic second Vendée Globe victory on Sunday morning.
Over 1000 miles behind now and some 440 miles to the Azores, Roland Jourdain made a simple, clear mission statement today on the radio broadcast live from Les Sables d’Olonne.
“ My goal is to return to Les Sables d’Olonne, but I want to save my skin.” Jourdain said this morning. He has been making just over 8 knots this afternoon despite having no obvious signs of a keel left on Veolia Environnement.
Sailing fully ballasted he has had discussions with his support teams as to what the theoretical limits are of the boat in its current state. He said today that he had dived to check the keel after the impact with a sea mammal, which required him to repair, and saw some damage to the laminate.
Yesterday he sailed with 30 knots and had three reefs in the mainsail and he reported today that he could handle Veolia Environnement with care, but was would be most exposed with the wind and seas on the beam. He plans to stop in Sao Miguel.
Apart from straightforward mechanical failure, several competitors in this Vendée Globe – including some of the favourites – fell prey to impacts with floating objects. That is believed to have been the case for Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss), certainly the case for Jonny Malbon (damaged daggerboard when hit sea mammal), Jean Pierre Dick (two broken rudders) and Jean Le Cam (keel bulb ripped off leading to the boat capsizing).
Bilou is the most recent victim. The complete loss of the keel of Veolia Environnement would seem to be the delayed consequence of his collision with a marine mammal on 8th January. The impact forced Roland Jourdain to transform the interior of his boat into a workshop in order to carry out repairs to his mast bulkhead, which had started to crack. Already at that time, he was forced to sail with the utmost caution and this meant he lost ground to Desjoyeaux during that period.
Armel Le Cléach’s advance is being slowed by the Azores high pressure system which has kept Brit Air reined in for the moment, but the leading rookie is 354 miles behind Jourdain this evening.
While Sam Davies, GBR, (Roxy) in fourth sympathized with Jourdain’s problems she said today that she will be focusing only on her own race and had given no real thought to whether might have opportunities to advance up the leaderboard. She has emerged from the Doldrums and is 105 miles ahead of Marc Guillemot (Safran) in fifth.
Brian Thompson, GBR, is again being given no breathing space in the Doldrums from Dee Caffari, GBR, who is back as a threat for Bahrain Team Pindar, just 67 miles behind on Aviva. In turn, though, Thompson is now just 142 miles behind Marc Guillemot and had 63 miles to go at 1430hrs this afternoon before passing the Equator.