As the skipper of one of the three boats which are based out of Les Sables d’Olonne – along with Raphael Dinelli’s Fondation Océan Vital and Nobert Sedlacek’s Nauticsport-Kapsch – which was kept in the Vendée port for many months before the start – Arnaud Boissières will be accorded a huge welcome as he returns to his home patch, due to pass the South Nouch buoy and the finish line some time on Sunday. With less than 226 miles to complete, these last few miles will neither be the toughest nor the easiest of his first Vendée Globe but when he sees the familiar silhouette of Les Sables and its long sandy beaches, the last miles will certainly be some of the sweetest.
Cali – nicknamed after the charming but unluckly little black cartoon chick – has long been inspired by the legendary race. He originally comes from Arcachon, home of Yves Parlier and Titouan Lamazou. He suffered from leukemia 19 years ago and when he was sick came with his father to see the first race in 1989 to see the first race which was won by Lamazou.
“That helped me in my fight against my illness. It allowed me in my head to get away from my room by following their adventure.”
Cali was greeted on today’s radio broadcast from Les Sables d’Olonne by Dee Caffari who sailed in close company with Akena Vérandas through the Southern Ocean.
Steve White’s course has been rapid for the last three days but he now faces a slightly more complex weather pattern as he now approaches the high pressure area which protects Les Sables d’Olonne and the Bay of Biscay, but he has been able to regain over 100 miles on Boissières in the last couple of days and he should now arrive Tuesday, according to his current routing. He has been turning in close to 300 miles on each of the last two days and has been enjoying the quicker progress on his older boat. White had 838 miles to finish at 1430hrs GMT this afternoon, but he is expected to encounter stronger headwinds tomorrow with gusts to 35 knots.
Rich Wilson’s attempts to reduce his speed temporarily to try and get more rest seemed to have worked as he managed to get into his bunk last night for the first time for some weeks, and achieve a better quality of rest. He was planning to remain under deep reefed main and a small storm jib while he a regrouped mentally and physically, moderating his speeds to the difficult, aggressive swell. Unfortunately for the race’s oldest skipper, he is going to have to spend rather too many days pointing towards ‘home’ as he goes around the outside of the high pressure.
Raphael Dinelli was close to Fernando de Noronha this morning, making more than 9 knots while, 530 miles behind in his wake, Norbert Sedlacek is not much slower under double reefed main on Nauticsport-Kapsch.
Dinelli was reporting Doldrums conditions today. The ICTZ are very large and very active so he will face a couple of days of pretty tough conditions with some big squalls… Sedlacek has good trades – the best conditions of the fleet at the moment – comfortable sailing beam reaching in 15-18 knots, one or two little trade winds squalls, but pretty much ideal today as he chases Dinelli