Racing the boat which has won the last two races, Davies’ time for the Southern Ocean – Cape of Good Hope to Cape Horn, 34 days 15 hours 50 minutes compares very favourably with of Vincent Riou, winner on the same boat in 2004, who took 33 days 6 hours, 25 minutes on the same boat in 2004, Davies course has been made over 1100 miles longer by the ice gates, and she was diverted north to the aid of injured Yann Eliès. Looking bright eyed and contented, Sam Davies admitted that she was sad to be seeing the back of the Southern Ocean –especially the Pacific – where she has thrived on the long surfs, and strong conditions. The last hours into Cape Horn for Davies in to Cape Horn were very tough:
“It’s incredible especially after the last 24 hours.” Smiled Davies on this morning’s live visio-conference with Vendée Globe Race HQ in Paris I’ve had some tough conditions up to 50-knots in the squalls with some nasty seas. Last night the boat was knocked down by a wave. So it’s a great relief to see the Rock, even if it was dull and I didn’t really see much.”
“ I saw it nevertheless. I was seven miles away. I would have liked to have been closer, but I had to gybe twice. For the second one to find my lay line, there was a 50-knot squall. I didn’t want to gybe with 50 knots, as that would have been a bit tricky. So I waited for the squall to go by and gybed with 40 knots of wind, so I was a bit further away than I wanted, but I didn’t want to take any risks.”
“ I’m still waiting for the seas to calm. There’s still 42 knots of wind and the boat is doing 20 knots with a peak of 25 knots on surf. My camera is full of salt, but you can see three reefs, so it’s a bit hairy.”