Brit Air Finished 2nd

Continuing rough conditions across the Bay of Biscay have made this a long and stressful final week at sea for Armel Le Cleac'h on Brit Air. With winds averaging 35 knots (gusting to 45 in squalls) and 5 to 6 metre high waves on the beam, Armel le Cleac'h has chosen to sail cautiously towards the French coast, and the finish. Battling it out for third place on the water, Sam Davies, GBR (Roxy) and Marc Guillemot are also looking forward to finishing. For the moment, the advantage seems to be tipping back in favour of the French skipper, who has managed to get around the Azores high via the west. Sailing downwind in a 25-knot southwesterly wind, the VPLP-Verdier designed Safran was sailing at 15 knots boat speed, while Roxy was still tacking upwind close to the high-pressure area in fading winds.

After the cool, calm delivery of Michel Desjoyeaux just over five and a half days ago to win his second Vendée Globe, Les Sables d’Olonne welcomed the rookie with a bite, Armel Le Cléac’h, who brought Brit Air across the finish line at 08:41 hrs GMT Saturday February 7 morning under perfect blue winter skies and a watery sunshine, to finish in a well deserved and highly creditable second place. A skipper just 31 years old, whose patience and prudence masks an innate predatory instinct and timing, which has seen him regularly succeed as runner up after other favourites have fallen, but he still admitted today that his mother worried if he had been eating enough.

Jourdain Quits

After 84 days of racing, in second place since December 16th , Roland Jourdain took the hard decision this morning to bring his Vendee Globe to an end and stop at the Azores. After losing part of his keel last Thursday, the skipper of Veolia Environnement has done all he can to ensure the stability of his boat and his own safety in some very difficult sea conditions.

Michel Desjoyeaux Wins

Sailing a course distance of 28303 miles, averaging 14.02 knots, French solo skipper Michel Desjoyeaux has shattered the Vendee Globe solo round the world race record today on his way to becoming the first solo skipper ever to win the solo non stop around the world race twice.

After winning the race in 2000-01 on PRB, eclipsing the young emerging British skipper Ellen MacArthur by 1 day 28 minutes, Desjoyeaux joined the 30 strong field for this race, the biggest entry ever round the world race in sailing history, as one of the clear favourites.

Desjoyeaux crossed the finish on Sunday 1st February at 15:11.08 GMT , after 84 days 03 hours 09 minutes of racing. Foncia completed the race in twenty knots of breeze under sunny skies, greeted by a massive armada of spectator boats before being warmly welcomed by huge crowds who gathered along the waterfront and harbour area of Les Sables d'Olonne, where the race departed at 1202 GMT November 9th 2008.

The gruelling race has taken a high toll of the 30 skippers who started the non stop solo round the world race. As Desjoyeaux finished this afternoon, nine are climbing northwards in the Atlantic ocean while some 7,700 miles behind two are expected to pass Cape Horn and leave the Pacific tomorrow. Eighteen skippers have been forced to abandon. In early December Yann Elis had to be evacuated off his Generali when he sustained a broken femur while working on the bow of his boat, and Jean Le Cam was rescued when he capsized off Cape Horn by Vincent Riou, the 2004-5 winner of the race.

Storm Ahead Vendee Fleet

Whilst to the east of Rio de Janeiro the leading duo are still making relatively slow progress as they struggle to escape into more solid breeze, what Meteo France have described as the worst storm of this Vendee Globe awaits the trio of Brian Thompson, Dee Caffari and Arnaud Boissieres as they pass Cape Horn.

Marc Guillemot (Safran) stopped at the Falklands Islands at 1000hrs this morning to work on his mast track. British Yachtswoman Dee Caffari, onboard Aviva, has endured further damage to her mainsail following a battering by a 65 knot storm in the southern ocean. The solo skipper had already repaired a number of tears to her mainsail, but knew as she approached the notorious Cape Horn in a vicious storm it may lead to more damage.

A temporary decrease in wind strength will help Dee Caffari round the Cape in the next 36 hours and prepare for the next storm looming on the weather forecast. She will continue to conserve the mainsail as much as possible before attempting the repairs around the Falkland Islands.

Vendee Globe

Two months after setting sail from Les Sables d'Olonne, Roland Jourdain is currently in second place and was 178 miles from Michel Desjoyeaux.

Roland Jourdain's Veolia Environnement team have just reported that he believes he hit a sea mammal early yesterday evening while racing some 800 miles off the Argentine coast.

The collision with this mammal led to several cracks which forced Roland Jourdain to continue under reduced sail in order to effect repairs at sea.

After inspecting his boat, the keel and bulb do not seem to have been affected, but he found several cracks around the keel box and in the compartment at the foot of the mast bulkhead. Roland Jourdain informed his shore team and the Vende Globe Race Directors this afternoon at 16h30.

After talks with the Lombard design team and the CDK yard, Jourdain assesed the situation and set about making repairs, which he is currently setting up with the materials he has on board under reduced sail. The smooth sea and the light winds in the high are offering favourable conditions.

Half the Fleet Still Fights

At 1920 GMT, only a matter of an hour and 20 minutes since passing Cape Horn, Vincent Riou called his team to report that PRB has been dismasted. When the call was made PRB was in a position about 7.8 miles to the North West of Cape Horn. Both skippers Riou and Le Cam are safe and well. He called back to his team about an hour later, saying that he did not want to issue a Mayday signal, but was trying to locate a suitable vessel to tow them, perhaps through the contacts of Isabelle Autissier. They believe that the temporary lashing which they had made to the chainplate gave way. They had around 25 knots of NW'ly wind when the rig came down but have a limited chance of setting a jury rig while they are in the islands. Riou and Le Cam acted quickly to cut away the rigging and free the broken mast. Since they cut the mast free PRB is reported to be drifting at 1.5 knots to a course of about 25 degrees, effectively away from the islands.

A PAN PAN call was made, a simple request to any available assistance, as opposed to the obligations of a Mayday. Vendee Globe Race Direction have been in contact with the Chilean authorities. The 32.7 m general purpose vessel Alacalufe of the Chilean Navy has been dispatched from Port Williams, 55 miles away.

Meantime at the front of the fleet, Michel Desjoyeaux is significantly quicker than his nearest rival, second placed Roland Jourdain.

1. Michel Desjoyeaux, Foncia, 6312.5 miles to finish
2. Roland Jourdain, Veolia Environnement, + 108.9 miles to leader
3. Armel Le Cleac'h, Brit Air, + 659.7 miles
4. Vincent Riou, PRB, + 742.5 miles
5. Sam Davies, GBR, ROXY, + 1860.4 miles

Vendee Globe

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) is holding on to his lead, steady at around 65 miles over second-placed Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environment), but extending slightly away from the rest of those hanging on to his coat tails as the leading four pick up some more northerly pressure. As he lead across into the ocean which he remarked recently that he has always found more conducive to higher speeds, he has nearly doubled his lead since yesterday afternoon and now has just over 80 miles ahead of Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement), while Seb Josse (BT) in third has lost a little against the pace of Mich Desjoyeaux. Jean Le Cam in fourth (VM Matériaux) is valiantly keeping up.

Yann Elies' spirits and mood have lifted knowing help is with him and on its way His medical condition is stable. Marc Guillemot has attempted several times to throw water, food and medication down the companionway hatch to his stricken fellow skipper, but it has so far proven too difficult for Yann to grab them. Yann Elies, the skipper of Generali who broke his left femur on December 18, was successfully transferred to the Australian Navy's HMAS Arunta, an Anzac Class Frigate.

Vendee Globe Update

Passing Heard Island it is Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac II) who remains clear leader of the Vendée Globe, chosing a more southerly course through the channel between the Kerguelen islands archipelago and Heard Island. Gaining 8.5 miles on those in pursuit of him, Dick has been marginally quicker overnight than Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) who is still locked in battle royal with Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) and Mike Golding, GBR, (Ecover 3). After a high speed, difficult overnight passage in confused, big seas and gusty winds of 35 knots there is still just 3.6 miles of difference between Desjoyeaux, third placed Jourdain, Mike Golding in fourth. In turn a gap from fourth to fifth placed Seb Josse (BT) of 36.8 miles is opened.

Vendee Globe

Gitana Eighty has lost 11.4 miles to Seb Josse (BT), 17 miles behind he was still making two knots faster as the 1000hrs GMT poll arrived and speeds of those chasing and to his east have so far remained stable. To the west Mike Golding has just experienced a spell of lighter winds and hard work to keep the speeds up. Some skippers admit that they prefer to be a bit further back, although not too far, of course, in order to observe before making their move. The weather situation in the southern Atlantic,is complicated and confused. At the end of November, the zone of high pressure has settled in for the duration and is likely to force the leaders to adopt a route taking them away from the shortest course.

Positions on Tuesday 25th November
1. Gitana Eighty (Loick Peyron) 20,263 DTF
2. BT (Sebastien Josse) 13 miles from the leader
3. Brit Air (Armel Le Cleac'h) 43.7 miles
4. Paprec Virbac (Jean-Pierre Dick) 45.7 miles
5. PRB (Vincent Riou) 52.1 miles

Vendee Globe 2008/09

Two of Britain's most famous solo skippers, Mike Golding and Dee Caffari, move into the next stage of their ground-breaking technical alliance to develop the fastest Open 60 possible ahead of this year's gruelling solo round the world yacht race, the Vendee Globe 2008/09. Caffari and Golding, who between them have circumnavigated the global on eight different occasions, have developed an intensive testing programme to find a competitive advantage over the 30-strong Vendee Globe fleet and in particular the impressive French contingent. The two skippers announced the technical alliance, the first of its kind between British Open 60 teams, in March 2007. The alliance led to the construction of two identical sister-ships in Aviva and Ecover 3 and this summer Caffari and Golding will be testing the two boats against each other to maximise performance. The Aviva Ocean Racing and Ecover teams are taking a leaf out of Formula 1's book and believe in the merits of testing against similar machines. The upcoming period of two-boat testing will set the two Open 60s against each other much like the way F1 teams do with their two cars. One of the boats will be set as a control whilst the other makes changes to the sail trim, ballast and keel angle to determine the most effective set up. The ultimate aim is to find the optimum performance that will give the skippers an edge to challenge the French dominance of the Vendee Globe race. To date each of the five editions has been won by a French skipper.