Vendée Globe fleet goes into slow motion in the Doldrums

[Source: Vendée Globe] The brakes are well and truly on. Speedos slacken, tension rises as the leaders are dealt a saultary measure of the real Doldrums experience. Only leader Peyron has posted an average speed above 5 knots, while Jean Le Cam in ninth is struggling to make two knots.

Mike Golding had a go at gybing west during the afternoon and appears to have lost a few miles, whilst enjoying the relative sanctuary of racing virtually alongside each other in third and fourth places this afternoon Jean Pierre Dick and Armel Le Cléac’h were less than 1.5 miles apart, spurring each other on in the light going.

Seb Josse, for the moment, is credited with a gain, some 20 odd miles to the east now of Peyron, making back 2 miles or so, but Gitana Eighty has gybed back, heading SW for the moment.

Out to the most west, Roland Jourdain has made 13 miles of advance, covering exactly double the net mileage that leader Peyron made over the last four hours, and quickest of the top 10, some 110 miles back up the track from the leader. Jourdain's gain is now 26 miles in eight hours.

Certainly it is going to be a fretful, difficult night. Peyron is covering his bases as he works a little westing in.

Behind them the gains are almost inevitable. Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia), rather ominously, has reduced his deficit to less than 400 miles on Gitana Eighty, and was still making 11 knots tonight. By the morning sched that could well be down to around 350.

But there are good, morale boosting gains for Dee Caffari, GBR, (Aviva), making more than 20 miles back, Brian Thompson 16.1 miles.

And Unai Basurko, ESP, (Pakea Bizkaia) has made a good gain on his American rival Rich Wilson, USA, (Great American III), now the Basque skipper is now 50 miles ahead a ten miles gain.

Ian Walker, Green Dragon skipper: We're not giving up

4 days into leg 2 and the Southern Ocean is living up to its name. 1 broken steering system, 1 Chinese gybe, 1 broken boom and now 3 knock downs but we are still charging along for the scoring gate at longitude 58 East. I have to confess to being slightly nervous about our predicament but the forecast is good and we will soon be heading North (ish). We seem to have the boat going pretty well but we are vulnerable to being knocked down in the frequent squalls as we are fairly committed to carrying a full main and there is no easy way to ease it. It is also setting very full and this affects the balance of the boat. It wasn’t an easy night for the guys on deck - and the temperature is falling fast.

The Green Dragon sailing with a broken boom. South Indian Ocean, 18 November 2008. Photo copyright Guo Chuan / Green Dragon Racing

Down below everything is sodden as we have several leaks (one of which is the hole we drilled in the side to jury rig the steering!). We also have a leaking daggerboard case, which has split. I feel a bit like the character the Black Night from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, who refuses to be beaten and keeps on fighting as his arms and legs are cut off one by one by his adversary. We now have about 400 miles to the scoring gate and we lie in 3rd position (in terms of Easting) with a slender 25-mile lead over Puma and about 40 miles over the Russians. Our aim is to defend this as best we can and over the last 12 hours we have done just that. One of our challenges is going to be gybing - we are still discussing how we are going to do this - if at all - maybe we will granny round. We are also trying to sort out how we can reef if we need to. Tom Braidwood is itching to get going on fixing the boom but for now we are focusing on sailing fast to the scoring gate. This focus on racing hard is great for moral and everybody is determined to make the best of what we have.

Trying to fix the Green Dragon's broken boom. South Indian Ocean, 18 November 2008. Photo copyright Guo Chuan / Green Dragon Racing

For now then we are hanging on in there waiting for the wind to drop and shift to allow us to gybe and head back North. Our aim is to get as many points as we can at the scoring gate before worrying too much about how we will get to India. It still looks quite a long way away on the chart! Oh yes - I don’t wish to sound like a whinging pom but as if things can’t get any worse I should also mention that somebody has brought a bug on to the boat and half of us now have sore throats and headcolds - I suspect it won’t be long before we all do - Joy!

PUMA suffers second serious blow in 24 hours

Wednesday 19 November 2008 07:45 GMT

PUMA - Ken Read (skipper)

Greetings from the monster hospital ward. And the hospital is not necessary humans. Just for our beautiful boat.

At 4:30 GMT this morning we flew off yet another nice little wave and came down to another loud crack. This time not from the bow section but in the main section of the boat.

Just behind the keel frame. Three of us were having breakfast at the time and there was a bit of a stare into each others eyes. "That didn't sound good" said Justin (Ferris).

"Nope" I said.

Nico (Chris Nicholson) added, "maybe it was just an unloaded sheet snapping up on deck?"

Justin looked down and said "or maybe it was this large crack splitting the main longitudinal frame?" The master of understatement, old Justin is.

So we are busted. Again. This time a bit more serious. After final analysis on the first break to the longitudinal frames in the bow a couple days ago, it took seven hours and about 56 miles to fix.

Sounded like quite a bit at the time but we had enough pace to keep up with the leaders after the fact and still were in a reasonable position for the scoring gate and the leg. This one may be a bit tougher to work around though.

Not only is this break in the central structure for the entire boat, but it will take quite a bit longer to put a fix on - maybe as long as 24 hours - and this time the actual fix may be a bit more of a band-aide rather than the fairly solid splint that we could put on the broken front longitudinales.

If the fix takes as long as we think we have to re route to Cochin. Missing most of the points that we could have gotten at the scoring gate and having to bypass the next low coming our way. Simply put, this is not good.

Capey and I are hard at work trying to see if there is a tactical solution around this in order to stay remotely in the race. We shall see. First priority is the safety of the boat and crew and because of that we are looking to get away from the next low pressure that is coming in from behind.

Which doesn't give us many options while trying to get through the high pressure to the north. The whole reason for riding down into big breeze in the Southern Ocean was to hook up with that second low pressure and getting around the high.

With our current situation we may be forced into the high. If that is the case it is time to start talking about rationing food!

Not only is this a bummer for the team, but a let down for all who have worked on the programme so far. Please understand though that we have not given up hope on board. Stranger things have happened.

We have thousands of miles to go. And we have the most resourceful guys aboard and on shore trying to figure out the best way to tackle our situation.

There are a couple of bright spots. It has been reported from the bow area of the boat that using the toilet while going this slow is a much more pleasurable experience.

Also, Ricky (Deppe) got a hot cup of coffee into several of us which was a very nice treat. Especially considering the fact that for the first time in days I didn't spill it on myself or burn the crap out of my mouth.

And finally, the boys on deck report tons of huge Albatross circling around the boat giving a fantastic show for all.

Just hope that Albatross are not the vultures of the high seas.

Will report more soon.

Kenny

Received 07:45 GMT

Vendée Globe fleet heads into the Doldrums

[Source: Vendée Globe] With the fleet making south towards their preferred Doldrums crossing corridor, Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty) maintains his supremacy, keeping a cushion of around 40 miles between himself and Sébastien Josse (BT), with Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) making a small 8 miles gain overnight in third place.

In fifth place, 72.6 miles behind, Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux) will be only too aware that after contrary conditions in the Bay of Biscay and the slow going now, that his 2004 record to the Equator - 10 days, 11 hours, 28 minutes – will not be broken. The leader would need to cross by 00:30 hrs tonight.

As the fleet head into the Doldrums – described yesterday by skippers as ‘messy’ and ‘uncertain’ – Peyron has shown consistent speed across the wind conditions and had played out a meticulous strategy, but even he has been admitting that the weather computer models and imagery do not correspond. Today the skippers will start to experience some of the extremes of the Doldrums, spells of calm one minute and 40 knots squalls and torrential rain the next.

After taking a ‘hit’ to make west Mike Golding, GBR, (Ecover 3) has stabilized at 109 miles from Peyron in ninth place, 32 miles ahead of Jeremie Beyou (Delta Dore). Sam Davies, GBR, (ROXY) has passed her main rival Arnaud Boissieres (Akena Verandas) to hold 12th.

Brian Thompson, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar) took a long westerly to try and re-gain some miles and lies 14th.

After re-starting five days ago Bernard Stamm, SUI, (Cheminées Poujoulat) was passing the Canary Islands last night.

Loïck Peyron extends lead in the Vendée Globe

[Source: Vendée Globe] Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux) is feeling the pain going west. He has gybed twice in 20 miles and has dropped to fifth, theoretically losing 77 miles as he goes.

In contrast, as he sails east of south for the moment, Loïck Peyron on Gitana Eighty is winning miles, but – as we have said before – this stage is about lining up to go through the Doldrums and at the moment that is still about getting west on the best strands of breeze. Hence as Gitana Eighty continues on this 'making' gybe which has already stretched for 85 miles, he will continue to gain on any of his pursuants who are making west for position.

Seb Josse (BT), 'Mr Consistent' over recent days, holds second 54.8 miles on Gitana Eighty, with Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) in third, gaining a measure of leverage some 22 miles directly to his west.

Review of the 9th day of the Vendée Globe. 18 November 2008. Video copyright Vendée Globe

The losses suffered by those going west should be temporary. Mike Golding has ‘lost’ more than 50 miles since lunch time, but such is the anomaly produced by a theoretical rhumb line which does not account for meteorological roadblocks such as the Doldrums where the easiest border crossing reckoned to be around 26 deg west.

Behind in 10th place, Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) is making a big play to get west, losing 40 miles in the last four hours, but is 70 miles or so further west than the leading group, and it will be interesting to see if he gains here.

On the evening’s rankings Armel Le Cléac’h has gained to fifth on Brit Air, while Vincent Riou (PRB) is seventh, Yann Elies (Generali) gaining to sixth in a little reshuffle of the pack.

Arnaud Boissieres (Akena Vérandas) holds 11th place, making a gain of two places yesterday after re-positioning himself steadily from his extreme easterly position, although he is the next ‘victim’ for Dominique Wavre, SUI, (Temenos II) who as well as passing Sam Davies, GBR, (ROXY) today, has now accounted for Brian Thompson, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar) who drops to 13th, as he also tastes the bitter pill of moving west.

Green Dragon working to repair damaged boom

[Source: Green Dragon Team] The crew are all safe and are in contact with their shore team. At the time of the incident they were 1500 miles from Mauritius. The crew have assessed the damage to the boom and are working towards constructing a temporary boom in order to stay on track towards India. This involves the crew attempting to repair it with splints etc made from bunks and other pieces of the boat. This is a huge set back for the team, but they are confident that they have a strong boat and with lighter airs forecast for the rest of the leg, they are hoping that they may still be able to salvage some points on the leader board. At present they are heading downwind and maintaining 20 knots of boat speed, 37 miles from the current leader PUMA. The current plan is to repair the boom when they reach the equator, for the time being the Leg is anything from over.

The Green Dragon shore team have a new boom on standby and are looking into options to meet the boat at another port if the crew are unable to repair the current boom at sea.

Skipper Ian Walker explains what happened

Explain what happened
“Well they say bad things always happen in three, we had our two earlier incidents with the split in the daggerboard case and out involuntary Chinese gybe and we’ve had a pretty good period since then. There have been a series of squalls rolling in; we were about 40 degrees south I think, with these squalls rolled in. We had just been furling up the spinnaker, when the squalls came along. Most of them had peaked in the mid thirties, we were sailing along at about 30 knots and we got hit by a bigger squall and it was momentarily 50 knots, and then a huge bang and boom broke. So that was that really”.

What exactly is the damage?
“Well the boom is in two pieces!! I can’t put it much clearer than that. The boom just snapped in half about 3 metres from the outboard end, it was all quite docile as soon as the gust past and we were able to salvage all the bits, and we are now sailing along just loose fitted with no boom. We have the spinnaker back up and we are making good progress towards the scoring gate as best we can. We have the boom down below and we are trying to work out if and how we can do any repairs. At the same time we’re trying to work out what are the options on picking up our spare boom, which is currently sitting in Holland”.

What’s the early gut reaction onboard?
“I guess, well funnily enough the first thing we are trying to work out is that if we fix the boom down below whether we will be able to get it back out of the hatch! Which would be rather amusing if we did fix it and then couldn’t get it out the hatch. My initial reaction is we will probably soldier on like this, I think for us to divert to any place be it Mauritius or The Reunion Islands, will probably take us as much time putting us last in the race, we’d probably be better off just soldiering on to India. But much of it depends on the conditions. Obviously downwind we can sail ok, upwind is going to be very difficult”.

Is everyone onboard ok?
“Everyone is fine, absolutely fine, there was no risk once he had stopped the thing flying around. You know everyone is really disappointed as we were doing really well. We were well positioned looking pretty solid for third at the scoring gate, which I think we are still on for, but it is going to be hard to hang onto it. Naturally we are very disappointed because we now have a very long, however far it is. I dare to look, but it has got to be four or five thousand miles sailing, which is going to take a long time without a boom”.

Damian Foxall doesn’t seem to have much luck going past Cape Town, how has he taken the news?
“Well look on the bright side we’re not heading back to Port Elizabeth which is what he normally does! Everyone is very professional, we are all disappointed, we are all upset but what can you do, the boom is broken and our job is to fix it and keep the boat gong as fast as possible in the mean time”.

Clean Start for Sodeb'O

[Source: Team Sodeb'O Voile] The maxi-trimaran Sodeb'O crossed the start line of the solo round the world race against the clock in a multihull today, Tuesday 18th November, just minutes before 1400 hours GMT, that is at 13 hours 54 minutes and 14 seconds GMT precisely.

There was 15 to 17 knots of N/NW’ly wind and the boat was making headway under one reef mainsail and staysail. To beat Francis Joyon's record, Thomas Coville will have to pass the Petit Minou lighthouse at the entrance to Brest harbour by 15th January 2009 at 03 hours, 27 minutes and 20 seconds GMT at the latest.


“It’s a moment for which we’ve all been waiting for several weeks. The freedom in the choice of departure time is an important and decisive decision for the next stage. We decided to set out today because this morning the situation between the Canaries and the Cape Verde islands has become clearer, without being completely transparent!” explained the skipper of Sodeb’O late this morning. “The routing we did at 0900 hours this morning with the grib files fulfilled the ‘theoretical’ objective of making the equator in 7 days.”

Thomas continued, explaining that “after observing the situation over the past few days, it looks really good now with a fairly easy sea state at the start in a 20-25 knot NW’ly, which will be followed by a N/NE’ly wind rotation, providing the multihull with a better angle on the wind”. In other words a fine downwind descent pushed by the breeze is in view, “conditions in which the boat shouldn’t suffer too much and where I can make good speed without being overly physical.”

The skipper concluded his last radio session on shore with a few more personal thoughts: “I admit that I love this moment when inertia turns to action; it’s a moment we all prepare for. I certainly feel a twinge of sorrow at leaving land. I am a landlubber like you all but I’m heading into a hostile ocean”

Green Dragon breaks boom as conditions turn wild

[Source: Volvo Ocean Race] The past 24-hours have been the most testing in the Volvo Ocean Race so far, as the fleet battled high winds and a confused sea on leg two to Cochin in India. The worst effected was the Green Dragon team (Ian Walker/GBR), who broke their boom shortly before 1100 GMT this morning. This came after they survived a spectacular Chinese gybe yesterday.

In a short email, skipper Ian Walker/GBR said, “I am sorry to report that we have just broken our boom in a 50-knot squall. We are in the process of recovering the parts. The situation is under control with no harm or risk to anyone. We are carrying on downwind.”

The crew is all safe and unhurt and in contact with their shore team. They are currently 1500 nautical miles from Mauritius (9,41.17S, 40,28.73E ) and are sailing under jury rig.

Ian Walker says that the notorious Agulhas Current snakes around like a giant serpent, and with every twist, it throws up either a good or bad current and an ever-changing sea state. Throughout the fleet, destruction has been rife.

PUMA, Ken Read’s red and black boat, has been another casualty. He says wryly that last night would have been great if you were a sailmaker or a boatbuilder looking for work. After blowing their asymmetric spinnaker into pieces, an hour later the boat took off.

“We found another beauty of a wave, except this one had no face in front of it and… whoosh… take off! The inevitable silence of a boat that feels like it is literally flying was followed by a massive smash into the not very soft Indian Ocean. But this one was different from the other 10,872 smashes that have occurred over the past 48 hours or so.

“This one had a horrid CRACK along with it. I ran to the bow to quickly find several cracks in our longitudinal frames in the bow section. Essentially, these frames are the spine of the boat, which doesn’t allow it to fold in half. And they also don’t allow the boat to cave in when we hit waves. Kind of important piece to the puzzle,” Read said.

Seven hours later, and the bow has been repaired onboard, and the spinnaker has been patched back together. “Big effort and a feeling of complete exhaustion as well as satisfaction that we are back in the game and going full speed again,” Read said.

Telefonica Blue leads the race after having followed the northern route. Souther Indian Ocean, 18 November 2008. Photo copyright Telefonica

Further back in the fleet, Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) blew out a spinnaker. Not unusual in itself but the crew is suffering from sickness onboard and repairing the damaged sail down below in huge seas was a big challenge; Daryl Wislang/NZL and Jordi Calafat/ESP needed one hand for the spinnaker and the other hand for the bucket they were throwing up into. “Shows how strong a character they have,” Bouwe Bekking said. Today, the spinnaker was still in bits and will take another 10 hours to fix.

Onboard Team Russia, the crew suffered their first ‘real, heavy, full-on massive flat-out broach’. “The boat slowed down almost to a standstill, up to the mast in solid green water. Then, everything went into slow motion. Not a violent knock down, but the boat slowly turning, heeling more and more to wrong side, the boom high up in the air until coming over, and the kite flying around the forestay to the new leeward side and flapping in the 35 knots of breeze. Fate was inexorable, nothing left to be done, but wait for the inevitable,” describes skipper Andreas Hanakamp.

The stack of sails on the after starboard corner of the boat was under water, the starboard spreader camera as well as the keel, and the sails were holding the boat on 90 degrees to its designed flotation. Hanakamp climbed the vertical deck, as you would normally climb a rock, to free the runner. Wouter (Verbraak/NED navigator) handed him a knife to cut free the lashing. Cameron Wills/RSA pulled the runner tail with Oleg (Zherebtsov/RUS) grinding it. Meanwhile, Jeremy Elliott/IRL and Mikey Joubert/RSA managed to get the keel moving to the other side to right the boat. Luckily, none of the crew was hurt and only the pulpit was bent. There was no other damage.

In spite of the confused sea state, boat speeds hover around the 20-knot mark, with Ericsson 4 achieving 490 nm, the highest 24-hour run.

The fleet is effectively split in two, 115 nm across a north/south divide, with Telefónica Blue and Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP), PUMA and Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) in the north, and Team Russia, Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE), Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) and Green Dragon in the south.

Yet another intense day dawns for the Vendée Globe

[Source: Vendée Globe] With memories of last year’s Transat Jacques Vabre perhaps well to the fore in his mind, Loick Peyron made his move last night to gybe back to the west and cover any further gains from the trio of Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2), Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) and Vincent Riou (PRB).

Le Cam gybed back west too, but Peyron took no chances after seeing his rivals gain consistently. One year ago, racing two handed with Jean-Baptiste Levailant in the TJV, Gitana Eighty erred too far east, hemorrhaged miles and finished a disappointing ninth.

Another long night of strategic decisions, examining the meteo models, trying to second guess or responding to their rivals’ moves but Loïck Peyron on Gitana Eighty emerges with a lead of 6.7 miles ahead of Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux) as the leading group line up for the Doldrums.

A happy Loïck Peyron sails, holding the top spot of the Vendée Globe leadeeboard. South of the Cape Verde Islands, 18 November 2008. Video copyright Vendée Globe

Le Cam gybed and is now making a more westerly course, some 75 miles to the east of Peyron, while the trio who have for a long time held the western routing are now working close to due south. Speeds have dropped right down now with ENE’ly winds struggling to top 10 knots.

Fourth placed Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec Virbac) has lead the western pack’s advance, sailing west of the Cape Verdes yesterday, gaining more than 20 miles overnight making no gybes while Peyron made two during the night to consolidate his position.

Mike Golding, GBR, (Ecover 3) has seen his distance to the leader drop pleasingly since yesterday, now very much back in touch with Peyron, Le Cam and third placed Seb Josse (BT). From being 106 miles behind, Ecover 3 is now 54 miles behind Gitan Eighty this morning and still advancing.

Brian Thompson has also succeeded in shrinking his margin to the lead to 158.6 miles, from over 260 miles two days ago. While Golding lies seventh, Thompson is 11th with 61.5 miles to catch 10th placed Jérémie Beyou on Delta Dore.

Of those who had to restart again Dominique Wavre, SUI, (Temenos II) is now up to within 1 mile – in terms of distance to finish – of Sam Davies, GBR, (ROXY).

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) continues to reel back miles on the fleet leaders,, making the best speed average in the fleet. From a maximum distance from the fleet leaders of 671.3 miles Desjoyeaux has gained to 527.7 miles this morning in 19th place.

Ian Williams to skipper China Team in the LV Pacific Series

[Source: Louis Vuitton Pacific Series] AC China Team have announced that 2007 World Match Racing Champion Ian Williams has signed on to be the new skipper of China Team America’s Cup program for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2009.

With his 2007 title Williams became the first Englishman to win the World Match Racing Tour title in the event’s 19 year history. He is at the top of the leaderboard again in 2008, as the Tour heads to its final event in Malaysia in December, and is ranked Number Two in the world by the International Sailing Federation.

“China Team was looking for a young dynamic sailor with the right combination of experience, enthusiasm, attitude and leadership skills to get the program going in the right direction,” said Stuart James, Executive Director of China Team Sailing. “Ian is a guy around whom we can build a great program.”

Williams will play an instrumental role in the overall development of the team, its sailors and the development of AC China Team’s domestic sailing program. AC China Team is building globally competitive sailing teams, comprising Chinese and foreign sailors, to compete in different events around the world. AC China Team will also develop sailing events in China for international competition in Chinese waters.

"I am very excited to be joining China Team for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. The regatta promises some excellent racing and it is a fantastic opportunity for the new team to start building towards the next multi-challenger America’s Cup," said Ian Williams. "China has a strong and proud history in sailing and I hope that our participation in this and future regattas can assist in making China a great sailing nation once again"

Team Owner Wang Chaoyong commented: “Our relationship with Ian Williams allows us to take AC China Team to the next level as we seek to develop China’s team sailing community, and its ability to compete in international waters. I am proud to be able to continue to support this outstanding international sailing program.”

In addition to this new role Williams will be continuing his current position as Bahrain Team Pindar's match racing skipper.

Vendée Globe leadership goes back and forth

[Source: Vendée Globe] Jean Le Cam (VM Materiaux) takes back the lead in the east, now calculated to be 13 miles ahead of Peyron, but now that becomes something of a moot point. He is merely closer to the theoretical rhumb line, which does not take any account of the most favourable crossing point of the Doldrums, somewhere around 26 deg west.

The key figure on the stats this evening is Peyron’s distance covered towards the finish between the two polls, and that is a mere 9.6 miles when he has clearly sailed something in excess of 43 to 45 miles.

Peyron gybed about two hours before the 1900h GMT position report, while Seb Josse (BT) in third did so about three hours before him.

So with the Cape Verde Islands behind them, the next obstacle down the line will be the Doldrums which the leaders are expected to reach later tomorrow night. The question tonight is how long Le Cam, who is 135 miles to the east of Peyron - will stick with his eastern position. The forecasts suggest he may even have a little more breeze, but his difficulty in getting back to the west increases as he goes south.

Day 8 of the Vendée Globe. South of the Cape Verde Islands, 16 November 2008. Video copyright Vendée Globe

Mike Golding, GBR, and Brian Thompson, GBR, share this evening’s honours as posting the joint highest VMG averaged over the last 24 hours, 12.8 knots. Golding, in seventh on Ecover 3, is 85.4 miles behind leader Le Cam, same as Yann Elies (Generali) who is some 68 miles to his west. Thompson has made up nearly 60 miles on the leaders since the early morning position report but has Jérémie Beyou some 68 miles ahead in 10th, and this evening is making the passage through the Cape Verdes. He was 13 miles off the north east corner of Sao Nicolau this evening, which equates to being about a day behind the leading boat at the moment on the simple measure that Peyron was at the same point, give or take 20 miles, this time last night.

Sam Davies, GBR, is not far behind. ROXY is out to Thompson’s west, passing outside the islands and at the same time is trying to maintain her leverage on Brian, 26 miles NW of the outermost island.

Dee Caffari, GBR, (Aviva) makes steady progress in 16th place. She is about 200 miles further offshore from Johnny Malbon, GBR, (Artemis). Malbon is computed to be 73 miles behind Caffari in terms of DTF. Artemis is closest to the African coast, just 140 miles off shore. Steve White, GBR, (Toe in the Water) is on the western flank, on the same line as Davies, Wavre and co, but some 167 miles directly astern of him is Foncia (Michel Desjoyeaux).

Behind them, Bernard Stamm, SUI, (Cheminées Poujoulat), 24th, continues to eat up the miles. He has sailed the highest mileage of the fleet, 312.8 and has just gybed, now sailing a high angle to – perhaps – make for the west of Madeira, 102 miles away.

Thomas Coville to attempt solo round the world record tomorrow

[Source: Team Sodeb'O Voile] A favourable weather window is due to open tomorrow, Tuesday 18th November.

For the past few days the skipper of the Maxi Trimaran Sodeb'O, accompanied by his routers and team, has been observing the evolution of a highly favourable weather window. A departure is likely to be envisaged tomorrow Tuesday 18th November.

The weather conditions enabling a descent from Brest to the equator in less than 7 days looks possible, but there is still some doubt as regards the strength of the wind between the Canaries and Cape Verde. The team is still allowing itself the day to refine the precise hour of departure, which could take place from Tuesday morning at dawn. The decision will be made this evening, at around 2200 hours, after analysing the final grib files.

Thomas Coville explains (in French) why tomorrow opens a favourable weather window. Brest, 17 November 2008. Video copyright Team Sodeb'O Voile

The situation at the start of the course is proving to be ideal. After setting out from Brest in a NW’ly air flow, Sodeb’O will go in search of a point to gybe in the Azores High, which is positioned a long way north and will then generate a steady E’ly tradewind enabling Thomas to adopt a direct course towards Cape Verde and the Doldrums.

A first team is currently heading towards Brest where the boat has been on standby since 29th October. Their missions? A final careening session, sail preparation and victualing with fresh products…

In order to beat the solo round the world record held since 20th January 2008 by Francis Joyon, Thomas Coville will have to return to Brest in less than 57 days, 13 hours, 34 minutes and 6 seconds.

Chris Bedford, Ericsson Team meteorologist: Investing in the south

Better than any press release, Chris Bedford's concise reports provide an excellent overview of the general situation in this second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. According to Chris the 2 Ericsson boats follow their southerly strategy while it appears that the Telefonica squad has chosen to go further north, probably sacrificing the points at the scoring gate in order to finish first.

[Source: Chris Bedford, Ericsson Team meteorologist] This morning, we start to see the effects of differing strategies. Both Ericsson 3 and Ericsson 4 have invested hard in the south to gain maximum distance east and speed toward the scoring Gate. Even still, they are not the southern-most boats – Puma has gone even farther south.

Both Ericsson Racing Team boats are firmly placed in the south westerly breeze now and they are expected to hold this for the next few days – pretty much all the way to 58E before gybing north and making for Cochin. Wind speeds will be 20-30 knots with some gusts and squalls to 35 knots very likely through to Wednesday, then a slow easing trend is forecast.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s update, the southerly course was what our plan dictated. We also anticipated that some boats -- most likely the Telefonica boats -- may very well go for a long-term plan, placing an emphasis on trying to go for finishing first – sacrificing the scoring gate points for improved placing on the Leg 2 finish. On this morning’s update, the Telefonica Black and Blue boats are about 2 deg latitude further north and behind Ericsson Racing Team. That puts them further from the scoring line, but closer to the finish, and therefore they will look good on the leader board. Expect big variations from time to time on the leader board reflecting the geometry of the race course and the eastern progress of the fleet.

It looks like a 4-way race between Ericsson 3, Ericsson 4, Puma and Green Dragon to the scoring gate. What the future holds for the overall leg positioning, it’s too early to tell. There will be some nervous times onboard the boats as they watch the Telefonica boats climb gradually north toward the finish. The expectation is that the lighter winds encountered by Telefonica in their northern position will be offset by the stronger winds further south. Time will tell

Valencia is again tax-free.. for the America's Cup in 2008

Related documents

- PDF file of the Royal Decree
- Link to the decree on the Spanish Cabinet website

The much-awaited Royal Decree from the Spanish central government was signed and published on Friday afternoon. The cabinet approved the extension of the tax and fiscal measures for another year and as a result all America's Cup teams based in Valencia will practically pay no taxes at all. According to the decree, the teams are exempt, in 2008, from income and social security taxes as well as the VAT (value added tax). In other words, Valencia is for the fifth consecutive year a tax-free city for the America's Cup teams.

The most interesting part of the decree is not the fiscal advantages the teams are entitled to, since they most probably don't change significantly from the previous years. The key issue this year is who benefits from these measures, given the legal mire the world's oldest sports trophy is in.

All teams that were duly entered in the 33rd America's Cup as of December 31st, 2007 are automatically entitled to these tax breaks. That means (according to their order of entry) Alinghi, Desafío, Shosholoza, Team Origin, Team New Zealand, Team Germany, Green Comm, AYRE, Victory, Argo, Team French Spirit and Carbon Challenge.

Where does that leave BMW Oracle? Most probably Larry Ellison's team will also avoid the tax collector because the Spanish ministers grant the same rights to all teams that participated in the 32nd edition, kept a base in Valencia and explicitly communicated to the local authorities their intention to participate in a future edition of this sports events. I must admit this is very vague but also very generous and most probably every team from the previous America's Cup will benefit from the law. All you had to do is keep a base in Valencia and write you wanted to take part in the America's Cup and I guess you have to be stupid not to do that, given the advantages you are entitled to.

Nevertheless, this decree concerns all income earned in 2008 and, to the best of our knowledge, there isn't anything similar signed yet for 2009 or beyond. Obviously, how could there be anything firm when the future of the event is still so uncertain? If one is to believe Manuel Chirivella, president of the CNEV, we shouldn't be expecting a decision from the NY courts before April-May 2009 and then we might be for another long ride, regardless of the legal case's final outcome.

Disclaimer: In this environment, prone to lawsuits and litigations, I think I'd better write the usual disclaimer. All the aforementioned information doesn't constitute any legal, tax or fiscal advice whatsoever and the details might actually differ from what we reported. It is solely presented for strictly information purposes and anyone interested should refer to a Spanish legal and fiscal expert.

BMW Sailing Cup
This is completely unrelated to the decree but nonetheless interesting. The Spanish final of the BMW Sailing Cup took place right inside Port America's Cup during the weekend. This event is now in its third year of life and consists of a circuit of 5-7 regattas, depending on the year, raced in one-design boats in various yacht clubs throughout Spain. Each club uses its class of one designs and in the case of Valencia it was Tom 28's, while is some cases 2 or 3 different classes were used, and the winners of each local event face off in a final.

A similar circuit is held in a number of other European countries - Italy, France, Germany, UK - and the respective winners then race in a world final. The 2007 world final took place in Dubai in April 2008 and this year's world final will be held in March or April 2009 in Italy. Unlike the national events, no professional skippers can take part in the world finals.

A total of 7 races were held for the Spanish finals, 3 on Saturday and 4 on Sunday, under light conditions, right inside Port America's Cup. It is interesting to see this trend of sailing events being held inside the basin. Purists might disagree but the general public can almost touch the racing yachts.

Spanish final of the BMW Sailing Cup. Valencia, 16 November 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Spanish final of the BMW Sailing Cup. Valencia, 16 November 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Spanish final of the BMW Sailing Cup. Valencia, 16 November 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Spanish final of the BMW Sailing Cup. Valencia, 16 November 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Loïck Peyron holds 12-mile lead over Seb Josse at Cape Verde

[Source: Vendée Globe] As Loïck Peyron points his bow pretty much directly at the island of Sao Nicolau this evening, preparing to pass between the Cape Verde Islands, he has seen a small gain by the hard driving Seb Josse (BT).

Race leader Peyron had just 36 miles to run to pass the biggest of the northern ‘windward’ group of islands.

The highest mountain on Sao Nicolau, Monte Gordo, rises nearly 1320m high to Gitana’s leeward as they pass, with Josse tracking now about 12 miles to the east of Peyron and Jean Le Cam still about 18 miles out to his east and slightly astern.

Le Cam has held station on Peyron at just over 38 miles, Josse is heading more directly south, while VM Materiaux and Gitana Eighty are now both headed slightly west of south.

The 100 mile deficit line has now moved up the pack to capture Jean-Pierre Dick. Out in the west last night Dick was 40.8 miles behind Peyron. He leads the western pack which is now, in lateral terms, is about 75 miles out to the west of the track taken by Le Cam.

Vincent Riou (PRB) has gained on Dick, almost 20 miles over the latter part of the day, and is now just eight miles behind in fifth.

Day 7 of the Vendée Globe. Near the Cape Verde Islands, 16 November 2008. Video copyright Vendée Globe

The fortunes of the British Open 60 sailors remain mixed. Mike Golding is hanging in in 10th, losing four miles on that sched to his nearest rival Beyou on Delta Dore.

Brian Thompson’s bid to regain lost miles moving west sees him make nearly 50 miles west in his last 150 miles sailed, but his speed appears sporadic on Bahrain Team Pindar, but he trails Golding by 130 miles.

Reason for quiet satisfaction aboard Artemis this evening as Jonny Malbon drives into the second week of the Vendée Globe having just eased past Steve White on Toe in the Water. Malbon is now 17th, and will be spurred by having Dee Caffari now 34 miles in front.

And the balance has swung in the favour of Rich Wilson, back to 19th again on the Great American III, reclaiming it from his Basque rival Unai Basurko.

Bernard Stamm is getting into the brisker breezes now and is one knot quicker than Mich Desj on this ranking, making over 12 knots aboard Cheminées Poujoulat. Making painful progress has been Derek Hatfield on Algmimouss Spirit of Canada, who has averaged 5.5 knots in light winds down the coast of North Portugal.

Ericsson Meteorologist: Ignore the official leg leaderboard

[Source: Chris Bedford, Ericsson Meteorologist] Just a reminder to everyone to please ignore the Volvo leaderboard for the next 7 days or so. The race office is calculating the places on the leg based upon distance to the finish. But this leg is unusual with the scoring line at 58E and the need to sail east for several days prior to turning north. The boats that are behind (on a east to west position) will, at times, calculate to be closer to the finish (on a more northeast to southwest position). In fact, we envisioned cases where the boat in last place to the finish actually won the scoring gate AND the leg; such is the complex nature of the leg geometry and weather. Anyway, it should all become obvious soon, and there will be a time sometime about halfway through the leg (and after the scoring gate) when the leaderboard will start to make sense once again.

Over the last week, we ran tens of thousands routing simulations on approximately 1,500 different computer model forecasts. All of that led to the development of our overall leg plan. The details of that plan are complex, but in short, that plan was to get south across a ridge of high pressure and light winds south of Cape Town, then scream east on a 20- to 30-knot, gusting 35-knot, west-to-southwest wind field developing around a deepening low pressure south of the area. This will carry the boat quickly toward the scoring way line at 58E. From there (or even a little before that), the weather will dictate a turn to the north where they will cross the sub-tropical high pressure ridge once more and head into the firm southeasterly trades south of the Equator and Indian Ocean doldrums.

Ericsson 4 at the start of the 2nd leg. Cape Town, 15 November 2008. Photo copyright Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race

So far, Ericsson 4 has followed the plan very effectively - in part due to their excellent sail out of Table Bay and around the Cape of Good Hope yesterday afternoon and evening. Ericsson 3 is also following the basic plan very closely. Both boats are already through the ridge and starting to feel increasing west and eventually southwest winds, which will accelerate quickly today through tomorrow. Their slow boatspeeds this morning will soon be a thing of the past, and they could very well be making 20+ knot speeds toward the east by tonight.

So, some very exciting days coming up, with fast sailing, rough conditions, and very fast boat speeds. Will the record be broken again? I don't think so, but it could be close!

Loïck Peyron keeps steady lead in Vendée Globe

[Source: Vendée Globe] Towards the end of his third consecutive day in the lead of the Vendée Globe, Loïck Peyron’s lead remains a static, but satisfactory 14 miles, the same margin he has maintained through since the early morning over Jean Le Cam (VM Materiaux).

To the west, Dick, Riou and Le Cléac’h are digging back towards the leader, as all three take on a course which is now east of south. Those to their east have been 1-1.5 knots quicker, and Le Cam is virtually paralleling the African coast of Mauritania, 300 miles inshore, and he has been consistently just a fraction quicker than Peyron. As night falls and the next sched is some nine hours off, perhaps we will see them work progressively closer to the coast where there could be more breeze?

Josse was 22 miles due west of Peyron’s line this evening and from Gitana Eighty to VM Matériaux there is 65 miles of lateral distance. Overall from west to east – VM Matériaux to eighth placed Roland Jourdain on Veolia Environnement – the corridor measures 140 miles.

Day 6 of the Vendée Globe. Near the Canary Islands, 15 November 2008. Video copyright Vendée Globe

Bilou (Veolia Environnement) has increased his lead over Mike Golding, GBR, (Ecover 3) by about 4 miles over the sched, but Ecover seems to have lost some 14 hard earned miles against the leaders.

With her lucky red socks now presumably washed and dried, and her hair squeaky clean, Sam Davies has been rewarded with another evening gain and is back through Arnaud Boissieres who went far left of the track. Roxy lies 12th tonight, although worryingly Akena Verandas looks to be picking up breeze again in the east.

And in the Basque-Vendée duel over 19th place, Unai Basurko has lost his morning gain back to Raphael Dinelli.

Spectacular start for Volvo Ocean Race Leg 2

[Source: Volvo Ocean Race] Under the gaze of a huge spectator fleet, and a clutch of helicopters buzzing in the sky, the 4,450 nautical mile leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town to Cochin in India got underway today at 1120GMT (1320 local time) in beautiful, classic Cape Town conditions.

Andreas Hanakamp, skipper of Team Russia summed up the atmosphere among the crews on the dock this morning when he said, “You can never come to this place for long enough, but let’s set the horses loose. We are here to race, so let’s race.”

As the eight crews gathered onboard, saying their goodbyes and spending a few precious minutes with their families, under the blazing South African sunshine the fleet was blessed by the Reverend Rowan Smith.

After a short postponement to allow the wind to stabilise, the gun echoed out across Table Bay signalling the start of leg two, which, for the first time in the history of the race, will finish in Cochin, India in December.

Start of the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. Cape Town, 15 November 2008. Photo copyright Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race

PUMA (Ken Read/USA) scorched off the start line, leading the fleet from Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA). With her huge red masthead gennaker set and going like a freight train, PUMA blazed the trail, with water pouring over the deck and a small number four jib working as a staysail set underneath the gennaker. Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) was in third position, and Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) was up with the pack, while Delta Lloyd with new skipper, Roberto Bermudez/ESP made a disappointing start.

Unfurling their big headsail first, Green Dragon benefited from good speed in her position down to leeward of the fleet, while some of the other teams struggled to manage these huge, unwieldy sails.

Torben Grael’s Ericsson 4, flying a more conservative fractional gennaker, was sucked up under Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) in the big chop, whipped up by the wind and the armada of spectator boats. PUMA, however, made the right choice of sail and almost laid the first mark before the crew furled the sail shortly before rounding the first of three marks on the triangular course set in Table Bay.

Ericsson's sailing crew comment on the race's second leg. Cape Town, 15 November 2008. Video copyright Volvo Ocean Race

PUMA, continued to streak away, in 15 – 20 knots of wind, opening up a healthy lead, while Torben Grael took Ericsson 4 outside a large container ship sailing hot and fast with slightly eased sheets. PUMA judged the lay-line perfectly, sailing just four boat lengths on port tack before rounding the mark. Green Dragon lost a lot of ground going into the shore early, as PUMA, flying just a mainsail and heavy air jib, made a perfect hairpin turn at the mark, eased their sheets and shot off like an express train.

There was a big gap to third place, which was snatched from Green Dragon by Bouwe Bekking and Telefónica Blue, who made a big gain. A great manoeuvre by Team Russia allowed them to jump ahead of Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) at the mark, but then a terrific battle followed as Telefónica Black took revenge and passed them to windward. In the approach to the mark, Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE) ripped the leach of their headsail when they tacked, catching on the radar dome and wiping it off the mast.

But, instead of leaving the fleet standing as promised, halfway down the final leg, PUMA came to almost a complete standstill as the wind dropped and the fleet compressed, surfing up behind in typical Cape Town fluky conditions.

Code Zeros were hastily unfurled as wind dropped to almost nothing and it was a frustrating time for the crews who were very aware that whoever found the breeze first would make a huge gain. This race has been won and lost in this bay before, and to be first out of Cape Town can make all the difference.

Start of the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. Cape Town, 15 November 2008. Photo copyright Photo copyright Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race

The race became a drifting match, with the fleet desperate to find any breeze at all. PUMA ran into problems trying to unfurl their Code Zero, needing three men on the bow to fix the problem and, in the end, dropping the sail to the deck.

Delta Lloyd, to leeward of the fleet, looked well placed for the new breeze, and might well have picked the right path through the glassy calm. Ericsson 4 led PUMA and Green Dragon, but were not safe at all. PUMA was furthest off shore, but Telefónica Blue was rock-hopping along the shore, hoping to sneak round the fleet, but the forecast is for strong south-westerly breeze offshore, which means creeping along the coast may not pay off.

The first point scoring opportunity on this leg will be when the fleet crosses from west to east - the line of longitude 58 degrees E, anywhere south of the latitude 20 degrees S.

Overall Leaderboard
1. Ericsson 4: 14 points
2. PUMA: 13 points
3. Green Dragon: 11 points
4. Telefónica Blue: 10 points
5. Telefónica Black: 7 points
6. Ericsson 3: 5 points
7. Delta Lloyd: 4 points
8. Team Russia: 4 points

The start of the race's second leg as seen by Ericsson. Cape Town, 15 November 2008. Video copyright Ericsson Racing Team