Safran utan köl…

Marc Guillemot på Safran försöker hålla Sam Davies på Roxy bakom sig i jakten på tredjeplatsen i Vendee Globe. Men nu har han också tappat kölen. Och skall försöka ta sig i mål åndå. Foto: Jean-Marie Liot/DPPI/Vendée Globe.

Guillemot loses keel on Safran but is determined to finish
1500hrs GMT. Rankings, Monday 9th February 2009

A keel problem which has been worrying Marc Guillemot since the Azores, deteriorated yesterday. After attempting to make a temporary fix securing the keel head with ropes to stop it slipping out of the boat, the skipper reported this afternoon that he was almost relieved to report that his keel has dropped out of the boat.

Guillemot has Safran fully ballasted with nearly 6 tonnes of water now and is determined to complete the 976 miles to Les Sables d’Olonne.

He is making between 9 and 11 knots under a triple reefed mainsail and staysail and said that he will do whatever it takes to finish.

Marc Guillemot’s Vendée Globe has been the most laden with very unexpected challenges and widest spectrum of emotions of any skipper left in the race. Now the skipper from La Trinité has a massive final test, completing his race on Safran without a keel.

Guillemot’s team reported early this morning that trouble with his keel which had been bothering him since the Azores had got worse. Since yesterday the keel had been moving in the fore and aft plane and giving the skipper cause for concern. Early this morning it had slipped several centimeters down into the keel box and he was forced to try to make a fix by securing it with ropes to the mast and a winch, but early this afternoon he realized suddenly that the ropes were slack. He no longer had a keel.

In fact, Guillemot, reported on a call late this afternoon, he was prepared for this eventuality and was almost relieved that the keel had gone since it was no longer threatening to damage his hull, and he at least now knows the magnitude of his problem. Guillemot suffered keel ram trouble in the 2007 Transat B to B race and had to block his keel in place to stop it moving.

Discussions have been ongoing with with Guillaume Verdier, one of Safran’s designers, and Guillemot this afternoon reported that he is making 9-11 knots with a triple reefed main and staysail and is determined to end his incredible race. In fact he lead this Vendée Globe early on the first evening of the race but went on to slide badly into the pack when he got stuck in the wind shadow of the Canaries.

Similar to the situation with Roland Jourdain, who had to halt his race for the same reason in the Azores, which are 300 miles or so to the SW of Safran, Guillemot now believes that his keel loss is a delayed consequence of a collision he had with a sea mammal on the evening of December 17th near the Kerguelen Islands.

At the time his rudder became detached from the boat and Safran broached violently, and later reported damage to his daggerboard which he changed two days later. Then on 16th December he sustained damage to his mast track which has forced him to sail under reduced mainsail area since then, and required him to make stops first at Auckland Island on 27th December to try and affect a repair to the track, and then again after further damage on the 29th December.

He climbed the mast on 6th January, in calmer weather to try and improve the fix and then after Cape Horn, on the 14th January he stopped for five and a half hours in the Falklands Islands. Since then he has only been able to sail with two reefs.

But the most stressful period for Guillemot was when he was diverted to help the injured Yann Eliès on 18th December, standing by him until the Generali skipper was evacuated on 20th December.

Guillemot, sounding tired and stressed this evening, says he is determined to complete this race whatever place he ends up in. He now has full windward ballast tanks and says he is taking it as easily as possible. Conditions are choppy but he has around 12-13 knots of wind. He has less than 980 miles to sail.

His nearest rival for third place Sam Davies has been making good speed in brisk conditions and had caught to within seven miles of the compromised Safran. Guillemot’s primary desire is simply to finish, but he still has over two days worth of redress to his credit.

The duel between Brian Thompson, GBR (Bahrain Team Pindar) and Dee Caffari, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar) looks like it may go the wire, or at least be settled in light winds in the Bay of Biscay as they approach the finish. She has closed to within 47 miles now although neither are moving at pace this afternoon. Caffari, at 7.8 knots, is still closing down her compatriot who should emerge first from the new high pressure system, but is making 4.1 knots this afternoon and averaged less than three knots between 0930hrs and 1430hrs.

Mark Guillemot: “ It’s an old story. You may remember near the Kerguelens I collided with a large sea mammal and went from 20-22 knots to zero. I talked to the designers a few hours later as I thought it was strange that it was a bit loose. As I passed the Azores it must have moved to the next stage. After that it was much looser and yesterday it was much worse. Based on the advice I got from Guillaume Verdier I secured it in place during the night. I managed to raise it up. It was exposed to some huge forces with 40-50 knots of wind and high seas. I could hear the keel moving from one side to the other. At 2 or 3 in the morning I was fairly pleased with the job. I had it rigged up to the winch and the keel was practically blocked from moving forwards and backwards. I wanted to give it one more turn to raise it that bit further and it was odd… I looked in the keel box and could see it had gone down as I could see the sea. Strange as it may seem, I breathed a sigh of relief! Having that weight swinging around under the hull, you feel powerless to do anything. There is the risk of the boat being damaged. I prepared the ballast tanks and I’m back in control. I hope we don’t get any strong gales like last night.”

“ It was extremely stressful. The noise and creaking were just horrendous. This is the first time I’ve ever experienced this and it was dreadful. I have the ballast full in the bow and am under small jib with three reefs in the mainsail. So I’m sailing 10-11 knots. The sea is still quite rough, but it has eased off and I can deal with the conditions. I don’t mean to say I could cross the Atlantic like that, but I haven’t any choice there. If it gets worse I could head for Spain. I really want to finish in Les Sables d’Olonne. I’m more determined than ever. Samantha is quickly going to get ahead, but I just want to finish the race. I’m feeling exhausted as I worked all night and then again this morning. I’ve got another hour of work ahead of me tidying up the boat.

Dee Caffari, GBR, (Aviva): “I am not too bad, bit of a bumpy night with lots of sail changes which made me have to work quite hard. I have 15-20 knots of breeze, upwind at the moment, I am just waiting for that to clock around and force me to tack and that should take me on a route around the next high pressure bubble which we are trying to negotiate.”

“ It will allow me to close the gap again a little bit, but the conditions we are going to have next are reaching in strong winds and that is really good for Pindar. So he might pull away again but we then have another high pressure to negotiate in the Bay of Biscay. It should keep us together for the rest of the race which would be good, at the moment I want to get across the finish line, and if I can race Pindar then that is great. Getting to the finish has got to be the priority, especially when you hear news of people still having problems between here and the finish. It is very tough.”

“ I am still managing to eat well, just a bit bored of the food, and dreaming of the food I can eat when I get here, but all good really. The boat is a bit tired, I am a bit tired, and there are a lot of manoeuvres, but we will hang in there to the end.”

“The next couple of days will be fast and wet, and then it will drop off again.

The last 24 hours have been quite miserable and so the pilot has been doing a sterling job. I am very happy with hit.”

“ My concern is always for my mainsail, and take it easy and cautious, use the wind to get as many miles in safely as possible and negotiate the next bit of weather. I am sure it will be wet cold and miserable, the northern European winter awaits and is greeting us with a vengeance.”

Rich Wilson, USA, (Great American III):“It is OK, except we are going dead upwind again, but we do have beautiful blue skies off the coast of Brasil and white fluffy clouds, we are hard on the wind again with about 20 knots of wind, staysail and two reefs, trying to make our way up the coast there is a low pressure system coming out of Rio again and that is changing the normal wind direction here and so I am hoping we can just fetch the coast as we get up here.”

“It is a question at the moment of being motivated for what exactly? Obviously as far as the race goes we have not been competitive with a group of boats around for a long time, it is hard to keep pushing in some ways, the last boat we had pushing was Artemis way back up at New Zealand and Jonny was always a bit faster, and I was always trying to catch up and not doing a very good job because he was always a bit faster, but we were about 100 miles or so and it was great to have a marker. But probably now one wants to be a little bit more conservative.”

1 . Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) finished after 84 days 3 hours, 9 minutes
2 . Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) finished after 89 days 9 hours 39 minutes
3 . Marc Guillemot (Safran) at 976 miles to finish
4 . Sam Davies (Roxy) at 1142 miles to finish
5 . Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) 1612 miles to finish
6 . Dee Caffari (Aviva) at 1713 miles to finish
7 . Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas) at 2314miles to finish
8 . Steve White (Toe in the Water) 3067 miles to finish
9 . Rich Wilson (Great American III) at 4602 miles to finish
10 . Raphaël Dinelli (Fondation Océan Vital) at 5753 miles to finish
11 . Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport – Kapsch) at 6132 miles to finish
RDG . Vincent Riou (PRB). 3rd equal. 30 boats started